TubeScrape

Scrape YouTube search results, channels, transcripts, and playlists — no API key needed.

Built on YouTube's internal InnerTube API. Three interfaces: Python SDK, CLI, and REST API.

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Features

• Search with filters — type, duration, upload date, sort order, features (4K, HDR, live, CC)
• Channel browsing — videos, shorts, playlists, and in-channel search
• Transcripts — fetch, translate, format (SRT / WebVTT / JSON), save to file
• Playlists — full pagination with position tracking and metadata
• Async-first — every method has an async variant for concurrent workloads
• JSON-ready — every result object has .to_dict() for instant serialization
• Proxy rotation — built-in support for residential proxy lists
• Three interfaces — Python SDK, CLI with Rich tables, REST API with Swagger docs
• Zero config — no API key, no OAuth, no setup
• Lightweight — only httpx as a core dependency

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Installation

recommended to install using pip

You can also integrate it into an existing project or use it via a CLI.

# Core SDK only
pip install tubescrape

# With CLI (adds click + rich)
pip install "tubescrape[cli]"

# With REST API server (adds fastapi + uvicorn)
pip install "tubescrape[api]"

# Everything
pip install "tubescrape[all]"

Requirements: Python 3.10+

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Quick Start

import json
from tubescrape import YouTube

with YouTube() as yt:
    # Search YouTube
    results = yt.search('python tutorial', max_results=5)
    for video in results.videos:
        print(f'{video.title} — {video.duration} — {video.view_count}')

    # Browse a channel
    channel = yt.get_channel_videos('@lexfridman', max_results=10)
    for video in channel.videos:
        print(f'{video.title} ({video.published_text})')

    # Get a transcript and save as subtitles
    transcript = yt.get_transcript('dQw4w9WgXcQ')
    print(transcript.text)
    transcript.save('subtitles.srt')

    # Every result serializes to JSON instantly
    data = results.to_dict()
    print(json.dumps(data, indent=2))

Every method accepts plain IDs, full URLs, or @handles — parsed automatically.

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Why tubescrape?

	tubescrape	youtube-transcript-api	pytube / pytubefix	yt-dlp
Search videos	Yes	No	No	Limited
Channel browse	Yes	No	No	Yes
Transcripts	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Playlists	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Async support	Yes	No	No	No
Built-in REST API	Yes	No	No	No
CLI tool	Yes	No	No	Yes
Core dependencies	1 (httpx)	1 (requests)	0	Many
API key needed	No	No	No	No

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Search

results = yt.search('python tutorial', max_results=5)

for video in results.videos:
    print(f'{video.title} — {video.url}')
    print(f'  {video.view_count} | {video.duration} | {video.published_text}')
    print(f'  Channel: {video.channel} (verified: {video.is_verified})')

Search Filters

All filters can be combined in a single call:

results = yt.search(
    'podcast interview',
    max_results=10,
    type='video',              # video | channel | playlist | movie
    duration='long',           # short (<4m) | medium (4-20m) | long (>20m)
    upload_date='this_month',  # last_hour | today | this_week | this_month | this_year
    sort_by='view_count',      # relevance | upload_date | view_count | rating
    features=['hd', 'subtitles'],  # live | 4k | hd | subtitles | cc | creative_commons | 360 | vr180 | 3d | hdr
)

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Channel Browsing

All channel methods accept @handle, channel ID (UC...), or full URL.

# Videos (newest first, with pagination)
videos = yt.get_channel_videos('@lexfridman', max_results=10)
all_videos = yt.get_channel_videos('@lexfridman', max_results=0)  # fetch ALL

# Shorts
shorts = yt.get_channel_shorts('@lexfridman')
for short in shorts.shorts:
    print(f'{short.title} — {short.view_count} — {short.url}')

# Playlists
playlists = yt.get_channel_playlists('@lexfridman')
for pl in playlists.playlists:
    print(f'{pl.title} — {pl.video_count} — {pl.url}')

# Search within a channel
results = yt.search_channel('@lexfridman', 'artificial intelligence', max_results=10)

---

Transcripts

# Fetch transcript (auto-detects best language)
transcript = yt.get_transcript('dQw4w9WgXcQ')
print(transcript.text)  # full text as a single string

# Choose language (priority order fallback)
transcript = yt.get_transcript('dQw4w9WgXcQ', languages=['de', 'en'])

# Translate to any language
transcript = yt.get_transcript('dQw4w9WgXcQ', translate_to='es')

# Without timestamps (plain text blob)
transcript = yt.get_transcript('dQw4w9WgXcQ', timestamps=False)

# List available languages
languages = yt.list_transcripts('dQw4w9WgXcQ')
for entry in languages:
    print(f'{entry.language} ({entry.language_code}) — {"auto" if entry.is_generated else "manual"}')

Formatting & Saving

transcript = yt.get_transcript('dQw4w9WgXcQ')

# Format as SRT, WebVTT, JSON, or plain text
srt = YouTube.format_transcript(transcript, fmt='srt')
vtt = YouTube.format_transcript(transcript, fmt='vtt')

# Save to file (format auto-detected from extension)
transcript.save('subtitles.srt')
transcript.save('subtitles.vtt')
transcript.save('transcript.json')
transcript.save('transcript.txt')

---

Playlists

# Accepts playlist ID or full URL
playlist = yt.get_playlist('PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf')

print(f'{playlist.title} by {playlist.channel} — {len(playlist.videos)} videos')

for entry in playlist.videos:
    print(f'#{entry.position}  {entry.title} — {entry.duration}')

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Serialization (.to_dict())

Every result object converts to a plain Python dictionary — ready for JSON, databases, or APIs:

import json

# Works on every result type
results.to_dict()       # SearchResult → dict
video.to_dict()         # VideoResult → dict
channel.to_dict()       # BrowseResult → dict
shorts.to_dict()        # ShortsResult → dict
playlists.to_dict()     # ChannelPlaylistsResult → dict
playlist.to_dict()      # PlaylistResult → dict
transcript.to_dict()    # Transcript → dict

# Sparse output: optional fields excluded when empty/default
# is_verified=False → omitted | badges=[] → omitted | None fields → omitted
print(json.dumps(results.to_dict(), indent=2, ensure_ascii=False))

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Async Support

Every method has an async variant prefixed with a. Use in FastAPI, Discord bots, or any async application:

import asyncio
from tubescrape import YouTube

async def main():
    async with YouTube() as yt:
        # All methods have async variants
        results = await yt.asearch('python', max_results=5)
        transcript = await yt.aget_transcript('dQw4w9WgXcQ')

        # Run multiple requests concurrently
        r1, r2, r3 = await asyncio.gather(
            yt.asearch('python'),
            yt.asearch('javascript'),
            yt.asearch('rust'),
        )

asyncio.run(main())

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Proxy Support

# Single proxy
yt = YouTube(proxy='http://user:pass@proxy.example.com:8080')

# Proxy rotation (round-robin per request)
yt = YouTube(proxies=[
    'http://user:pass@proxy1:8080',
    'http://user:pass@proxy2:8080',
])

# SOCKS5
yt = YouTube(proxy='socks5://user:pass@proxy:1080')

# Custom timeout and retries
yt = YouTube(proxy='http://proxy:8080', timeout=60.0, max_retries=5)

Tip: YouTube blocks cloud IPs aggressively. Use rotating residential proxies (BrightData, SmartProxy, Oxylabs) for production.

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CLI

Install with pip install "tubescrape[cli]".

tubescrape search "python tutorial" -n 5
tubescrape search "podcast" --type video --duration long --sort-by view_count
tubescrape search "python" --json                    # JSON output

tubescrape channel @lexfridman                       # videos (default)
tubescrape channel @lexfridman shorts                # shorts
tubescrape channel @lexfridman playlists             # playlists
tubescrape channel @lexfridman search "podcast"      # search within channel

tubescrape playlist PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf

tubescrape transcript dQw4w9WgXcQ                    # plain text
tubescrape transcript dQw4w9WgXcQ --format srt       # SRT subtitles
tubescrape transcript dQw4w9WgXcQ --translate es      # translate
tubescrape transcript dQw4w9WgXcQ --save output.srt  # save to file
tubescrape transcript dQw4w9WgXcQ --list-languages   # available languages

tubescrape --proxy http://user:pass@host:port search "python"  # with proxy
export TUBESCRAPE_PROXY="http://user:pass@host:port"           # env variable

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REST API

Install with pip install "tubescrape[api]".

tubescrape serve                          # starts on localhost:8000
tubescrape serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 3000

Interactive Swagger docs at http://localhost:8000/docs.

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/v1/search?q=python	Search videos
GET	/api/v1/channel/{id}/videos	Channel videos
GET	/api/v1/channel/{id}/shorts	Channel shorts
GET	/api/v1/channel/{id}/playlists	Channel playlists
GET	/api/v1/channel/{id}/search?q=...	Search within channel
GET	/api/v1/playlist/{id}	Fetch playlist
GET	/api/v1/transcript/{video_id}	Fetch transcript
GET	/api/v1/transcript/{video_id}/languages	List languages
GET	/health	Health check

curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/search?q=python+tutorial&max_results=5"
curl "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/transcript/dQw4w9WgXcQ?format=srt&translate_to=es"

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Error Handling

All exceptions inherit from YouTubeError:

YouTubeError
├── RequestError
│   ├── RateLimitError          # HTTP 429
│   └── BotDetectedError        # HTTP 403
├── VideoUnavailableError       # private, deleted, region-locked
│   └── AgeRestrictedError
├── TranscriptsDisabledError
├── TranscriptsNotAvailableError
├── TranscriptFetchError
├── TranslationNotAvailableError
├── ChannelNotFoundError
├── PlaylistNotFoundError
├── APIKeyNotFoundError
└── ParsingError

from tubescrape import YouTube, YouTubeError, RateLimitError

try:
    results = yt.search('python')
except RateLimitError:
    print('Rate limited — use a proxy')
except YouTubeError as e:
    print(f'YouTube error: {e}')

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Full Documentation

For detailed examples, all field references, and advanced usage, see the Complete Usage Guide.

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Warning

This library uses YouTube's undocumented InnerTube API. It may break if YouTube changes their internal API. If it does, please open an issue.

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Contributing

git clone https://github.com/zaidkx37/tubescrape.git
cd tubescrape
pip install -e ".[all,dev]"

pytest                    # run tests
ruff check src/           # lint
mypy src/tubescrape/      # type check

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License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.