What's new in YTAPI

Shorts and live replays in exports

Channel exports now include regular videos, Shorts, and live stream replays organized into videos/, shorts/, and live/ subfolders within the zip file. Each type also gets its own combined transcript file for AI tools.

videos/0001 <title> [<video id>].md
shorts/0002 <title> [<video id>].md
live/0003 <title> [<video id>].md
All transcripts - videos.md
All transcripts - shorts.md
All transcripts - live.md
index.csv
README.txt

Read the channel videos docs

List Shorts with tab=shorts

List a YouTube channel's Shorts specifically with pagination through the channel videos endpoint by adding the tab=shorts query parameter.

curl "https://api.ytapi.dev/v1/channels/UCBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ/videos?tab=shorts" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $YTAPI_API_KEY"

Channel videos API reference

Also new

• In-app satisfaction ratings for completed exports, awarding 50 credits on first review.
• Dynamic tab title alerts when channel exports finish in background tabs.
• This changelog, with an RSS feed.

Improved

• Paste a /videos, /shorts, or /streams link into the export field to narrow channel exports to one tab.
• The export Look up button stands out more, and the link field fits better on phones.

Fixed

• A double tap on Google or GitHub sign-in no longer starts two sign-ins.
• Dropdown arrows no longer sit against the right edge of the field.

The Chrome extension

Read transcripts directly on YouTube in a side panel next to the video, click a line to jump to that moment, copy or download (Markdown, text, SRT, JSON), and summarize with ChatGPT, Claude, or Grok. Bulk-export whole playlists and channels with an interactive video picker.

Install the Chrome extension

Fixed

• Adding YTAPI as a connector in Claude works again.
• The 6-digit sign-in code boxes adapt to fit smaller mobile viewports without overflowing.

Channel and playlist exports

Export transcripts for an entire YouTube channel or playlist, up to 5,000 videos, as a structured zip archive delivered by email. Every export includes individual files plus combined transcripts ready for NotebookLM and AI analysis.

Read the bulk export announcement

Also new

• Export any public playlist or hand-picked video list directly from your dashboard.

Improved

• The MCP get_transcript tool supports returning raw SRT or VTT formatting.
• Official Python and JavaScript SDKs add methods for comments and heatmap analysis (SDK docs).
• Clearer errors: a 401 explains where to get a key, and an invalid HTTP method returns 405.
• Fewer failed requests when YouTube blocks a fetch.

Fixed

• Videos with dubbed audio tracks default to captions in the original spoken language.

YTAPI in Claude and ChatGPT

Connect YTAPI to Claude, ChatGPT, and other MCP clients by signing in with your account, without needing to copy and paste API keys.

Read the Claude setup guide or the MCP agent setup docs

Free transcript tools

Extract YouTube transcripts and download SRT or VTT subtitles directly in your browser without signing up or creating an account.

Try the free YouTube transcript generator

Comments and heatmap

Fetch video comments with replies, or retrieve YouTube's "most replayed" graph to identify peak engagement moments.

curl "https://api.ytapi.dev/v1/videos/dQw4w9WgXcQ/heatmap" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $YTAPI_API_KEY"

Explore the heatmap docs and comments API

Also new

• Official SDKs are published: ytapi-sdk on PyPI and @ytapi/sdk on npm (SDK docs).
• Remote MCP tools added for get_comments, get_channel, get_video_details, and get_video_heatmap.
• Video info returns comment counts, live status, subscriber counts, hashtags, links, music, and related videos (video info docs).

Improved

• Batch requests can be safely retried without being billed twice.
• Larger burst allowances for high-concurrency workloads.
• Rate-limit and balance errors clearly explain how to resolve them.
• Missing caption errors list all available languages on the video.
• Email alerts notify you when your paid credit balance runs low.

Fixed

• Channel video listings display view counts and upload age reliably.

Sign in with an email code

Log in or create an account using a 6-digit code delivered to your inbox, with no password to remember. Google and GitHub OAuth remain available.

Sign in to your account

Also new

• AI agents can create accounts and retrieve API keys on behalf of users via the agent sign-up flow.

Improved

• New accounts receive 200 free credits on sign-up with no credit card required.
• Free API keys allow 1 request per second and 100 requests per day, lifted by any credit pack.
• Transcripts default to the spoken language of the video, or pass ["en", "*"] to prioritize English in transcript extraction.

Transcript API

Fetch captions for any public YouTube video as plain text, SRT, VTT, Markdown, or word timings in milliseconds. Requests are billed only when transcripts succeed, and credits never expire.

curl "https://api.ytapi.dev/v1/transcripts?video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&format=srt" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $YTAPI_API_KEY"

Read the transcript extraction docs

Remote MCP server

Connect AI agents in Claude, Cursor, Codex, or custom clients directly to YouTube transcripts without running a local subprocess.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ytapi": {
      "url": "https://api.ytapi.dev/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Set up the MCP connector

Also new

• Video info, playlists, channels, search and search suggestions without Google Cloud setup.
• Send up to 100 videos in one batch request.
• Failed calls are free.

Fixed

• Word-level timestamps are real word timings, not estimates.
• Channel handles with redirects resolve cleanly.