API reference
YouTube Channel API
Channel profile: title, handle, subscriber/view/video counts, avatar, banner and the uploads playlist id.
Endpoint
GET/v1/youtube/channellive · proven1 creditParameters
Query parameters
Useful optional inputs
fit— Use fit=goal with a task description to replace confidently irrelevant records with recall stubs and reduce agent context.No fit surcharge; full evidence is retained for 24 hours when stored, and the response size target is soft.
dry_run— Read a free estimate before fetching sources or scheduling paid work.Zero credits; cache status and availability are snapshots rather than guarantees.
| Name | Required | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
channelId | no | Channel id (UC…). One of channelId, handle, forUsername or url is required | UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw |
handle | no | Channel @handle (with or without the @) | @googledevelopers |
forUsername | no | Legacy channel username | GoogleDevelopers |
url | no | Any channel URL (/channel/UC…, /@handle, /user/…, /c/…) | https://www.youtube.com/@googledevelopers |
hl | no | BCP-47 language for localized snippet text | en |
dry_run | no | Read a zero-credit estimate without fetching sources, running AI, or reserving credits. Cache status is a snapshot, not a guarantee at execution. Accepted values: 1, 0, true, false. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable. | 1 |
judgments | no | Add bounded AI labels to eligible returned records (default on). off preserves the original data shape. Unclassified records remain present; labels depend on evidence, time, capacity and the existing request budget. No label surcharge. Accepted values: on, off. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable. | on |
label | no | Set none to disable labels; default enables the endpoint’s label set. Equivalent to judgments=off. Accepted values: default, none. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable. | none |
label_evidence | no | Include exact supporting sentences and zero-based sentence indexes when a label has validated evidence. No extra charge or change to decisions. Accepted values: 1, 0, true, false. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable. | 1 |
exclude | no | Optionally remove confidently labelled engagement bait. Uncertain and unclassified records stay; removed IDs and an owner-bound recall reference are returned. Accepted values: engagement_bait. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable. | engagement_bait |
fit | no | Use goal to replace confidently irrelevant records with recall stubs. Keeps first, last, relevant and uncertain records; preserves order. Full evidence is stored for 24 hours when available. Accepted values: goal. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable. | goal |
goal | no | Required with fit=goal: describe the task in at most 600 characters. Supplied text is task context, never permission to act on posts. | Find concrete product complaints |
tokens | no | Optional soft response target for fit=goal, 256–32000. Safety and evidence retention take priority, so the returned result may exceed it. | 4000 |
Examples
Make the request
curl "https://www.monocrawl.com/v1/youtube/channel?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2F%40googledevelopers" \ -H "x-api-key: mn_your_key_here"
TypeScript
const key = process.env.MONOCRAWL_API_KEY;
if (!key) throw new Error('Set MONOCRAWL_API_KEY on your server.');
const res = await fetch(
"https://www.monocrawl.com/v1/youtube/channel?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2F%40googledevelopers",
{ headers: { "x-api-key": key } },
);
const body = await res.json();
if (!body.success) {
// one error shape for every endpoint — see /docs/errors
throw new Error(`${body.error.type}: ${body.error.message}`);
}
console.log(body.data, "credits left:", body.credits_remaining);Python
import os
import requests
res = requests.get(
"https://www.monocrawl.com/v1/youtube/channel?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2F%40googledevelopers",
headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["MONOCRAWL_API_KEY"]},
timeout=60,
)
body = res.json()
if not body["success"]:
# one error shape for every endpoint — see /docs/errors
raise RuntimeError(f"{body['error']['type']}: {body['error']['message']}")
print(body["data"], "credits left:", body["credits_remaining"])Response
Response fields and example
This example is illustrative, not a captured live response. Variable-cost operations may settle a charge different from the list price below. A successful response puts the platform payload in data and reports the exact credits used, remaining balance, request id and cache status beside it.
{
"success": true,
"platform": "youtube",
"endpoint": "/v1/youtube/channel",
"data": {
"id": "UC_example",
"handle": "@example_channel",
"name": "Example Channel",
"subscribers": 12000,
"subscribers_hidden": false,
"views": 840000,
"video_count": 96
},
"credits_used": 1,
"credits_remaining": 99,
"request_id": "req_…",
"cached": false
}The example is illustrative and shows a documented subset of data. The fields below are optional across supported sources; nullable fields can also be absent. Preserve unknown values and accept additional fields.
Schema basis: reviewed response shaper. See schema coverage and validation limits.
Download the data JSON Schema. Validate response.data, not the whole envelope. A valid shape does not establish that every field or source record was returned.
| Field inside data | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
id | string | null | Source identifier. Preserve its exact string value; do not convert large IDs to numbers. |
handle | string | null | Public account username. |
name | string | null | Display name. |
url | string | null | Original source URL when supplied. |
description | string | null | Channel description. |
country | string | null | Channel country when supplied. |
subscribers | number | null | Public subscribers; can be rounded reported by the source; null or absent is unknown, not zero. |
subscribers_hidden | boolean | null | Whether the source marks subscriber totals hidden. |
views | number | null | Channel views reported by the source; null or absent is unknown, not zero. |
video_count | number | null | Videos reported by the source; null or absent is unknown, not zero. |
uploads_playlist_id | string | null | Source identifier. Preserve its exact string value; do not convert large IDs to numbers. |
_warnings | array | Collection limitations or component warnings. Read before interpreting coverage. |
Failures use the typed error envelope. A confirmed uncharged or refunded failure reports zero; a pending reconciliation can report an unknown charge. Read credits_used and error.details.billing_status, and keep request_id for recovery. Response contract · Error reference