YouTube Channel API

Sources: Platform API → Public page

Use cases

Track channel growth over time
Vet creators before a sponsorship
Enrich lead lists with a creator's other social links
Resolve a video's channel ID to a full profile

Good to know

metrics.follower_count is the subscriber count YouTube shows, rounded for display (listed in approximate_fields); null when the channel hides it. Video and view counts are exact; both are null for a channel without public videos.
created_at is the start of the US Pacific day YouTube shows as the join date, in UTC: the channel was created within the following day (listed in approximate_fields).
location is the country the owner set, as YouTube names it; country_code its ISO code.
is_verified is true for the check mark and for an Official Artist Channel's note badge. YouTube's built-in channels (Music, Sports, Gaming, News, Learning, Live, Fashion & Beauty, Shopping) have no badge or banner (null); all but Music have no About panel, so they answer what their header shows.
A bare string is a handle, even one shaped like a video ID: send a channel link or the UC… ID to be unambiguous. Links to youtube.com pages that are not channels answer not_found or invalid_input.
metrics.following_count and metrics.total_like_count are always null and type is unknown: YouTube does not show them. Business email addresses are behind a sign-in and are not returned.
Terminated and unknown channels answer not_found.

Example request

Send a GET request with your key in the x-api-key header.

cURL

curl -G 'https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/youtube/profile' \
  --data-urlencode 'handle=@NASA' \
  -H "x-api-key: $SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"

TypeScript

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  handle: "@NASA",
});
const res = await fetch(`https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/youtube/profile?${params}`, {
  headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.SOCIALTAP_API_KEY ?? "" },
});
const body = await res.json();
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${body.error.code}: ${body.error.message}`);
const { data, meta } = body;
console.log(data, meta.credits_charged);

Python

import os

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/youtube/profile",
    params={"handle": "@NASA"},
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"]},
)
body = res.json()
if not res.ok:
    raise RuntimeError(f"{body['error']['code']}: {body['error']['message']}")
data, meta = body["data"], body["meta"]
print(data, meta["credits_charged"])

package main

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	q := url.Values{}
	q.Set("handle", "@NASA")
	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://staging.socialtap.dev/v1/youtube/profile?"+q.Encode(), nil)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	req.Header.Set("x-api-key", os.Getenv("SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"))
	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()
	var body struct {
		Data  json.RawMessage `json:"data"`
		Meta  map[string]any  `json:"meta"`
		Error *struct {
			Code    string `json:"code"`
			Message string `json:"message"`
		} `json:"error"`
	}
	if err := json.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	if body.Error != nil {
		log.Fatalf("%s: %s", body.Error.Code, body.Error.Message)
	}
	fmt.Println(string(body.Data), body.Meta["credits_charged"])
}

Parameters

Name	Type	Description	Example
`handle` required	`string` max 2,048 chars	YouTube channel: a handle with or without the @ (NASA, @NASA), any channel link (youtube.com/@NASA, youtube.com/channel/UC…, the legacy youtube.com/c/<name>, youtube.com/user/<name> and youtube.com/<name> links, with any tab or view after them such as /videos, /playlists, /posts or /about, and m. or music. hosts), a bare UC… channel ID, or c/<name>, user/<name> or vanity/<name>. Handles are case-insensitive. A bare string is always a handle, even one shaped like a video ID.	`@NASA`

handle takes YouTube profile links. A link of another kind or platform fails free with invalid_input, naming the endpoint that takes it. Parameters not listed here are rejected (with a suggestion for a likely typo), so a misspelled one never silently changes nothing: see Requests.

Every endpoint also accepts max_age, fields.

Example response

A 200 response is {data, meta}: data is a profile object, meta describes the request (meta fields).

200 OK

{
  "data": {
    "approximate_fields": [
      "created_at",
      "metrics.follower_count"
    ],
    "avatar_url": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/eIf5fNPcIcj9ig-wZBeq4stFy1lgjWTW1nLT5dYlFkHZprZ03QBiMcbpwNMB6XSBjrSFGtAGQg=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
    "banner_url": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/y8Srh-oCcilLvBO8jAPI546m1bn0puA5DIvQiBZ1cSxc_rZfKxKSFlTCtoCQCtB6viUf1NGsaQ=w2560-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a8-k-c0xffffffff-no-nd-rj",
    "bio": "NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.\n\nTo do that, we have worked around the world—and off it—for more than 60 years, searching for answers to fundamental questions about our place in the universe. We're expl…",
    "category": null,
    "country_code": null,
    "created_at": "2008-06-03T07:00:00Z",
    "display_name": "NASA",
    "external_links": [
      {
        "title": "nasa.gov",
        "url": "https://www.nasa.gov"
      },
      {
        "title": "X",
        "url": "https://x.com/nasa"
      },
      {
        "title": "Facebook",
        "url": "https://www.facebook.com/NASA"
      }
    ],
    "id": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
    "is_private": false,
    "is_verified": true,
    "location": null,
    "metrics": {
      "follower_count": 15100000,
      "following_count": null,
      "post_count": 6194,
      "total_like_count": null,
      "total_view_count": 1132473139
    },
    "platform": "youtube",
    "platform_specific": {
      "youtube": {
        "is_business_email_listed": null,
        "is_official_artist_channel": false,
        "is_subscriber_count_hidden": false,
        "keywords": [
          "nasa",
          "space",
          "iss"
        ]
      }
    },
    "type": "unknown",
    "unknown_fields": [],
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA",
    "username": "NASA"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "req_3f9c2a7d1e8b4c6a9f0e2d4b6a8c0e1f",
    "platform": "youtube",
    "source": "api",
    "is_cached": false,
    "credits_charged": 1,
    "latency_ms": 0,
    "fetched_at": "2026-10-25T12:00:00Z",
    "input": {
      "kind": "profile",
      "id": "UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ",
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@NASA"
    },
    "credits_remaining": 9999,
    "client_request_id": null,
    "warnings": [],
    "mode": "live"
  }
}

Long arrays and strings are shortened for display; real responses are complete.

Response fields

data follows the shared Profile schema, identical on every platform; fields only YouTube has are under platform_specific.youtube.

Field	Type	Description
`data.platform`	`string`	Platform ID (tiktok, youtube, …).
`data.id`	`string`	Platform-native account ID (string; YouTube UC…, Reddit without t2_).
`data.username`	`string` or `null`	Handle without the @; null when the account has none.
`data.display_name`	`string` or `null`	Display name, channel title or page name; null when empty or not exposed.
`data.url`	`string` (uri)	Canonical profile URL.
`data.type`	`string`	Coarse account kind, as the platform labels it; unknown when it does not (TikTok labels organizations only). New values may be added; treat unknown values as unknown. One of `person`, `organization`, `community`, `unknown`
`data.bio`	`string` or `null`	Profile bio, channel description or page about text; null when empty or not exposed.
`data.avatar_url`	`string` (uri) or `null`	Profile picture URL (largest available). Platform CDN URLs can expire within hours.
`data.banner_url`	`string` (uri) or `null`	Header or cover image URL.
`data.is_verified`	`boolean` or `null`	Platform verification badge; null where the platform has no badge.
`data.is_private`	`boolean` or `null`	True when the account's posts are not public.
`data.category`	`string` or `null`	Platform category label (e.g. Musician, Media & Entertainment), as shown; not normalized. Often set only for business or creator accounts.
`data.external_links`	`object[]`	Links in the bio or channel links; [] if none or not exposed.
`data.external_links[].url`	`string` (uri)	Link target, absolute (https:// is added where the platform stores the link without a scheme).
`data.external_links[].title`	`string` or `null`	Link label shown by the platform.
`data.location`	`string` or `null`	Self-declared location text.
`data.country_code`	`string` or `null`	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country the platform states for the account.
`data.created_at`	`string` (date-time) or `null`	Account creation or join date, RFC 3339 UTC (some platforms give only the day: see approximate_fields).
`data.metrics`	`object`	Counts at fetch time; null = hidden or not exposed, 0 = zero.
`data.metrics.follower_count`	`integer` or `null`	Followers or subscribers.
`data.metrics.following_count`	`integer` or `null`	Accounts this profile follows.
`data.metrics.post_count`	`integer` or `null`	Posts or videos as the platform counts them on the profile (for a private account, posts the caller cannot see).
`data.metrics.total_like_count`	`integer` or `null`	Likes received across all of the profile's posts (not likes given).
`data.metrics.total_view_count`	`integer` or `null`	Lifetime views across all of the profile's posts.
`data.platform_specific`	`object`	Fields only this platform has, under its ID (platform_specific.<platform>); each null when unknown.
`data.platform_specific.youtube`	`object` or `null`	A YouTube channel's own fields (core/profile_youtube.go).
`data.platform_specific.youtube.keywords`	`string[]`	The channel's keywords as its owner wrote them, a quoted phrase as one keyword; [] when it has none (listed in unknown_fields when the source cannot see them).
`data.platform_specific.youtube.is_official_artist_channel`	`boolean` or `null`	True for an Official Artist Channel (the note badge after its name), false for any other channel; null when the page shows no badge row (YouTube's built-in channels).
`data.platform_specific.youtube.is_subscriber_count_hidden`	`boolean` or `null`	True when the channel hides its subscriber count (metrics.follower_count is then null; neither its About panel nor its header shows one), false when YouTube shows it; null when that cannot be told (no About panel or header seen).
`data.platform_specific.youtube.is_business_email_listed`	`boolean` or `null`	True when the channel lists a business email (shown to signed-in users only; the address is not returned); null otherwise, since YouTube shows nothing for a channel without one.
`data.approximate_fields`	`string[]`	JSON paths of values rounded by the platform or parsed from display text (e.g. metrics.follower_count). A list path (external_links) means the list may be incomplete. [] when all exact.
`data.unknown_fields`	`string[]`	JSON paths of lists whose [] means unknown rather than none (a source that cannot see them); null already means unknown for every other field. [] when every list is known.

Pricing

You pay only for successful requests. The price depends on which source produced the result, reported as meta.source; sources are tried cheapest first, in the order Platform API → Public page.

Source	Price per successful request	Per 1,000 requests
Any source	1 credit	$0.75–$1.45

meta.source	Source	What it means
`api`	Platform API	The platform's public, logged-out API.
`page`	Public page	Data embedded in the platform's public web page.

Your balance must be at least 1 credit to start a request; with less, it is refused with insufficient_credits (HTTP 402) and costs nothing. Only that minimum is set aside when the request starts.

meta.credits_charged and the x-credits-charged header show what you paid. How credits work · Packs

Errors

Errors cost nothing. Codes marked “Yes, later” under Retry can succeed on a later attempt; the others return the same answer every time.

Code	HTTP	Retry	Meaning	What to do
`invalid_input`	400	No	The request parameters are missing or malformed, or the URL is not a supported link for this endpoint.	Fix the parameter named in param (the message says how); for a link of the wrong kind, call the endpoint the message names.
`unauthorized`	401	No	The x-api-key header is missing, unknown or revoked (or, on the dashboard's routes, the session cookie is missing or expired).	Send a valid API key in the x-api-key header; without one, get a key at details.signup_url (AI agents: POST details.agent_signup_url).
`forbidden`	403	No	The API key is valid but may not make this request: its account is suspended, its scopes do not include the route, it is waiting for its owner's email confirmation, it is past its expiry, or the request came from an IP its allowlist does not include. A running job stops the same way when its account is suspended or the key that created it is revoked or expires. It is about the key, never the item (a private item is private_or_unavailable, also 403): branch on the code.	Do what details.reason says: if suspended, contact support; otherwise use a key whose scopes cover the route (details.required_scope), have the owner confirm the emailed link, create a new key, or call from an allowed IP.
`insufficient_credits`	402	No	The account does not have enough credits for this request.	Buy credits (a human pays: details.purchase_url, or details.checkout makes a checkout link), then repeat the request; do not retry automatically.
`spend_limit_reached`	402	No	The API key reached its spend limit for the current period; the account may still have credits.	Wait until details.resets_at or raise the key's spend limit (PATCH /v1/api_keys/{id}); do not retry automatically.
`rate_limited`	429	Yes, later	The account exceeded its runaway-protection ceiling: plans do not limit request rate, but a high per-account safety ceiling stops broken client loops. Support raises it on request. Without an API key (signup, the MCP server's tool listing and find_endpoint), requests are limited per IP address instead.	Wait for the number of seconds in the retry-after header, then retry; ask support to raise the ceiling if your sustained traffic needs more (calls without an API key: use one).
`not_found`	404	No	The item does not exist or was deleted.	Check the URL or ID; do not retry.
`private_or_unavailable`	403	No	The item exists but is private, age- or region-gated, or requires a login to view. It shares 403 with forbidden (which is about the key): branch on the code.	Only public items can be fetched; do not retry.
`upstream_blocked`	503	Yes, later	The platform refused every attempt.	Retry later with backoff; failed requests are free.
`upstream_error`	502	Yes, later	The platform failed or returned something unexpected.	Retry with backoff; failed requests are free.
`overloaded`	503	Yes, later	SocialTap was momentarily at capacity and did not start the request: nothing was fetched or charged.	Retry after the number of seconds in the retry-after header; failed requests are free.
`internal`	500	Yes, later	Unexpected SocialTap error.	Retry with backoff; contact support with the request_id if it persists.

Codes: invalid_input, unauthorized, forbidden, insufficient_credits, spend_limit_reached, rate_limited, not_found, private_or_unavailable, upstream_blocked, upstream_error, overloaded, internal (each one's meaning and retry rule: error codes).

not_found and private_or_unavailable are item-level: the request was fine, the item can't be returned.

Test mode

A key starting with st_test_ gets recorded responses, free and the same every time (test mode). These inputs return their recording; any other input returns the example above.

Input	Answer
`cocomelon`	200 OK
`UCzuqhhs6NWbgTzMuM09WKDQ`	200 OK
`UCrpQ4p1Ql_hG8rKXIKM1MOQ`	200 OK
`gaming`	200 OK
`UCtFRv9O2AHqOZjjynzrv-xg`	200 OK
`live`	200 OK
`UC-9-kyTW8ZkZNDHQJ6FgpwQ`	200 OK
`news`	200 OK
`UCEgdi0XIXXZ-qJOFPf4JSKw`	200 OK
`UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA`	200 OK
`nasa`	200 OK
`UCzucOGEnILK5cAdUUVCIefg`	200 OK
`s`	200 OK
`mrbeast`	200 OK
`abcd`	200 OK
`vdud`	200 OK
`ドラえもんチャンネル`	200 OK
`pewdiepie`	200 OK
`aljazeera`	200 OK
`qwerty`	200 OK
`UCwZEU0wAwIyZb4x5G_KJp2w`	200 OK
`UCF0pVplsI8R5kcAqgtoRqoA`	403 `private_or_unavailable`
`tv`	403 `private_or_unavailable`
`UCaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa`	404 `not_found`
`rickastleyvevo`	200 OK
`hikakintv`	200 OK
`dudeperfect`	200 OK
`UCvsye7V9psc-APX6wV1twLg`	404 `not_found`

Magic inputs: send one of these as handle to get that error.

Error	Value
`invalid_input`	`socialtap_test_invalid_input`
`insufficient_credits`	`socialtap_test_insufficient_credits`
`spend_limit_reached`	`socialtap_test_spend_limit_reached`
`rate_limited`	`socialtap_test_rate_limited`
`not_found`	`socialtap_test_not_found`
`private_or_unavailable`	`socialtap_test_private_or_unavailable`
`upstream_blocked`	`socialtap_test_upstream_blocked`
`upstream_error`	`socialtap_test_upstream_error`
`overloaded`	`socialtap_test_overloaded`
`internal`	`socialtap_test_internal`

FAQ

How much does the YouTube Channel API cost?

1 credit, charged only for successful requests. SocialTap credits cost $0.75–$1.45 per 1,000 depending on the pack.

Am I charged for failed requests?

No. Requests that return an error cost 0 credits. Responses served from the cache are free too.