# YouTube Channel ID Finder (`vanity_arias/youtube-channel-id-finder`) Actor

Convert YouTube handles (@name), usernames, or any channel URL into the canonical channel ID (UC…) — plus channel title and subscriber count. Batch input, clean JSON out, failed lookups never charged. No API key, no quota.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/vanity\_arias/youtube-channel-id-finder.md
- **Developed by:** [Nvikelo Nyathi](https://apify.com/vanity_arias) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Developer tools, Videos
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## 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 Finder

Turn YouTube handles (`@MrBeast`), usernames, or any channel URL into the **canonical channel ID (`UC…`)** — the identifier every YouTube API, scraper, and analytics tool actually wants. Batch in, clean JSON out.

Each result also includes the channel title and subscriber count, so you can sanity-check you resolved the right channel.

### Use cases

- **Feeding APIs & scrapers** — the YouTube Data API and most actors need `UC…` IDs, but humans collect handles and URLs. This bridges the gap in bulk.
- **Cleaning creator lists** — turn a messy spreadsheet of channel links into canonical IDs.
- **Deduplication** — handles change; channel IDs don't. Resolve everything to IDs and dedupe reliably.

### Input

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA"
  ]
}
```

Accepts handles (with or without `@`), full channel URLs (`/@handle`, `/channel/UC…`, `/c/…`, `/user/…`), or existing `UC…` IDs (resolved anyway, confirming title + subscribers).

### Output

One dataset item per **successfully resolved** channel — failed lookups are logged and skipped, never charged:

```json
{
  "input": "@MrBeast",
  "channelId": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
  "channelUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
  "title": "MrBeast",
  "subscribers": "506M"
}
```

The run status message reports how many resolved and which inputs failed.

### How it works

Fetches each channel page through Apify residential proxy and reads the canonical channel ID straight from the page markup — no browser, no YouTube API key, no quota. Subscriber counts are YouTube's compact numbers ("1.2M").

### Limitations (honest ones)

- Terminated/renamed channels resolve to nothing — reported as failed, not charged.
- Lookups run sequentially (~1–2s per channel). Fine for hundreds; for tens of thousands, split into parallel runs.

### FAQ

**How do I find a YouTube channel ID?** Paste the channel's handle (`@name`) or any channel URL into this actor — it returns the canonical `UC…` ID plus title and subscriber count. No view-source digging.

**Do old `/user/` and `/c/` URLs work?** Yes — every channel URL shape resolves: `/@handle`, `/channel/UC…`, `/c/…`, `/user/…`, or a bare handle.

**Does it need a YouTube API key?** No. It reads the ID straight from the public channel page through residential proxy — no API key, no quota.

### Related actors

- [YouTube Featured Channels Scraper](https://apify.com/vanity_arias/iris-channel-discovery) — expand a seed channel into its featured channels
- [YouTube Outlier Finder](https://apify.com/vanity_arias/youtube-outlier-finder) — find a channel's breakout videos vs its baseline
- [YouTube Transcript Scraper — Batch + SRT/VTT](https://apify.com/vanity_arias/youtube-transcript-scraper-batch) — bulk transcripts, subtitles, LLM-ready text

# Actor input Schema

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

YouTube handles (`@MrBeast`), bare names, channel IDs, or any channel URLs — one per line.

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

Apify Proxy — residential is used automatically (YouTube blocks datacenter IPs). You normally don't need to touch this.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "channels": [
        "@MrBeast",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("vanity_arias/youtube-channel-id-finder").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 = { "channels": [
        "@MrBeast",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("vanity_arias/youtube-channel-id-finder").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 '{
  "channels": [
    "@MrBeast",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd"
  ]
}' |
apify call vanity_arias/youtube-channel-id-finder --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/cwdAmABF3U39w6v4Z/builds/JF175Ec6vdgRKHqmV/openapi.json