# YouTube Shorts Scraper for Trends & Channels (`runtime/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube Shorts from channels or direct URLs and extract titles, views, likes, comments, hashtags, descriptions, transcripts, and automation-ready trend signals.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/runtime/youtube-shorts-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [scraping automation](https://apify.com/runtime) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, Automation
- **Stats:** 67 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 2 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 2.59 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

from $35.00 / 1,000 shorts results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## YouTube Shorts Scraper for Trends & Channels

Monitor YouTube Shorts from channels or direct URLs and extract titles, views, likes, rankings, hashtags, and engagement signals.

### Who this is for

- Short-form video researchers
- Social media teams
- Trend monitoring workflows

### What it helps you do

- Collect Shorts from channels or direct URLs
- Rank videos by position and performance
- Extract engagement and trend signals for dashboards

### Inputs you can use

- YouTube channel or Shorts URLs
- Maximum videos
- Comment and transcript options

### Data you get

- rank
- video title
- Shorts URL
- views
- likes
- comments
- hashtags
- channel
- engagement rate
- scraped date

### How to get better results

- Start with a narrow, specific query or a small list of source URLs.
- Use realistic limits for the first run, then increase the volume once the output looks right.
- Keep source URLs, dates, and location context when you need repeatable market monitoring.
- Review a few sample records before connecting the dataset to a larger workflow.

### Notes

- Results depend on what the public source exposes at run time.
- Some pages may hide, delay, rename, or remove fields, so individual records can have partial data.
- Use the built-in output table to inspect results before exporting to spreadsheets, dashboards, or automation tools.

### Support

If a run returns unexpected data, open an issue from the Actor page with the input used, the run ID, and the result you expected.

# Actor input Schema

## `channel` (type: `string`):

A single YouTube channel URL (e.g., "https://www.youtube.com/@Dior") or a direct short URL (e.g., "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u6ErkF-9HKc"). The actor appends "/shorts" for channel URLs when needed. Use 'channels' for multiple channels.

## `channels` (type: `array`):

Array of YouTube channel URLs to scrape. Each channel will be processed sequentially. If provided, 'channel' parameter is ignored. Format: \["https://www.youtube.com/@Channel1", "https://www.youtube.com/@Channel2"]

## `get_details` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, opens each video page to collect descriptions, likes and comments. Disable for faster, more reliable monitoring runs.

## `include_channel_details` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, captures the About tab once (description, links, joined date, stats) and attaches it to every item.

## `max_videos` (type: `integer`):

The maximum number of videos to load per channel.

## `webhook_url` (type: `string`):

Optional webhook URL to send results to Make.com in real-time. Leave empty to use default Apify dataset.

## `batch_size` (type: `integer`):

Number of videos to process in each batch (useful for Make.com rate limiting). Default: 10

## `delay_between_batches` (type: `integer`):

Delay in milliseconds between processing batches (helps with Make.com rate limits). Default: 1000

## `video_timeout_secs` (type: `integer`):

Maximum seconds to wait when loading an individual video page. Default: 15 (min 5 / max 45).

## `max_request_retries` (type: `integer`):

Advanced: retries for the channel listing page. Default is 1 to handle transient YouTube navigation timeouts without producing failed dataset items.

## `oldest_post_date` (type: `string`):

Filter videos by oldest upload date (YYYY-MM-DD format). Only videos uploaded on or after this date will be included.

## `newest_post_date` (type: `string`):

Filter videos by newest upload date (YYYY-MM-DD format). Only videos uploaded on or before this date will be included.

## `max_comments_per_video` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of comments to extract per video. Default: 10, Max: 100. Higher values take more time.

## `extract_duration` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, extracts video duration in seconds and ISO format (e.g., 00:00:26).

## `calculate_engagement` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, calculates engagement metrics (rate, score, category) based on likes, comments, and views.

## `extract_transcript` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, extracts video transcript/subtitles if available. Opens transcript panel and extracts text content with language detection.

## `request_handler_timeout_secs` (type: `integer`):

Advanced: maximum seconds for processing one channel request. Keep high for larger runs.

## `navigation_timeout_secs` (type: `integer`):

Advanced: maximum seconds for page navigation before retry/fallback. Fast mode defaults to 60; detail mode automatically uses at least 120 seconds for reliability.

## `time_buffer_secs` (type: `integer`):

Advanced: stop processing this many seconds before the Actor timeout to save partial results instead of timing out.

## `useApifyProxy` (type: `boolean`):

Enable Apify Proxy. Recommended for cloud runs; disable for local smoke tests without an Apify proxy.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Advanced Apify Proxy or custom proxy settings.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channel": "https://www.youtube.com/@Dior/shorts",
  "get_details": false,
  "include_channel_details": false,
  "max_videos": 20,
  "batch_size": 10,
  "delay_between_batches": 1000,
  "video_timeout_secs": 15,
  "max_request_retries": 1,
  "oldest_post_date": "2025-01-01",
  "newest_post_date": "2025-12-31",
  "max_comments_per_video": 10,
  "extract_duration": true,
  "calculate_engagement": true,
  "extract_transcript": false,
  "request_handler_timeout_secs": 240,
  "navigation_timeout_secs": 60,
  "time_buffer_secs": 30,
  "useApifyProxy": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {}
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `videos` (type: `string`):

Complete dataset of all scraped YouTube Shorts videos with full metadata

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Quick overview of videos with key fields: ID, title, URL, rank, views, velocity, engagement, performance score, extraction status, hashtags, description, and comments count

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("runtime/youtube-shorts-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("runtime/youtube-shorts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call runtime/youtube-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,runtime/youtube-shorts-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/0ktkc30saXgT9cl3W/builds/7ivPE41h6JeHS7r5f/openapi.json