Youtube Search

---
name: youtube-search
description: "Use when the user wants to find YouTube content on any topic: searching for videos or channels, finding creators who cover a subject, discovering tutorials, talks, or expert discussions, or looking up a channel by name or handle. Also use proactively when the user wants to research a topic and YouTube is a good source. Not for account management or written-source-only research."
version: "1.6.0"
user-invocable: true
compatibility: Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.
required_environment_variables:
  - name: TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
    prompt: Your TranscriptAPI key (starts with sk_)
    help: Free account at https://transcriptapi.com — 100 credits, no card required. Or let the agent create one for you.
    required_for: all API requests
metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"▶️","requires":{"env":["TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"]},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","homepage":"https://transcriptapi.com"},"hermes":{"tags":["youtube","search","video","channels","discovery","research"],"category":"media"}}
---

# YouTube Search

Search YouTube and fetch transcripts via [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com).

## Setup

If `$TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY` is not set, read [references/auth-setup.md](references/auth-setup.md) and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.

## Required Headers

Every request needs two headers:

- **Authorization:** `Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY`
- **User-Agent:** your agent's name and version if known (e.g. `HermesAgent/0.11.0`, `ClaudeCode/1.0`). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.

## API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: [transcriptapi.com/openapi.json](https://transcriptapi.com/openapi.json) — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

## GET /api/v2/youtube/search — 1 credit/page

Search YouTube globally for videos, channels, playlists, or movies.

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=video&limit=20
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

| Param          | Required    | Default     | Validation                                                        |
| -------------- | ----------- | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `q`            | conditional | —           | 1-200 chars (trimmed), first page                                  |
| `type`         | no          | `video`     | `video`, `channel`, `playlist`, `movie` (first page)               |
| `sort`         | no          | `relevance` | `relevance` or `views` (first page)                                 |
| `upload_date`  | no          | —           | `hour`, `today`, `week`, `month`, `year` — videos, first page      |
| `duration`     | no          | —           | `short` (<4m), `medium` (4-20m), `long` (>20m) — videos, first page |
| `features`     | no          | —           | comma-separated: `hd`, `subtitles`, `cc`, `live`, `4k`, `hdr`, etc. |
| `limit`        | no          | `20`        | 1-50                                                                |
| `continuation` | conditional | —           | token from a previous response (subsequent pages)                  |

Provide exactly one of `q` (first page) or `continuation` (next pages) — the token already encodes the filters. `sort`/`upload_date`/`duration`/`features` apply to the first page only.

**Find recent, most-viewed videos:**

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=innovation&sort=views&duration=long&upload_date=month
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

**Search for playlists on a topic:**

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=react+tutorial&type=playlist
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

**Video search response:**

```json
{
  "results": [
    {
      "type": "video",
      "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
      "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
      "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
      "channelTitle": "Rick Astley",
      "channelHandle": "@RickAstley",
      "channelVerified": true,
      "lengthText": "3:33",
      "viewCountText": "1.5B views",
      "publishedTimeText": "14 years ago",
      "hasCaptions": true,
      "thumbnails": [{ "url": "...", "width": 120, "height": 90 }]
    }
  ],
  "result_count": 20
}
```

**Channel search response** (`type=channel`):

```json
{
  "results": [{
    "type": "channel",
    "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
    "title": "Rick Astley",
    "handle": "@RickAstley",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley",
    "description": "Official channel...",
    "subscriberCount": "4.2M subscribers",
    "verified": true,
    "rssUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC...",
    "thumbnails": [...]
  }],
  "result_count": 5
}
```

## GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/search — 1 credit

Search videos within a specific channel. Accepts `channel` — an `@handle`, channel URL, or `UC...` ID.

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/search?channel=@TED&q=climate+change&limit=30
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

| Param     | Required | Validation                                |
| --------- | -------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `channel` | yes      | `@handle`, channel URL, or `UC...` ID     |
| `q`       | yes      | 1-200 chars                               |
| `limit`   | no       | 1-50 (default 30)                         |

Returns up to ~30 results (YouTube limit). Same video response shape as global search.

## GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve — FREE

Convert @handle to channel ID:

```http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

## Workflow: Search → Transcript

```http
# 1. Search for videos
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=python+web+scraping&type=video&limit=5
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

# 2. Get transcript from result
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript?video_url=VIDEO_ID&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
```

## Errors

| Code     | Meaning          | Action                                         |
| -------- | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| 401      | Bad API key      | Check key                                      |
| 402      | No credits       | transcriptapi.com/billing                      |
| 403/1010 | Cloudflare block | Add or fix User-Agent header                   |
| 404      | Not found        | Resource doesn't exist                         |
| 408      | Timeout          | Retry once                                     |
| 422      | Invalid param    | Check param format                             |

Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.

## Copy-paste examples

Every request in this file as a ready-to-run one-liner: [references/curl-examples.md](references/curl-examples.md)