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

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. 🎥✨

- **URL**: https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-channel-id-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [EasyApi](https://apify.com/easyapi) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, SEO tools, Videos
- **Stats:** 42 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 2 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 1.00 out of 5 stars

## 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 a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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 from channel URLs automatically! 🚀

### 🎯 What does YouTube Channel ID Extractor do?

This actor helps you easily extract YouTube channel IDs from channel URLs. Whether you're working with one channel or hundreds of channels, this tool streamlines the process of obtaining channel IDs - a crucial identifier for YouTube API integration and analytics.

### ✨ Key Features

- 🔍 Extracts channel IDs from YouTube channel URLs (@handle format supported)
- ⚡ High-speed processing with efficient crawling
- 🛡️ Built-in proxy support for reliable extraction
- 🔄 Handles multiple channel URLs in a single run
- 📊 Clean, structured output in JSON format

### 💡 Use Cases

- 🎯 YouTube API integration projects
- 📊 Channel analytics and tracking
- 🤖 Social media automation
- 📈 Marketing research and analysis
- 🔍 Content creator research

### 📥 Input Parameters

The actor accepts the following input parameters:

- `youtubeChannelUrls` (Required): Array of YouTube channel URLs to process
- `proxyConfiguration` (Optional): Proxy settings for the crawler

### 📤 Output

The actor outputs JSON format data containing:
- `youtubeChannelUrl`: Original YouTube channel URL
- `channelId`: Extracted YouTube channel ID

### 💪 Sample Output

```json
{
    "youtubeChannelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/@BoysPlaytime",
    "channelId": "UCCrGfO9A8eLdSsB4bWbMhTg"
}
````

### 📝 Note

Make sure the provided YouTube channel URLs are valid and accessible. The actor supports both legacy channel URLs and new @handle format URLs.

### Related Actors

- 🎥 [YouTube Video Statistics Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-video-statistics-scraper) - Extract comprehensive YouTube video statistics and metadata including views, likes, comments, and more.
- 📊 [YouTube Channel Statistics Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-channel-statistics-scraper) - Get detailed YouTube channel metrics including subscriber count, views, and video count.
- 🎯 [YouTube Hashtag Generator](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-hashtag-generator) - Generate relevant, trending hashtags in 65+ languages for YouTube content optimization.
- 🎯 [YouTube Tags Extractor](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-tags-extractor) - Extract and analyze tags from any YouTube video for SEO optimization.
- 🎯 [YouTube Hashtag Extractor](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-hashtag-extractor) - Automatically extract hashtags from YouTube videos in multiple formats.
- 📝 [YouTube Description Extractor](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-description-extractor) - Extract complete descriptions from YouTube videos for content analysis.
- 🌍 [YouTube Region Restriction Checker](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-region-restriction-checker) - Check video accessibility across 170+ countries.
- 🎥 [YouTube Video Data Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-video-data-scraper) - Extract comprehensive metadata from YouTube videos.
- 📺 [YouTube Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-comments-scraper) - Scrape YouTube video comments with pagination support.
- 🎥 [YouTube Video Metadata Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-video-metadata-scraper) - Extract rich metadata from YouTube videos.
- 🔍 [YouTube Subtitle Search Crawler](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-subtitle-search-crawler) - Discover videos by searching through their subtitles.
- 🎬 [YouTube Trending Videos/Shorts Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-trending-videos-shorts-scraper) - Extract trending videos and shorts from YouTube.
- 📱 [YouTube Channel Shorts Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-channel-shorts-scraper) - Scrape YouTube Shorts from any channel.
- 🎵 [YouTube Music Song Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-music-song-scraper) - Extract song details from YouTube Music search results.
- 🎵 [YouTube Music Video Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-music-video-scraper) - Get video information from YouTube Music search results.
- 🎵 [YouTube Music Artist Scraper](https://apify.com/easyapi/youtube-music-artist-scraper) - Scrape artist information from YouTube Music search results.

# Actor input Schema

## `youtubeChannelUrls` (type: `array`):

List of YouTube channel URLs to extract IDs from

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

Proxy settings for the crawler

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "youtubeChannelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@BoysPlaytime"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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("easyapi/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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("easyapi/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 '{}' |
apify call easyapi/youtube-channel-id-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "YouTube Channel ID Extractor 🎥",
        "description": "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. 🎥✨",
        "version": "0.0",
        "x-build-id": "Cb2GVTjfoXIelxc9i"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/easyapi~youtube-channel-id-extractor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-easyapi-youtube-channel-id-extractor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/easyapi~youtube-channel-id-extractor/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-easyapi-youtube-channel-id-extractor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/easyapi~youtube-channel-id-extractor/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-easyapi-youtube-channel-id-extractor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "youtubeChannelUrls"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "youtubeChannelUrls": {
                        "title": "YouTube Channel URLs",
                        "uniqueItems": true,
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "List of YouTube channel URLs to extract IDs from",
                        "default": [
                            "https://www.youtube.com/@BoysPlaytime"
                        ],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy Configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Proxy settings for the crawler",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": false
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```
