YouTube Community Posts API
Community posts — channel{}, publishedTimeApprox, likeCountIsApproximate, linkedVideos[], cursor (1 credit).
GET request to /v1/youtube/community-posts that responds with clean JSON and costs 1 credit. Pass cache=true for a free 24h cache hit; default is always fresh. Start with 100 free credits — no credit card.What is the YouTube Community Posts API?
Pass a channel URL, @handle, or UC… ID and get that channel's community /posts tab as clean JSON. communityStatus tells you what an empty list means: ok (posts[]), no_posts (tab open, zero posts), disabled (YouTube says this community is unavailable — 200, not 404). A handle that does not resolve is 404 CHANNEL_NOT_FOUND — never "No community posts found". A tab we could not read is 503 COMMUNITY_UNAVAILABLE (retryable, Retry-After). Each post: id/url, channel{id,title,url,handle} (no flat author twin), text, likeCount + likeCountText + likeCountIsApproximate, publishedTimeApprox + publishedTimeIsApproximate + publishedTimeText (relative labels only — no exact instant source), postType (text|image|poll|video|playlist|quiz), pollOptions[] + totalVotes + totalVotesIsApproximate when poll, images[], hashtags[] (deduped; digit-only rank mentions like "ranks #1" are not hashtags — YouTube never linkifies them), linkedVideos[] when the post attaches a video. Cursor pagination via nextCursor + hasMore. Flat 1 credit on the native path (including no_posts and disabled); 404/503 bill 0.
What you get
- communityStatus ok | no_posts | disabled — empty is never a 404
- 404 CHANNEL_NOT_FOUND vs 503 COMMUNITY_UNAVAILABLE (retryable)
- channel{} / publishedTimeApprox / likeCountIsApproximate
- linkedVideos[] when attached; cursor pagination; 1 credit native
Try it
Fill in the parameters below and copy a ready-to-run request, or open the live Playground to run it against your account (no API key paste).
Parameters
curl "https://api.captapi.com/v1/youtube/community-posts?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2F%40starterstory" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer capt_live_..."
# or: -H "x-api-key: capt_live_..."Edit the parameters and the code updates instantly. Switch languages and hit copy.
Example response
{
"success": true,
"data": {
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/@starterstory",
"totalReturned": 2,
"hasMore": true,
"nextCursor": "4qmFsgKTARIYVUNoaHc2RGxLS1RROW1ZU3BUZlhVWXFBGl5FZ1Z3YjNOMGM3Z0JBSklEQUtvREtBb2tVVEpvUTFKR1RYZGxSRXBvVmxSRmVsVnFRbGRVTWtaV1QxaHdWRTF1VWtSU1ZVWkNLR1R5QmdrS0Iwb0FvZ0VDQ0FFJTNEmgIWYmFja3N0YWdlLWl0ZW0tc2VjdGlvbg%3D%3D",
"communityStatus": "ok",
"channelExists": true,
"posts": [
{
"id": "UgkxT0w7k1zkNQLiYQALw23IkNHZuKAjl4Xj",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxT0w7k1zkNQLiYQALw23IkNHZuKAjl4Xj",
"channel": {
"id": "UChhw6DlKKTQ9mYSpTfXUYqA",
"title": "Starter Story",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/@starterstory",
"handle": "@starterstory"
},
"text": "I flew to NYC to spend 24 hours with the four friends behind Cal AI - the app they sold for millions and is now on track for $50M this year.",
"likeCount": 350,
"likeCountText": "350",
"likeCountIsApproximate": false,
"hashtags": [],
"linkedVideos": [],
"publishedTimeApprox": "2026-09-06T16:00:00.000Z",
"publishedTimeIsApproximate": true,
"publishedTimeText": "4 hours ago",
"isEdited": false,
"postType": "image",
"images": [
"https://yt3.ggpht.com/QIYjBZ6NvP95fDGFWdK4232QiiBh_CHlnYKkeNGVBqRmcLG1LyLQoUDghnxoZDOj2Dujm69XpTJG7W4=s1440-c-fcrop64=1,0000199affffe666-rw-nd-v1"
]
},
{
"id": "UgkxBUGxNbJO0zDdYGVn7WUnS2WtxCONdhit",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxBUGxNbJO0zDdYGVn7WUnS2WtxCONdhit",
"channel": {
"id": "UChhw6DlKKTQ9mYSpTfXUYqA",
"title": "Starter Story",
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/@starterstory",
"handle": "@starterstory"
},
"text": "Who got their 2 hours of DEEP work in today?",
"likeCount": 96,
"likeCountText": "96",
"likeCountIsApproximate": false,
"hashtags": [],
"linkedVideos": [],
"publishedTimeApprox": "2026-08-07T00:00:00.000Z",
"publishedTimeIsApproximate": true,
"publishedTimeText": "1 month ago",
"isEdited": false,
"postType": "poll",
"images": [],
"pollOptions": [
{
"text": "Yes",
"voteCount": null,
"percentage": null
},
{
"text": "No",
"voteCount": null,
"percentage": null
}
],
"totalVotes": 1300,
"totalVotesText": "1.3K votes",
"totalVotesIsApproximate": true
}
]
}
}Billing metadata is returned in response headers: X-Captapi-Credits (credits charged), X-Captapi-Cache (hit or miss), and X-Captapi-Source. Failed requests (4xx/5xx) are never charged. See the full list of error codes in the error reference.
Response structure
A successful call returns success and a data object with the following fields:
Top-level fields
urlCanonical URL of the item.totalReturnedNumber of items returned in this response.hasMoreWhether more results are available beyond this page. When true, pass nextCursor to fetch the next page.nextCursorCursor to pass for the next page of results. May be null when the platform does not expose deep pagination (e.g. some Facebook Ad Library searches).communityStatusok when posts[] is the shelf; no_posts when the tab is open and empty; disabled when YouTube says the community is unavailable. Never infer from posts:[] alone on an error.channelExistsTrue on a 200. A missing handle is 404 CHANNEL_NOT_FOUND, not this flag.
Posts
Each item in posts contains:
idId of this posts item.urlCanonical URL of the item.channelYouTube channel that authored the community post.textText content.likeCountLike count as an integer. Compact UI labels ("727K") are expanded here; see likeCountText for the original string.likeCountTextOriginal like-count label from the platform (e.g. "727K", "3.2M").likeCountIsApproximateTrue when likeCount was parsed from a compact K/M/B label rather than an exact integer.hashtagsHashtags extracted from the text.linkedVideosLinked videos (array).publishedTimeApproxApproximate ISO-8601 derived from publishedTimeText, truncated to the label's precision (day/hour/minute). Not an observed instant — see publishedTimeIsApproximate.publishedTimeIsApproximatetrue when publishedTimeApprox was derived from a relative label rather than an absolute timestamp YouTube exposed.publishedTimeTextOriginal relative publish label from the platform when an exact timestamp was not available (e.g. "1 year ago").isEditedIs edited. Example: false.postTypeContent type. YouTube community: "text" | "image" | "poll" | "video" | "playlist" | "quiz". Instagram: "image" | "video" | "carousel".imagesImage URLs attached to the community post.
Parameters
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| url | string | Yes | YouTube channel URL, @handle, bare handle, or UC... channel ID, e.g. https://youtube.com/@handle or @mkbhd. The URL platform must match this endpoint's platform. Do not pass cross-platform URLs, e.g. YouTube to TikTok, Instagram to Facebook, LinkedIn to X/Twitter, or Pinterest to Rumble. |
| limit | integer | No | Max items to return (default 20, max 200). Flat 1 credit per call. |
| cursor | string | No | Pagination cursor. Leave empty for the first page; then pass the nextCursor value returned in the previous response. |
| cache | boolean | No | Set true to serve from the 24h response cache (0 credits on hit). Default false — always fetch fresh. |
Authentication: send your key as Authorization: Bearer capt_live_.... A typical call costs 1 credit. Pass cache=true for a free 24h cache hit; default is always fresh.
youtube_community_posts via @captapi/mcp. Set it up →How it works
- 1. Sign up — get 100 free credits, no card required.
- 2. Create a key from your dashboard.
- 3. Send one request to
/v1/youtube/community-postsand parse the JSON response.
Use cases
Content Pipelines
Ingest a channel's catalog in bulk.
Monitoring
Detect new uploads automatically.
Archiving
Snapshot a creator's library — metadata plus CDN media URLs (re-fetch before mediaUrlsExpireAt).
Analytics
Aggregate performance across many videos.
Frequently asked questions
What does the YouTube Community Posts API do?+
The YouTube Community Posts API lets you list items in bulk with metadata from a public YouTube post using one GET request to /v1/youtube/community-posts. It returns clean JSON — no OAuth or infrastructure setup required.
How many credits does the YouTube Community Posts API cost?+
Each successful call costs 1 credit. Pass cache=true to serve from the 24h cache (0 credits on hit); default is always fresh. Selected profile endpoints also accept cacheMaxAge=1d|3d|7d|14d|30d. Failed or empty results are never charged.
Do I need a YouTube API key or OAuth?+
No. A single Captapi key works across every platform Captapi supports — YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, Reddit, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Rumble, Spotify, Kwai, and more. We handle proxies, rate limits, retries, and authentication for you.
Why did I get 404 "No community posts found" on a real channel?+
That 404 is gone. A channel with zero community posts is 200 with posts: [] and communityStatus=no_posts. A channel whose community tab is off (YouTube: "this community is unavailable") is 200 communityStatus=disabled. A handle that does not exist is 404 CHANNEL_NOT_FOUND — it never says "no community posts". A tab we could not read is 503 COMMUNITY_UNAVAILABLE (retryable, Retry-After header). 200 empty answers bill 1 credit native; 404/503 bill 0.
Is the YouTube Community Posts API suitable for production use?+
Yes. It is a stable REST endpoint with predictable JSON and automatic retries. Pass cache=true to serve from the 24h cache (0 credits on hit); default is always fresh. Selected profile endpoints also accept cacheMaxAge=1d|3d|7d|14d|30d. Use it for analytics, monitoring, and content automation.
More YouTube APIs
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