YouTube Data API

Availability

Core Standard Plus Pro Enterprise Flex PyAirbyte

Support Level

Airbyte

Connector Version

1.0.1 (last updated 11 days ago)

Sync Success Rate

High

Usage Rate

High

Data workers used

0.2 per sync (Learn more)

Definition ID

743a2a44-fd13-4109-a8fe-fb0e68f467f5

This page contains the setup guide and reference information for the YouTube Data API source connector.

This connector uses the YouTube Data API v3 to sync data about your YouTube channels, including video details, channel metadata, and comments. For more detailed analytics and reporting data, use the YouTube Analytics connector.

Prerequisites

• One or more YouTube Channel IDs you want to sync data from

• (For Airbyte Open Source) A Google Cloud project with the YouTube Data API v3 enabled, and one of the following authentication methods from that project:
  • A Google API Key (public data only)
  • OAuth 2.0 credentials (Client ID, Client Secret, and Refresh Token)

Setup guide

Find your YouTube Channel IDs

1. Go to YouTube and navigate to the channel you want to sync.
2. The Channel ID is in the URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/CHANNEL_ID. Channel IDs are 24 characters long and start with UC. A handle URL such as https://www.youtube.com/@handle isn't a Channel ID.
3. Alternatively, you can find it in YouTube Studio under Settings > Channel > Advanced settings.

The connector fails the connection check if any Channel ID doesn't resolve to an existing channel, so verify each ID before you set up the source.

For Airbyte Cloud

1. Log into your Airbyte Cloud account.
2. Click Sources and then click + New source.
3. Select YouTube Data API from the list.
4. Enter a name for your source.
5. Choose your authentication method:
   • For OAuth 2.0: Click Sign in with Google to authenticate your Google account.
   • For API Key: Enter your Google API key.
6. Enter one or more Channel IDs to sync data from.
7. Click Set up source.

For Airbyte Open Source

Create credentials

You can authenticate using either an API Key or OAuth 2.0.

Option A: API Key (simpler setup, public data only)

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Create a new project or select an existing one.
3. Navigate to APIs & Services > Library and enable the YouTube Data API v3.
4. Go to APIs & Services > Credentials.
5. Click Create Credentials > API key.
6. Copy the generated API key.
7. (Recommended) Click Restrict key to limit the key's usage to the YouTube Data API v3.

Option B: OAuth 2.0 (required for accessing private data)

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Create a new project or select an existing one.
3. Navigate to APIs & Services > Library and enable the YouTube Data API v3.
4. Go to APIs & Services > Credentials.
5. Click Create Credentials > OAuth client ID.
6. Configure the OAuth consent screen if prompted.
7. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret.
8. Use these credentials to obtain a refresh token. Refer to Google's OAuth 2.0 documentation for detailed instructions.

Set up the connector

1. In Airbyte, go to Sources and click + New source.
2. Select YouTube Data API from the list.
3. Enter a name for your source.
4. Choose your authentication method and enter the required credentials.
5. Enter one or more Channel IDs to sync data from.
6. Click Set up source.

Supported sync modes

The YouTube Data API source connector supports the following sync modes:

• Full Refresh - Overwrite
• Full Refresh - Append

No stream supports incremental sync. Each sync re-reads all data for the configured channels, so the quota behavior described in Limitations and considerations applies to every sync. If you use Full Refresh - Append, video and channels records differ between syncs because YouTube updates their statistics (view, like, comment, and subscriber counts) in place; deduplicate on the primary key in your destination if you only want the latest values.

Supported streams

Stream Name	Primary Key	Pagination	Supports Full Sync	Supports Incremental
video	videoId	DefaultPaginator	Yes	No
videos	videoId	DefaultPaginator	Yes	No
channels	id	DefaultPaginator	Yes	No
comments	videoId, id	DefaultPaginator	Yes	No
channel_comments	channelId, id	DefaultPaginator	Yes	No

Stream descriptions

• video: Detailed information about videos from the specified channels, from videos.list. This stream uses the videos parent stream to first discover video IDs, then fetches full video details for each. Data includes snippet information (title, description, thumbnails, publish date, tags, category, language settings), content details (duration, dimension, definition, caption availability, region restrictions), statistics (view count, like count, comment count), player information (embed HTML), and status (upload status, privacy status, license, embeddable, made for kids). Each record also includes a datetime field that the connector sets to the time it fetched the record. It isn't a YouTube timestamp; use it to tell snapshots apart in Full Refresh - Append mode.
• videos: The IDs of videos published by the specified channels, discovered with search.list filtered to type=video. Each record contains only the search result's id object: kind (always youtube#video) and videoId, which is the primary key. The video and comments streams use this stream as their parent to identify which videos to fetch. YouTube returns at most 500 results per channel from this search, so channels with more than 500 videos are truncated in videos, video, and comments.
• channels: Information about the specified YouTube channels, from channels.list. Data includes snippet information (title, description, custom URL, country, thumbnails), content details (related playlists), statistics (subscriber count, view count, video count), branding settings (channel keywords, trailer, default language), topic details (topic categories), status (privacy status, made for kids), localizations, and content owner details.
• comments: Comment threads on individual videos from the specified channels, from commentThreads.list filtered by videoId. For each video discovered by the videos stream, this stream fetches the comment threads. Each record is one thread's snippet: the top-level comment is in topLevelComment, totalReplyCount gives the number of replies, and the connector copies the top-level comment's ID into a top-level id field to serve as part of the primary key. The replies themselves aren't included in the records. Videos with comments disabled and videos that no longer exist are skipped without failing the sync.
• channel_comments: All comment threads related to the specified channels, from commentThreads.list filtered by allThreadsRelatedToChannelId. This includes comments on the channel's videos and on the channel page itself, so it provides a broader view of channel engagement than the comments stream. Because it doesn't depend on the videos search, it isn't subject to the 500-video limit. Records have the same shape as comments, including the copied id field.

Comment records carry publishedAt and updatedAt timestamps only inside the nested topLevelComment.snippet object; there's no top-level timestamp field.

YouTube API Services usage disclosure

This connector uses YouTube API Services to retrieve data from YouTube. By using this connector, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service.

YouTube API Services are provided by Google. For information about how Google handles data, review the Google Privacy Policy.

When using OAuth 2.0 authentication, this connector accesses authorized user data. You can revoke the connector's access to your Google account at any time through the Google security settings page. To delete stored data that was previously synced, remove the relevant connection in your Airbyte workspace or delete the data from your configured destination.

Limitations and considerations

Quota and rate limiting

The YouTube Data API enforces a daily quota per Google Cloud project. Google's documented default allocation is 100 search.list calls per day plus 10,000 quota units per day for all other endpoints; channels.list, videos.list, and commentThreads.list each cost 1 unit per request. Google notes that defaults are subject to change, so check the Quotas page for the YouTube Data API in the Google Cloud console to see what applies to your project. If you need more, request a quota extension from Google.

The videos stream, and therefore the video and comments streams that depend on it, uses search.list. Each search request returns up to 50 video IDs, so a project with the default 100-call allocation can enumerate at most about 5,000 videos per day across all channels and syncs that share the project.

The connector also paces its own requests as a burst guard: at most 3 search.list requests per minute, and at most 100 requests per minute combined to the channels, videos, and commentThreads endpoints. A request that would exceed these limits waits for the next free slot rather than failing. If YouTube still returns a quota or rate-limit error (quotaExceeded, dailyLimitExceeded, rateLimitExceeded, userRateLimitExceeded, or HTTP 429), the connector retries with backoff. A sync that exhausts the daily quota fails after the retries run out; run it again after the quota resets.

The connector's pacing applies to each Airbyte source separately, but Google meters quota per Google Cloud project. If several sources use API keys or OAuth clients from the same project, their requests add up against one quota. Use a separate project for each source, or request more quota.

Authentication

• API keys can only access public data. To access private data, you must use OAuth 2.0 authentication.
• When using OAuth 2.0, the connector requests the youtube.force-ssl scope, which provides read and write access to YouTube resources. This scope is required even though the connector only reads data.
• When using OAuth 2.0, the connector refreshes the access token and retries if YouTube returns HTTP 401. If the 401 persists, the sync fails with a configuration error; re-authenticate with Google from the source settings. With an API key there's no token to refresh, so a persistent 401 fails the same way.
• The connector fails with a configuration error, rather than retrying, when YouTube reports that the API key is invalid, the token lacks the youtube.force-ssl scope, the YouTube Data API v3 isn't enabled for the project, or a configured Channel ID doesn't exist. Fix the credentials or Channel IDs and run the sync again.
• The connector does not support service account authentication because the YouTube Data API does not support this method for most operations.

Data coverage

• The videos stream returns at most 500 videos per channel because of a YouTube search.list limit. Channels with more videos are truncated in videos, video, and comments. channels and channel_comments aren't affected.
• The comments stream skips videos with comments disabled and deleted videos without producing records or errors.

IP allow list

If you use Airbyte Cloud and your organization restricts access to specific IPs, add the Airbyte Cloud IP addresses to your allow list.

Reference

Config fields reference

Field

Type

Property name

array

channel_ids

object

credentials

Changelog

Expand to review

Version	Date	Pull Request	Subject
1.0.3	2026-09-22	86891	Update dependencies
1.0.2	2026-09-21	86466	Fix authentication failures (HTTP 401) on channels with many videos: refresh the access token and retry on 401, and shorten API budget windows so syncs no longer wait past the token lifetime
1.0.1	2026-09-15	86306	Update dependencies
1.0.0	2026-09-10	85214	Breaking: promote connector to certified — declare primary keys and timestamp formats and restrict videos to video results (see the migration guide)
0.0.66	2026-09-08	85721	Update dependencies
0.0.65	2026-08-18	84813	Update dependencies
0.0.64	2026-08-11	84181	Update dependencies
0.0.63	2026-08-04	83693	Update dependencies
0.0.62	2026-07-28	83186	Update dependencies
0.0.61	2026-07-21	82663	Update dependencies
0.0.60	2026-07-14	82070	Update dependencies
0.0.59	2026-06-30	81317	Update dependencies
0.0.58	2026-06-23	80730	Update dependencies
0.0.57	2026-06-16	80123	Update dependencies
0.0.56	2026-06-09	79580	Update dependencies
0.0.55	2026-06-02	79000	Update dependencies
0.0.54	2026-04-28	77496	Update dependencies
0.0.53	2026-04-21	76818	Update dependencies
0.0.52	2026-04-08	75185	Replace connector icon with updated YouTube logo
0.0.51	2026-03-17	74392	Migrate to scopes object array format
0.0.50	2026-03-17	74698	Update dependencies
0.0.49	2026-03-03	73914	Update dependencies
0.0.48	2026-02-17	73507	Update dependencies
0.0.47	2026-02-10	73175	Update dependencies
0.0.46	2026-01-27	72066	Update dependencies
0.0.45	2026-01-14	70677	Update dependencies
0.0.44	2026-01-05	71016	Fixed schemas
0.0.43	2025-12-19	70971	Add acceptance tests
0.0.42	2025-12-16	69315	Add OAuth 2.0 support
0.0.41	2025-11-25	70079	Update dependencies
0.0.40	2025-11-18	69532	Update dependencies
0.0.39	2025-10-29	68942	Update dependencies
0.0.38	2025-10-21	68456	Update dependencies
0.0.37	2025-10-14	67987	Update dependencies
0.0.36	2025-10-07	67241	Update dependencies
0.0.35	2025-09-30	66846	Update dependencies
0.0.34	2025-09-24	66475	Update dependencies
0.0.33	2025-09-09	65731	Update dependencies
0.0.32	2025-08-24	65468	Update dependencies
0.0.31	2025-08-10	64863	Update dependencies
0.0.30	2025-08-02	64386	Update dependencies
0.0.29	2025-07-26	64056	Update dependencies
0.0.28	2025-07-19	63640	Update dependencies
0.0.27	2025-07-12	63216	Update dependencies
0.0.26	2025-07-05	62701	Update dependencies
0.0.25	2025-06-28	62233	Update dependencies
0.0.24	2025-06-21	61759	Update dependencies
0.0.23	2025-06-15	61171	Update dependencies
0.0.22	2025-05-24	60786	Update dependencies
0.0.21	2025-05-10	59968	Update dependencies
0.0.20	2025-05-04	59566	Update dependencies
0.0.19	2025-04-26	58930	Update dependencies
0.0.18	2025-04-19	58550	Update dependencies
0.0.17	2025-04-13	58052	Update dependencies
0.0.16	2025-04-05	57379	Update dependencies
0.0.15	2025-03-29	56821	Update dependencies
0.0.14	2025-03-22	56338	Update dependencies
0.0.13	2025-03-09	55664	Update dependencies
0.0.12	2025-03-01	55162	Update dependencies
0.0.11	2025-02-23	54632	Update dependencies
0.0.10	2025-02-15	53087	Update dependencies
0.0.9	2025-01-25	52387	Update dependencies
0.0.8	2025-01-18	52006	Update dependencies
0.0.7	2025-01-11	51380	Update dependencies
0.0.6	2025-01-04	50753	Update dependencies
0.0.5	2024-12-21	50326	Update dependencies
0.0.4	2024-12-14	49756	Update dependencies
0.0.3	2024-12-12	49403	Update dependencies
0.0.2	2024-12-11	49125	Starting with this version, the Docker image is now rootless. Please note that this and future versions will not be compatible with Airbyte versions earlier than 0.64
0.0.1	2024-11-08		Initial release by @bala-ceg via Connector Builder