# 🔥 YouTube Shorts Scraper (`powerai/youtube-shorts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape YouTube Shorts from any channel. Get video URL, caption, views, likes, comments, duration, and channel info in clean JSON.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/powerai/youtube-shorts-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [PowerAI](https://apify.com/powerai) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $7.99 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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 Shorts Scraper

Extract YouTube Shorts from one or more channels. Get video URL, caption, timestamp, views, likes, comments, duration, thumbnails, and basic channel info in clean JSON.

### ✨ Key Features

- 🎬 Scrape Shorts from **usernames or channel URLs**
- ❤️ Views, likes, and comment counts
- 📝 Title, caption, duration, and hashtags
- 👤 Channel name, handle, URL, and subscriber count
- 📅 Optional **posted-after** date / relative filter
- 🔀 Sort by newest, popular, or oldest
- 📋 Structured JSON output, streamed while the run is in progress

### 💪 Why Choose This Actor?

- **Focused**: Built specifically for YouTube Shorts extraction
- **Flexible**: Multiple channels in one run
- **Efficient**: Results are pushed continuously while the job runs
- **Structured**: Renamed, integration-friendly field names
- **Reliable**: Stable public Shorts data extraction

### 🎯 Perfect For

- 📊 Creator and competitor Shorts research
- 🔥 Trend and engagement monitoring
- 🏢 Brand mention and content tracking
- 🤖 LLM / RAG pipelines that need Shorts metadata

### 📝 Input Requirements

- `targets` (required): Channel usernames and/or channel URLs
- `maxShortsPerChannel` (optional): Max Shorts per channel. Default: `25`
- `postedAfter` (optional): Only Shorts newer than a date or relative value
- `sortBy` (optional): `newest` (default), `popular`, or `oldest`

#### Input Example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "nasa",
    "vsauce"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 25,
  "sortBy": "newest"
}
```

#### Output Example

```json
{
  "shortId": "gnuiMgTzKMQ",
  "shortUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gnuiMgTzKMQ",
  "title": "ASMR Satisfying sounds #shorts",
  "views": 1180,
  "likeCount": 198,
  "commentCount": 0,
  "publishedAt": "2025-06-24T10:01:00.000Z",
  "duration": "00:00:26",
  "channelName": "Coco Creator Rainbow",
  "channelHandle": "rainbowicecream9780",
  "subscriberCount": 1390000,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gnuiMgTzKMQ/maxres2.jpg",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-21T06:20:00.000Z"
}
```

### 🚀 How to Use

1. Add one or more channel usernames or URLs to `targets`
2. Optionally set `maxShortsPerChannel`, `postedAfter`, and `sortBy`
3. Click **Start** and download results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML

### 📌 Notes

- If a channel has no Shorts or is invalid, an error row may appear in the dataset (`isError: true`) instead of failing the whole run
- Setting `postedAfter` forces newest sorting upstream
- Free users of this actor have run and result-size limits; upgrade for unlimited usage

# Actor input Schema

## `targets` (type: `array`):

Channel usernames (with or without @) or channel URLs, e.g. nasa or https://www.youtube.com/@nasa.

## `maxShortsPerChannel` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of Shorts to scrape from each channel.

## `postedAfter` (type: `string`):

Only include Shorts published on or after this date. Use YYYY-MM-DD / ISO, or a relative value (e.g. 1 day, 2 weeks, 3 months). When set, sort is forced to newest upstream.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Maps to the sorting options on the channel Shorts tab.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "nasa",
    "vsauce"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 25,
  "sortBy": "newest"
}
```

# 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 = {
    "targets": [
        "nasa",
        "vsauce"
    ],
    "maxShortsPerChannel": 25,
    "sortBy": "newest"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("powerai/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 = {
    "targets": [
        "nasa",
        "vsauce",
    ],
    "maxShortsPerChannel": 25,
    "sortBy": "newest",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("powerai/youtube-shorts-scraper").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 '{
  "targets": [
    "nasa",
    "vsauce"
  ],
  "maxShortsPerChannel": 25,
  "sortBy": "newest"
}' |
apify call powerai/youtube-shorts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/6617sbJdjdiPatBaS/builds/Y8L7nl4fwuwmc0NAl/openapi.json