YouTube Channel

Look up a YouTube channel using its ID, handle or URL through REST or MCP. Read available channel identity, description and account counts with resource status.

CostAt least 10 credits / call

Try online

POST · https://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channelMCP · social_youtube_channel

What this API does

Look up a YouTube channel using its ID, handle or URL through REST or MCP. Read available channel identity, description and account counts with resource status. The request accepts channelId, handle, url, cacheMaxAge. Its documented result includes channel.avatarUrl, channel.description, channel.handle, channel.id, channel.name, channel.subscriberCount, channel.url, channel.videoCount.

YouTube Channel API use cases

Plan a YouTube Channel request

A researcher checks the published operation description and supplies channelId, handle, url, cacheMaxAge for YouTube Channel. The request stays within the supported parameters rather than assuming other platform capabilities.

Inspect YouTube Channel results

An analyst reviews channel.avatarUrl, channel.description, channel.handle, channel.id, channel.name, channel.subscriberCount, channel.url, channel.videoCount from YouTube Channel for the requested subject. Missing values remain explicit, and the response does not establish complete platform coverage.

Document YouTube Channel observations

A researcher records the inputs and available results from YouTube Channel alongside its published description. The record supports a scoped review without inferring unsupported actions, refresh intervals or broader conclusions.

YouTube Channel API FAQ

What does the YouTube Channel API return?

Look up a YouTube channel using its ID, handle or URL through REST or MCP. Read available channel identity, description and account counts with resource status. The documented output includes channel.avatarUrl, channel.description, channel.handle, channel.id, channel.name, channel.subscriberCount, channel.url, channel.videoCount. It corresponds to the supplied channelId, handle, url, cacheMaxAge. Optional fields can be absent; a missing value should not be interpreted as a measured zero. Example values illustrate the response shape, rather than live account results.

How many credits does the YouTube Channel API cost?

The current documented cost is At least 10 credits / call. This is the same cost shown at the top of this page. If a range or estimate is displayed, the final charge depends on the request. Review your available credits and the pricing page before calling the API, and check API usage records for the actual charge.

How do I call the YouTube Channel API from my app or an MCP client?

Send a POST request to https://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channel with your API key as a Bearer token and the JSON inputs shown in API integration. In a compatible MCP client such as Claude or Cursor, connect Nexscope and call social_youtube_channel. Use the MCP arguments shown in the MCP guide, or switch Online test to MCP to review its request before adding it to your app.

View plans and credits Connect this API with MCP

Try this API

Endpoint

https://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channel

MCP method

social_youtube_channel

Step 1 of 3 · Authenticate

Authentication

All run endpoints require a user API key. Send it as a bearer token in the Authorization header.

Authorization: Bearer nk-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Missing or invalid API keys return an authentication error. Manage keys from .

Step 2 of 3 · Send a request

POSThttps://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channel

Run an API

Send a JSON request body using the parameters described below.

Example request

Replace YOUR_API_KEY, then run this command in your terminal.

curl -X POST 'https://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channel' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "handle": "@YouTube"
}'

Code example

{
  "handle": "@YouTube"
}

Step 3 of 3 · Inspect the result

Check the response

Read code for the request status and data for the result. Open the parameter and response reference for the full field definitions.

HTTP status codes

Code	Description
200	Default HTTP response for both success and many business errors. Only outer JSON code 0 indicates success or asynchronous acceptance; inspect data for the result.
429	Execution admission rate limit; honor Retry-After when present.
503	Execution admission is temporarily unavailable; honor Retry-After when present.
Opt-in	X-Nexscope-Http-Status: semantic maps controller-handled business errors to HTTP status on run and task routes. Pre-authentication failures, such as a missing API key (code 11209), may still return HTTP 200 before this mapping. Always check the outer JSON code; malformed requests and infrastructure failures may also return non-200 HTTP responses.

View parameters & response Try online

All categories/ Social Data

POSThttps://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channel

Run this API

Send a JSON request to execute this API and receive the documented response payload.

Open tester

Endpoint

Method	`POST`
Path	`https://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channel`
Auth	`Bearer API key`
Content-Type	`application/json`

Request parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`cacheMaxAge`	`string`	optional	cacheMaxAge Allowed: 1d, 3d, 7d, 14d, 30d
`channelId`	`string`	optional	channelId Pattern: ^UC[A-Za-z0-9_-]{22}$
`handle`	`string`	optional	handle Minimum length: 1 Maximum length: 101
`url`	`string`	optional	url Minimum length: 1 Maximum length: 2048

One of option 1 — requires channelId

One of option 2 — requires handle

One of option 3 — requires url

Social data contract

Use your Nexscope API key. No supplier credentials are required. Requests reject unknown fields, including pageSize. URLs require HTTPS and an exact supported platform host and resource path. Documented YouTube video URLs may use youtu.be; other short links are unsupported. Check the request schema for supported fields and defaults.

Each request fetches one page. Continue manually with the returned nextCursor, or nextPage for Instagram Reels (pages 1–11). Cursors are opaque, unchanged strings up to 65536 UTF-8 bytes. No automatic pagination, retry, media download or transcription is performed. Repeated requests may purchase data again.

Resource status is independent of HTTP and billing: AVAILABLE, PARTIAL, PRIVATE, RESTRICTED, NOT_FOUND, NO_TRANSCRIPT or UNKNOWN can accompany code 0. Unknown values remain null; arrays remain empty arrays. fetchedAt is the response observation time; sourceFetchedAt is null without source evidence.

usage.billingStatus is NOT_CHARGED, SETTLED or UNKNOWN; chargedCredits is null when unconfirmed. Unknown charges never mean free. Completed lookups have a minimum charge of 10 credits, including cached, no-caption and unavailable-resource results; check API usage records for the actual charge. Parameter errors and unpublished APIs use the standard error envelope; upstream failures use code 13007, rate limits 429 and timeouts 408. Always check code and msg.

Response example

Platform response envelope. code 0 indicates success or acceptance; data contains the business result.

{
  "code": 0,
  "cost": "-1",
  "data": {
    "channel": null,
    "fetchedAt": "2026-10-28T00:00:00Z",
    "platform": "youtube",
    "resourceStatus": "NOT_FOUND",
    "sourceFetchedAt": null,
    "usage": {
      "billingStatus": "UNKNOWN",
      "chargedCredits": null
    }
  },
  "msg": null,
  "time": "2026-01-01 00:00:00",
  "traceId": null,
  "ts": "0"
}

Response fields

Name	Type	Required	Description
`code`	`integer`	required	0 means accepted or successful; nonzero is a platform error.
`cost`	`string`	required	Elapsed milliseconds, never credits; -1 outside web requests.
`data`	`any`	required	Data value used by this API operation.
`msg`	`string \| null`	required	Msg value used by this API operation.
`time`	`string`	required	Server local time: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.
`traceId`	`string \| null`	required	Trace id value used by this API operation.
`ts`	`string`	required	Epoch milliseconds.

Any of option 1 — requires platform, resourceStatus, fetchedAt, sourceFetchedAt, usage, channel

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data`	`object`	required	Data value used by this API operation.
`data.channel`	`any`	required	Channel value used by this API operation.
`data.fetchedAt`	`string`	required	Fetched at value used by this API operation. Format: date-time
`data.platform`	`string`	required	Platform value used by this API operation. Allowed: instagram, youtube, reddit, pinterest
`data.resourceStatus`	`string`	required	Resource status value used by this API operation. Allowed: AVAILABLE, PARTIAL, PRIVATE, RESTRICTED, NOT_FOUND, NO_TRANSCRIPT, UNKNOWN
`data.sourceFetchedAt`	`any`	required	Source fetched at value used by this API operation.
`data.usage`	`object`	required	Usage value used by this API operation.
`data.usage.billingStatus`	`string`	required	Billing status value used by this API operation. Allowed: NOT_CHARGED, SETTLED, UNKNOWN
`data.usage.chargedCredits`	`any`	required	Charged credits value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1 — requires id, handle, name, description, url, avatarUrl, subscriberCount, videoCount, viewCount

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel`	`object`	required	Channel value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.avatarUrl`	`any`	required	Avatar url value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.description`	`any`	required	Description value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.handle`	`any`	required	Handle value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.id`	`any`	required	Id value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.name`	`any`	required	Name value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.subscriberCount`	`any`	required	Subscriber count value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.url`	`any`	required	Url value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.videoCount`	`any`	required	Video count value used by this API operation.
`data.channel.viewCount`	`any`	required	View count value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.avatarUrl`	`string`	required	Avatar url value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.avatarUrl`	`null`	required	Avatar url value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.description`	`string`	required	Description value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.description`	`null`	required	Description value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.handle`	`string`	required	Handle value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.handle`	`null`	required	Handle value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.id`	`string`	required	Id value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.id`	`null`	required	Id value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.name`	`string`	required	Name value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.name`	`null`	required	Name value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.subscriberCount`	`number`	required	Subscriber count value used by this API operation. Minimum: 0

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.subscriberCount`	`null`	required	Subscriber count value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.url`	`string`	required	Url value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.url`	`null`	required	Url value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.videoCount`	`number`	required	Video count value used by this API operation. Minimum: 0

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.videoCount`	`null`	required	Video count value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.viewCount`	`number`	required	View count value used by this API operation. Minimum: 0

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel.viewCount`	`null`	required	View count value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.channel`	`null`	required	Channel value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.sourceFetchedAt`	`string`	required	Source fetched at value used by this API operation. Format: date-time

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.sourceFetchedAt`	`null`	required	Source fetched at value used by this API operation.

Any of option 1

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.usage.chargedCredits`	`number`	required	Charged credits value used by this API operation. Minimum: 0

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data.usage.chargedCredits`	`null`	required	Charged credits value used by this API operation.

Any of option 2

Name	Type	Required	Description
`data`	`null`	required	Data value used by this API operation.

Responses

Code	Description
200	Default HTTP response for both success and many business errors. Only outer JSON code 0 indicates success or asynchronous acceptance; inspect data for the result.
429	Execution admission rate limit; honor Retry-After when present.
503	Execution admission is temporarily unavailable; honor Retry-After when present.
Opt-in	X-Nexscope-Http-Status: semantic maps controller-handled business errors to HTTP status on run and task routes. Pre-authentication failures, such as a missing API key (code 11209), may still return HTTP 200 before this mapping. Always check the outer JSON code; malformed requests and infrastructure failures may also return non-200 HTTP responses.

Data source, freshness, and limitations

Source, freshness, coverage, rate limits, and estimation notes are not specified in this API definition unless they appear in the request or response field documentation above. Do not assume official marketplace data or real-time freshness when it is not explicitly documented.

Step 1 of 2 · Connect your MCP client

MCP

V2 recommended

Connect remote agents through the standard MCP 2025-11-25 Streamable HTTP endpoint. Use OAuth 2.1 Authorization Code with PKCE, or an API key for compatibility.

POST https://api.nexscope.ai/mcp
MCP-Protocol-Version: 2025-11-25
Content-Type: application/json

Authentication

OAuth clients request the mcp:tools scope. The endpoint's 401 response advertises protected-resource metadata for authorization discovery.

Step 2 of 2 · Call the tool

Call a tool

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "tool-call-1",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "social_youtube_channel",
    "arguments": {
      "handle": "@YouTube"
    }
  }
}

Legacy MCP v1

Existing API-key clients can continue using the compatibility endpoint. New integrations should use MCP v2.

GET / POST /mcp/legacy

What can you do with this API?

Data explained and practical use cases

AI Guide

Question

What data can YouTube Channel Details provide, and how might I use it?

AI answer

Retrieves comprehensive YouTube channel profile data including name, avatar images, subscriber count (subscribers), total video and view counts, join date, tags, and linked social accounts like Twitter and Instagram. Accepts a channelId, handle, or full channel URL as input. Returns channel metadata such as country, email, and external store links when available. Contact fields come from the submitted public profile. To request removal of your own information from Scrape Creators results, email

Data category	Documented fields	How to use them
Request	`url`	Provide the required identifiers, filters, or paging inputs listed in the API document.
Response	`data.channel.avatarUrl`, `data.channel.description`, `data.channel.handle`, `data.channel.id`, `data.channel.name`, `data.channel.subscriberCount`, `data.channel.viewCount`	Inspect returned values and source references; availability depends on the request and upstream source.

Review YouTube Channel Details.
- Prompt example: “Retrieve YouTube Channel Details for [public URL]. Summarize only the information actually returned and preserve source links when available. Report private, restricted, missing or partial results explicitly; missing values are not zero.”
Prepare a Snapshot of Returned Public Counts.
- Prompt example: “Retrieve YouTube Channel Details for [public URL] and make a compact table of the public counts actually returned. Keep each count attached to its item or account, label estimates and preserve the observation time when supplied. Do not invent engagement rates, historical growth, unique audience size or missing values.”
Create a Brief From Returned Text.
- Prompt example: “Retrieve YouTube Channel Details for [public URL] and prepare a brief about [my research question] using only text present in the response. Cite the corresponding source links when returned, distinguish quotations from interpretation, and report insufficient text. Do not claim to have read linked pages or infer private information.”

These are suggested workflows, not completed lookups. Report missing, restricted, or partial data explicitly; verify the live response before making a decision.

Online test

Execute the current API with your API key and JSON payload. Online tests use this site's configured API environment; the Endpoint and copyable examples use the public integration address.

One request fetches one page. Copy nextCursor into cursor, or nextPage into page (1–11 for Reels), then run manually. Repeated requests may purchase data again. Completed lookups have a minimum charge of 10 credits, including cached, no-caption, private, restricted and not-found results. Resource status and actual billing status are independent; null credits are unknown, never free. Check usage.billingStatus, usage.chargedCredits and API usage records for the actual charge.

Try it

Send a real request with the same contract shown in the reference.

Endpoint

/youtube/channel

MCP method

social_youtube_channel

API key*

JSON payload*

cURL

curl -X POST \
  https://api.nexscope.ai/youtube/channel \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nk-..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "handle": "@YouTube" }'

Request estimate: Estimating…Usage based. The final charge depends on actual usage. Estimating does not run the API or charge credits.API usage records

Response

No response yet. Run the request to see the response here.

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Read a YouTube channel's community posts with text, images, attached videos and likes when available. Continue with a returned continuationToken.

YouTube Channel Lives

Read live and past streams from a YouTube channel's Live tab, with titles, URLs and available metrics. Continue with a returned continuationToken.

YouTube Channel Playlists

Read a YouTube channel's playlists by handle or channel ID, with titles, thumbnails and video counts. Continue with a returned continuationToken.

YouTube Channel Search

Search within one YouTube channel by handle and keyword using native channel search. Results are not a local filter of the channel's latest videos.