YouTube Channel Shorts API Documentation

Search Query

Name

channel_id

Required

Required

Description

Identifies the YouTube channel to query. Accepts a channel ID or an '@' handle from YouTube URLs. For channel IDs, use the format: https://www.youtube.com/channel/CHANNEL_ID. For '@' handles, use: https://www.youtube.com/@HANDLE. Examples: UCWJ2lWNubArHWmf3FIHbfcQ for channel IDs; @NBA for '@' handles.

Localization

Name

gl

Required

Optional

Description

The default parameter us defines the country of the search. Check the full list of supported YouTube gl countries.
Name

hl

Required

Optional

Description

The default parameter en defines the interface language of the search. Check the full list of supported YouTube hl languages.

Sorting

Name

sort_by

Required

Optional

Description
Sorts the shorts based on various criteria. The default is latest. Available options are:
- latest – displays the most recent shorts first.
- popular – displays the most viewed shorts first.
- oldest – displays the oldest shorts first.

Pagination

Name

next_page_token

Required

Optional

Description

A token used to retrieve the next page of shorts. Use the pagination.next_page_token from the response to continue pagination.

Engine

Name

engine

Required

Required

Description

Parameter defines the engine that will be used to retrieve real-time data. To retrieve shorts from a YouTube channel, it must be set to youtube_channel_shorts.

API key

Name

api_key

Required

Required

Description

The api_key authenticates your requests. Use it as a query parameter (https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY) or in the Authorization header (Bearer YOUR_API_KEY).

Zero Data Retention

Name

zero_retention

Enterprise Only

Enterprise Only

Required

Optional

Description

Set this parameter to true to disable all logging and persistent storage. No request parameters, HTML, or JSON responses are stored or logged. Suitable for high-compliance use cases. Debugging and support may be limited while enabled.

Full Response

Shorts don't expose exact view counts, likes, comments, duration, or publish dates. YouTube's shorts feed only renders the title, link, thumbnail, and an approximate view count.

Set sort_by to popular or oldest to change the order, and use the pagination.next_page_token to retrieve the next page of shorts in the selected order. Sorted and paginated responses don't include the channel object.

GET

https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search?channel_id=%40NBA&engine=youtube_channel_shorts

Request

import requests

url = "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search"
params = {
  "engine": "youtube_channel_shorts",
  "channel_id": "@NBA"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=params)
print(response.text)

Response

{
  "search_metadata": {
    "id": "search_N0SS5vCXLJxUgs6qKFG2LIrv",
    "status": "Success",
    "created_at": "2026-08-30T02:14:20Z",
    "request_time_taken": 1.43,
    "parsing_time_taken": 0.11,
    "total_time_taken": 1.55,
    "request_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@NBA/shorts",
    "html_url": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/searches/search_N0SS5vCXLJxUgs6qKFG2LIrv.html",
    "json_url": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/searches/search_N0SS5vCXLJxUgs6qKFG2LIrv"
  },
  "search_parameters": {
    "engine": "youtube_channel_shorts",
    "channel_id": "@NBA",
    "hl": "en",
    "gl": "US"
  },
  "channel": {
    "handle": "@NBA",
    "id": "UCWJ2lWNubArHWmf3FIHbfcQ",
    "title": "NBA",
    "subscribers": 24400000,
    "videos": 79000,
    "description": "The NBA is the premier professional basketball league in the United States and Canada. The league is truly global, with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages. The NBA consists of 30 teams. The NBA offers real time access to live regular season NBA games with a subscription to NBA LEAGUE PASS, available globally for TV, broadband, and mobile.  Real-time Stats, Scores, Highlights and more are available to fans on web and mobile with the NBA App. \n\nFor news, stories, highlights and more, go to our official website at https://app.link.nba.com/e/NBA_site\n",
    "keywords": "NBA \"Full Game Recaps\" \"Full Game Highlights\"",
    "tags": [
      "NBA",
      "Full Game Recaps",
      "Full Game Highlights"
    ],
    "available_countries": [
      "AF",
      "AZ",
      ...
    ],
    "badges": [
      "NBA",
      "Verified"
    ],
    "first_link": "https://nba.smart.link/NBAApp-YTBio",
    "is_verified": true,
    "is_family_safe": true,
    "banner": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/Ee_nr7XAjtljuxEFxlLqcJmOW7zGv_UVSbpsg4dC3CeAScXizrlsRQk43BQKtQIIJFUQQ_pO=w2560-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a8-k-c0xffffffff-no-nd-rj",
    "avatar": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/eGmO8yk_eHvLzEywzlPwRV_-7RiDayDLeXWWBVExMLN4qXA7z7fD6ldPXatXZiQOvgW4--jzNA=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj"
  },
  "shorts": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "id": "Tsah78lYG7A",
      "title": "Still trying to figure out how he kicked the net full of basketballs 🤔",
      "link": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Tsah78lYG7A",
      "views": 47000,
      "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Tsah78lYG7A/oar2.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEkCJUDENAFSFqQAgHyq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAJQAAyEI9AICiQ3gB&rs=AOn4CLASckIkCts9VxD9AhVcb45l999Jng&usqp=CCk"
    },
    {
      "position": 2,
      "id": "nCYEm7S-N2I",
      "title": "HOW MANY PASSES do you count??",
      "link": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nCYEm7S-N2I",
      "views": 27000,
      "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nCYEm7S-N2I/oar2.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEkCJUDENAFSFqQAgHyq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAJQAAyEI9AICiQ3gB&rs=AOn4CLCiWxk8SOSbhs6muSN600YuZ2Vi-g&usqp=CCk"
    },
    ...
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "next_page_token": "4qmFsgK5DBIYVUNXSjJsV051YkFySFdtZjNGSUhiZmNRGpwMOGdhTUNScUpD..."
  }
}