# YouTube Channel ID Extractor (`codingfrontend/youtube-channel-id-extractor`) Actor

Extract YouTube channel IDs effortlessly! Converts channel URLs to channel IDs, supporting @handle and traditional URL formats. Perfect for YouTube API integration, analytics, and channel management.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/codingfrontend/youtube-channel-id-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Coding Frontned](https://apify.com/codingfrontend) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, Videos
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.99 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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 Channel ID Extractor

Extract YouTube channel IDs effortlessly! This powerful actor automatically converts YouTube channel URLs to channel IDs, supporting both @handle and traditional URL formats. Perfect for YouTube API integration, analytics, and channel management. 🎥✨

### Features

- **Channel ID extraction** — extracts the unique `UCxxxxxx` channel ID from any YouTube channel URL
- **Multiple URL formats** — supports `@handle`, `/channel/UCxxx`, `/user/username`, bare usernames
- **Rich metadata** — subscriber count, video count, total views, joined date, country, description, keywords
- **Avatar & banner** — extracts high-resolution avatar and banner images
- **Batch processing** — process up to 1000 channel URLs in a single run
- **Deduplication** — skips already-seen channel IDs

### Input Parameters

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `channelUrls` | array | *(required)* | List of YouTube channel URLs |
| `maxItems` | integer | `50` | Maximum number of channels to process |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | — | Apify proxy config |

#### Example INPUT.json

```json
{
    "channelUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie",
        "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"
    ],
    "maxItems": 50
}
```

### Output Fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `channelId` | string | Unique YouTube channel ID (UCxxxxxxxxx) |
| `channelName` | string | Channel display name |
| `channelHandle` | string | @handle username |
| `canonicalUrl` | string | Canonical channel URL |
| `subscriberCount` | string | Subscriber count (e.g. "485M subscriber") |
| `videoCount` | string | Total video count |
| `viewCount` | string | Total view count |
| `description` | string | Channel description |
| `isVerified` | boolean | Whether channel is verified |
| `country` | string | Channel's country |
| `joinedDate` | string | Date channel was created |
| `keywords` | string | Channel keywords/tags |
| `avatar` | string | Avatar image URL |
| `bannerUrl` | string | Banner image URL |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp of scrape |

# Actor input Schema

## `channelUrls` (type: `array`):

List of YouTube channel URLs. Supports @handle format (https://www.youtube.com/@channelname), /channel/UCxxx, /user/username, or just channel names.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of channels to process.

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

Proxy settings for the scraper.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "channelUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie"
    ],
    "maxItems": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("codingfrontend/youtube-channel-id-extractor").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 = {
    "channelUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie",
    ],
    "maxItems": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("codingfrontend/youtube-channel-id-extractor").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call codingfrontend/youtube-channel-id-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=codingfrontend/youtube-channel-id-extractor",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/Buf53AzWCm2PDYc0I/builds/rsDmZumczpBPiZnow/openapi.json