youtube-shorts

YouTube Shorts MCP server

Registry name: io.github.johnisanerd/youtube-shorts. Maintained by AlphaOSINT (Apify developer johnvc, GitHub johnisanerd).

What it does

List the Shorts on a channel (or fetch given Short links) with views, likes, comments, publish time, duration, hashtags and channel statistics, sorted and filtered by date.

When to use it

Short-form video performance for a channel. Use it for creator analytics, trend research and competitor content tracking.

How it works

The server runs on Apify's hosted MCP endpoint, so there is nothing to install or host. Its URL pins one Actor with ?tools=johnvc/youtube-shorts-api, which gives your agent a single tool, johnvc--youtube-shorts-api, whose parameters are the Actor's typed input schema. The agent can call that tool directly without searching for an Actor first, and it can't start other Actors through this server. For general access to the whole Apify Store, use https://mcp.apify.com without the tools parameter.

Pricing

Each tool call runs the Apify Actor johnvc/youtube-shorts-api on your own Apify account and is billed there at the Actor's prices:

Charge	Price (USD)	What it covers
Short	$0.00001	Charged per YouTube Short returned in the dataset (video metrics plus channel stats in one row). Error rows, empty channels and skipped items are not charged.
Date filter	$0.00001	Small extra charge per returned Short, applied only when oldestPostDate is set.

Free-plan rates as of 2026-11-13; paid Apify plans pay less per event. Apify also bills a token amount per run start and stored row ($0.00001, $0.00001). Current prices are on the Actor's page: https://apify.com/johnvc/youtube-shorts-api

Endpoint

• Transport: Streamable HTTP
• URL: https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/youtube-shorts-api
• Auth: Apify OAuth (opens on first use), or the header Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN> (Apify Console → Settings → API & Integrations)

Setup

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http youtube-shorts "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/youtube-shorts-api"

VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)

{
  "servers": {
    "youtube-shorts": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/youtube-shorts-api"
    }
  }
}

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-shorts": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/youtube-shorts-api"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, and paste the URL. Older versions without remote connectors can bridge through mcp-remote in claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-shorts": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=johnvc/youtube-shorts-api"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Tools

Tool	What it does
johnvc--youtube-shorts-api	Runs the Actor with the parameters below and returns the result rows.
get-actor-run	Status of a run the tool started (for long runs).
get-dataset-items	Pages through a run's full output when it is larger than the inline result.
get-key-value-store-record	Reads a record a run stored.
abort-actor-run	Stops a run.

Apify's endpoint adds the four helper tools whenever an Actor tool is loaded.

Parameters of johnvc--youtube-shorts-api

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
channels	array		["siliconimist"]	List YouTube channels to read Shorts from. Use the handle with or without @ (siliconimist, @MrBeast), a channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/@nasa), or a channel id (UC...). Each channel returns up to maxResultsShorts S…
startUrls	array			Paste individual YouTube Short or video links to fetch just those items (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/, watch?v=, or youtu.be/). Optional; combine freely with channels. Up to 200 links per run. The date fi…
maxResultsShorts	integer		10	Limit the number of Shorts returned from each channel (1 to 500). Runs stop at 1,000 Shorts in total.
sortChannelShortsBy	string: NEWEST, POPULAR, OLDEST			Choose the order of a channel's Shorts tab: NEWEST (default), POPULAR, or OLDEST. Maps to the three sort buttons on the channel page. Ignored (forced to NEWEST) when oldestPostDate is set.
oldestPostDate	string			Return only Shorts published on or after this date. Use an absolute date (2025-06-03) or a relative span such as 7 days, 2 weeks, or 3 months. Setting it forces NEWEST order so the listing can stop at the first older Sh…

Example

Ask the agent in plain language, or call johnvc--youtube-shorts-api with arguments such as:

{
  "channels": [
    "siliconimist"
  ],
  "maxResultsShorts": 10
}

Output

JSON rows with these fields:

Field	Type	Description
title	string	Title of the Short.
translatedTitle	string	Reserved for a translated title; null in this version.
translatedText	string	Reserved for a translated description; null in this version.
type	string: shorts, None	Content type, always shorts for a Short row.
id	string	YouTube video id of the Short.
url	string	Canonical Short URL.
thumbnailUrl	string	Largest available thumbnail image.
viewCount	integer	Exact view count at fetch time.
date	string	Publish timestamp in ISO 8601 UTC. Day precision (YYYY-MM-DD) only in the rare case YouTube withholds the exact time.
likes	integer	Exact like count at fetch time.
location	string	Location attached to the Short when the creator set one; usually null.
channelName	string	Display name of the channel that published the Short.
channelUrl	string	Canonical channel URL (channel id form).
channelId	string	YouTube channel id (UC...).
collaborators	array	Collaborating channels on the Short; empty when none.
channelUsername	string	Channel handle without the @ sign.
channelDescription	string	The channel's About text.
channelJoinedDate	string	Date the channel was created, as YouTube shows it.
channelDescriptionLinks	array	Links from the channel's About section as {text, url} objects.
channelLocation	string	Country the channel lists in its About section.
channelAvatarUrl	string	Channel profile image URL.
channelBannerUrl	string	Channel banner image URL.
channelTotalVideos	integer	Total videos on the channel.
channelTotalViews	integer	Total views across the channel.
numberOfSubscribers	integer	Subscriber count. Exact below 1,000, otherwise parsed from YouTube's rounded figure (15.1M = 15100000).
isChannelVerified	boolean	Whether the channel shows the verified badge.
inputChannelUrl	string	Normalized URL of the channel that was requested.
isAgeRestricted	boolean	Whether YouTube marks the Short as age-restricted.
aboutChannelInfo	object	All channel fields repeated in one object for convenience.
duration	string	Length as HH:MM:SS.
commentsCount	integer	Comment count. Exact below 1,000, otherwise parsed from YouTube's rounded figure (11K = 11000). Null when comments are turned off.
text	string	Full description text of the Short.
descriptionLinks	array	URLs found in the description as {url, text} objects.
subtitles	array	Reserved; null in this version. Use the YouTube Transcripts API for captions.
order	integer	Zero-based position of the Short in the returned list for its channel.
commentsTurnedOff	boolean	True when the creator disabled comments on the Short.
fromYTUrl	string	The YouTube page the Short was read from: the channel's Shorts tab, or the Short link itself for direct links.
isMonetized	boolean	Reserved; YouTube does not expose monetization publicly, so this is null.
hashtags	array	Hashtags found in the title and description, with the # sign.
tags	array	The creator's video keywords (the tags set in YouTube Studio), in the order YouTube returns them, without a # sign. Empty list when the creator set none. Not part of the drop-in contract; an extra key that existing pipe…
isMembersOnly	boolean	True when the Short is restricted to channel members.
input	string	The exact input value (channel or link) that produced this row.
fromChannelListPage	string	shorts when the row came from a channel's Shorts tab; null for direct links.
error	string	Present only on error rows: CHANNEL_DOES_NOT_EXIST, CHANNEL_HAS_NO_SHORTS, DATE_FILTER_TOO_STRICT, VIDEO_UNAVAILABLE, AGE_RESTRICTED, INVALID_INPUT, NO_RESULTS, YOUTUBE_BLOCKED, or INPUT_TRUNCATED. Error rows are never…
note	string	Human-readable explanation on error rows.

Data source and terms

YouTube's public channel and Shorts pages, collected by scraping. The server returns the data as published at the time of the call. You are responsible for using it in line with the source's terms and the laws that apply to you. AlphaOSINT is not affiliated with the source.

Links

• Actor on Apify: https://apify.com/johnvc/youtube-shorts-api
• Docs page: https://alphaosint.com/mcp/youtube-shorts/
• All AlphaOSINT MCP servers: index