Resolve a YouTube channel URL to its UC… channel id · YouTube API
Resolve any YouTube channel URL form (`@handle`, `/c/`, or `/channel/`) into its canonical `UC…` channel ID. A lookup helper — useful for normalizing links before calling channel-level endpoints.
Using ChatGPT, Claude Code or another client? See the setup steps
curl https://api.unifapi.com/youtube/resolve/channel-id?url= \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $UNIFAPI_KEY"
Parameters
- urlqueryrequired
- Full channel URL — supports `youtube.com/@handle`, `/channel/UC…`, `/c/name`.
This operation is part of the YouTube API in the social platforms category. It uses the same Bearer token, request tracing, error model, and billing envelope as every UnifAPI endpoint, so agents can switch between platforms without custom per-vendor glue code.
Use it when a workflow needs YouTube public data alongside other social networks, but should still keep one API key, one account balance, and one predictable JSON contract.
Common agent workflows
- Resolve a public YouTube identity into structured profile metadata for enrichment agents.
- Refresh creator, company, or account snapshots without managing source-specific response shapes.
- Give an AI agent a stable YouTube data source without building a per-platform integration.
- Normalize YouTube responses into the same UnifAPI envelope used across the catalog.
Unified envelope, platform-native fields
- Lookup responses return one canonical object in `data` with stable identifiers, source URLs where available, and platform-specific metadata normalized into predictable JSON.
- The `billing.records_charged` field reports the charged billable-record quantity for the successful response.
- A not-found or invalid-input condition uses the unified UnifAPI error shape, so callers do not need special handling for each source platform.
Response status codes
Billing
This operation charges 1 credit per billable record, with a 1 credit ($0.001) operation minimum. Public responses include billing metadata with credits charged, records charged, and remaining workspace balance. Incorrect Credit deductions caused by platform failures can be restored as billing corrections.
Errors and retries
Authentication, validation, rate-limit, not-found, and provider errors use the unified UnifAPI error format. Agents should log `request_id`, retry only retryable failures, and treat invalid API keys, disabled keys, and expired keys as the same public `unauthorized` error type.
Fields in the data object
A successful Resolve a YouTube channel URL to its UC… channel id call returns one data object with these fields.
- urlstring
- channel_idstring
Agents & Skills built on YouTube
You rarely call Resolve a YouTube channel URL to its UC… channel id by hand. These prebuilt agents and skills already read YouTube data inside Claude or Codex — start from one of them, or call this endpoint yourself.
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YouTube channel stats checker
Subscribers, views, top videos and earnings range for any YouTube channel.
YouTube video analyzer
Views, likes, like rate, duration and tags for any YouTube video.
YouTube transcript generator
Get the full transcript of any YouTube video, with timestamps — paste a link.
More YouTube operations
Combine endpoints from the same platform, then join the results with other UnifAPI categories without changing authentication or response parsing.
List videos in a YouTube playlist
Return the videos in a YouTube playlist, by its `PL…` playlist ID, as a cursor-paginated list in playlist order. Useful for ingesting a curated series or course in sequence.
Search YouTube videos by keyword
Search YouTube videos by keyword, with optional sort, upload-date, duration, region, and language filters. Returns matching videos with title, channel, and view count. Useful for topic research, competitive monitoring, and content-gap analysis.
Get a YouTube channel by id
Return a YouTube channel's profile by its `UC…` channel ID, including title, handle, description, subscriber count, banner art, topic keywords, and external links. Useful as the entry point for any channel-level research or competitive analysis.
List playlists created by a YouTube channel
Return the playlists a YouTube channel has published, by its `UC…` channel ID, as a cursor-paginated list. Useful for mapping how a creator organizes their catalog into series and collections.
List Shorts uploaded by a YouTube channel
Return the Shorts uploaded by a YouTube channel, by its `UC…` channel ID, as a cursor-paginated list. Useful for tracking a creator's short-form output and posting cadence.
List a YouTube channel's community posts
Return a YouTube channel's community-tab posts, by its `UC…` channel ID, as a cursor-paginated list — text, like and reply counts, and attachment kind. Useful for tracking creator announcements and audience engagement outside of videos.