API reference

YouTube Video Comments API

Top-level comment threads on a video; comments-disabled videos surface as 404.

Read as Markdown Use with an AI agent

Endpoint

GET/v1/youtube/video/commentslive · proven1 credit

Try in Playground

Parameters

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.
cursor — Continue the same source traversal with the complete returned cursor.
Saved-result retrieval and a new source page can have different prices; quote the next call.
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
`url`	yes	Video URL or a bare 11-char video id	`https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0`
`order`	no	time for newest first, or relevance for top comments first Accepted values: time, relevance. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable.	`relevance`
`searchTerm`	no	Only comments matching this word or phrase	`great video`
`format`	no	html or plainText comment text Accepted values: html, plainText. Case, spaces, hyphens and underscores are interchangeable.	`plainText`
`max_results`	no	Requested page size, 1–100. The paid primary defaults to 100; the source may return fewer. Keep an explicit size unchanged while paginating.	`100`
`cursor`	no	Opaque page token from a previous response	`QURTSl9pMg`
`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

curl "https://www.monocrawl.com/v1/youtube/video/comments?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9bZkp7q19f0" \
  -H "x-api-key: mn_your_key_here"

TypeScript

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/video/comments?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9bZkp7q19f0",
  { 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

python

import os
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://www.monocrawl.com/v1/youtube/video/comments?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9bZkp7q19f0",
    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.

200 · application/json

{
  "success": true,
  "platform": "youtube",
  "endpoint": "/v1/youtube/video/comments",
  "data": {
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "example_comment",
        "text": "Useful guide",
        "likes": 3,
        "reply_count": 2,
        "replies": [],
        "replies_pagination": {
          "returned": 0,
          "total": 2,
          "complete": false,
          "has_more": true
        }
      }
    ],
    "cursor": null,
    "has_more": null,
    "total": null
  },
  "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
`items`	`array`	Records in this response page.
`items[].id`	`string \| null`	Source identifier. Preserve its exact string value; do not convert large IDs to numbers.
`items[].url`	`string \| null`	Original source URL when supplied.
`items[].text`	`string \| null`	Rendered comment text in the requested format.
`items[].text_original`	`string \| null`	Original comment text.
`items[].author`	`object`	Nested response fields; optional unless explicitly documented.
`items[].author.name`	`string \| null`	Display name.
`items[].author.channel_id`	`string \| null`	Source identifier. Preserve its exact string value; do not convert large IDs to numbers.
`items[].author.channel_url`	`string \| null`	Original source URL when supplied.
`items[].likes`	`number \| null`	Likes reported by the source; null or absent is unknown, not zero.
`items[].reply_count`	`number \| null`	Replies reported by the source; null or absent is unknown, not zero.
`items[].published_at`	`string \| null`	Source publication time, normalized to an ISO date-time when available.
`items[].replies`	`array`	Nested response fields; optional unless explicitly documented.
`items[].replies[].id`	`string \| null`	Source identifier. Preserve its exact string value; do not convert large IDs to numbers.
`items[].replies[].text`	`string \| null`	Reply text.
`items[].replies[].parent_id`	`string \| null`	Source identifier. Preserve its exact string value; do not convert large IDs to numbers.
`items[].replies_pagination`	`object`	Nested response fields; optional unless explicitly documented.
`items[].replies_pagination.returned`	`number \| null`	Included replies reported by the source; null or absent is unknown, not zero.
`items[].replies_pagination.total`	`number \| null`	Reported replies reported by the source; null or absent is unknown, not zero.
`items[].replies_pagination.complete`	`boolean \| null`	Whether the preview contains the reported reply total.
`items[].replies_pagination.has_more`	`boolean \| null`	Whether further replies are reported.
`count`	`number \| null`	Returned row count when supplied; not the full source total.
`cursor`	`string \| null`	Opaque next-page token. A missing token does not prove full history was retrieved.
`has_more`	`boolean \| null`	Source continuation indicator; null means unknown.
`_warnings`	`array`	Collection limitations or component warnings. Read before interpreting coverage.
`total`	`null`	Unknown for this comment-thread listing. Never use the returned page size as the full video comment count.

count is the number of top-level threads in this page; total is unknown. Follow cursor and has_more for pagination. For the video-wide reported comment count, request youtube/video and read comments_count; it is not a count of matching top-level threads or a completeness guarantee.

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

YouTube Video Comments API

Query parameters

Make the request

Response fields and example

Useful next calls

First call in under a minute