cli-web-youtube

YouTube CLI — search videos, get details, browse trending, explore channels.

Quick Start

pip install -e youtube/agent-harness
cli-web-youtube search videos "python tutorial" --limit 5 --json
cli-web-youtube video get dQw4w9WgXcQ --json
cli-web-youtube channel get @MrBeast --json

Commands

Search

cli-web-youtube search videos <query> [--limit N] --json

Output: {"query", "estimated_results", "videos": [{"id", "title", "channel", "channel_id", "views", "duration", "published", "thumbnail", "description", "url"}]}

Video

cli-web-youtube video get <id_or_url> --json

Accepts video ID (dQw4w9WgXcQ) or full URL (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...).

Output: {"id", "title", "channel", "channel_id", "views", "duration_seconds", "description", "keywords", "thumbnail", "is_live", "publish_date", "category", "url"}

Trending

cli-web-youtube trending list [--category now|music|gaming|movies] [--limit N] --json

Output: {"videos": [...], "count", "category"}

Channel

cli-web-youtube channel get <handle_or_url> --json

Accepts @handle, channel ID (UC...), or full URL.

Output: {"channel_id", "title", "description", "subscriber_count", "video_count", "avatar", "url", "recent_videos": [...]}

Agent Patterns

# Find top Python tutorials
cli-web-youtube search videos "python tutorial" --limit 5 --json | jq '.videos[] | {title, views, url}'

# Get details on a specific video
cli-web-youtube video get rfscVS0vtbw --json

# Check a channel's subscriber count
cli-web-youtube channel get @mkbhd --json | jq '{title, subscriber_count}'

Notes

• No authentication required — all public content
• Uses YouTube's InnerTube API (internal REST, all POST with JSON)
• All commands support --json for structured output
• Video IDs are 11 characters (e.g., dQw4w9WgXcQ)
• Channel handles start with @ (e.g., @MrBeast)