# Channel Shorts > A channel's Shorts, newest or most popular first, with titles and view counts. - **Request:** `GET https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/youtube/channel/shorts` - **Auth:** `x-api-key` header ([get a free key](https://lurkapi.com/login?next=/dashboard)) - **Cost:** 1 credit per call. Validation errors, `401`/`402`/`429` rejections and `5xx` failures are free; `not_found` is charged ([how charging works](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#credits)). - **MCP tool:** `youtube_channel_shorts` on `https://api.lurkapi.com/mcp` - **Freshness:** responses are cached for up to 1 hour - **Try it live:** https://lurkapi.com/docs/youtube/channel-shorts#try (no signup) - **Platform:** [YouTube](https://lurkapi.com/docs/youtube.md) (youtube.com) - **Web page:** https://lurkapi.com/docs/youtube/channel-shorts ## When to use this Use it to track a creator's short-form output: about 48 Shorts per page from the channel's Shorts tab, newest first, or most viewed first with `sort=popular`. The Shorts tab only shows title, thumbnail and views. For likes, comments, upload date and length, pass a Short's `url` to the video endpoint; we don't fetch those for every Short, so a page stays one fast request. **Pagination.** Pass the response's `continuationToken` back as `continuationToken` for the next page; it's null on the last page. Unknown channels return 404 `not_found`; a channel without Shorts returns an empty list. ## Parameters All parameters go in the query string. | Name | Type | Required | Default | Allowed values | Description | Example | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `channelId` | string | no | | | Channel id, e.g. `UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA`. Pass this or `handle`. | | | `handle` | string | no | | | Channel handle, with or without the @, e.g. `MrBeast`. Pass this or `channelId`. | `MrBeast` | | `sort` | string | no | `newest` | `newest`, `popular`, `oldest` | Order: `newest` first, `popular` (most viewed) or `oldest`. | | | `continuationToken` | string | no | | | The `continuationToken` from the previous response, for the next page. The channel can be left out then. | | ## Example request Replace `YOUR_API_KEY` with your key, or set `LURKAPI_KEY` for the code. [Get a free key](https://lurkapi.com/login?next=/dashboard). curl: ```bash curl "https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/youtube/channel/shorts?handle=MrBeast" \ -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" ``` JavaScript: ```js const params = new URLSearchParams({ handle: "MrBeast", }); const res = await fetch(`https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/youtube/channel/shorts?${params}`, { headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.LURKAPI_KEY }, }); const data = await res.json(); if (!data.success) throw new Error(`${data.code}: ${data.error}`); console.log(data.shorts); ``` Python: ```python import os import requests res = requests.get( "https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/youtube/channel/shorts", params={ "handle": "MrBeast", }, headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["LURKAPI_KEY"]}, timeout=60, ) data = res.json() if not data["success"]: raise RuntimeError(f"{data['code']}: {data['error']}") print(data["shorts"]) ``` ## Example response A real response from this endpoint, captured from the live API and trimmed to a couple of items. Strings over 96 characters (mostly signed media URLs) are cut short and end in `…`. 200 OK (application/json): ```json { "success": true, "credits_remaining": 999993, "credits_charged": 1, "shorts": [ { "type": "short", "id": "CEJXqm2eiJ0", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CEJXqm2eiJ0", "title": "What’s Inside My Briefcase?", "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CEJXqm2eiJ0/sardefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEgCJUDEOAESF…", "viewCountText": "23M views", "viewCountInt": 23000000 }, { "type": "short", "id": "T_SMf9j50uc", "url": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T_SMf9j50uc", "title": "Can We Build an Entire Village?", "thumbnail": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T_SMf9j50uc/sardefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEgCJUDEOAESF…", "viewCountText": "21M views", "viewCountInt": 21000000 } ], "continuationToken": "4qmFsgK_CxIYVUNYNk9RM0RrY3NiWU5FNkg4dVFRdVZBGqILOGdhekNCcXdDRkt0Q0RLcUNB…" } ``` ## Response fields Every field of a successful response. `[]` marks a list: `a[].b` is the `b` of each item in `a`. **nullable** fields can be `null`; **optional** fields can be missing. | Field | Type | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | `success` | `true` | Always true here; errors have `success: false`. | | `credits_remaining` | `number` | Your balance after this call. On anonymous playground calls: free tries left today. | | `credits_charged` | `number` | Credits this call cost; 0 on free endpoints. On anonymous playground calls: tries used (1). | | `shorts` | `object[]` | One page of Shorts, in `sort` order. | | `shorts[].type` | `"short"` | Always `short`. | | `shorts[].id` | `string` | The Short's video id. | | `shorts[].url` | `string` | `https://www.youtube.com/shorts/`. Pass it to the video endpoint for likes, comments, date and length. | | `shorts[].title` | `string` | The Short's title. | | `shorts[].thumbnail` | `string`, nullable | Largest (vertical) thumbnail URL. | | `shorts[].viewCountText` | `string`, nullable | Views as YouTube shows them, e.g. "22M views". | | `shorts[].viewCountInt` | `number`, nullable | viewCountText as a number, rounded as shown (22M views → 22000000). | | `continuationToken` | `string`, nullable | Pass as `continuationToken` for the next page. null on the last page. | ## Caching and freshness Responses are cached for up to 1 hour, so a repeat call within that window can return the same data. It still costs 1 credit. ## Errors Errors return `{ success: false, error, code, docs }` with the HTTP status below. Validation errors, `401`/`402`/`429` rejections and `5xx` failures are free; `not_found` is charged ([how charging works](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#credits)). [All error codes](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#errors). | Status | Code | Meaning | | --- | --- | --- | | 401 | `missing_api_key` | No API key. Send it in the `x-api-key` header. | | 401 | `invalid_api_key` | The key is unknown or was revoked. | | 402 | `insufficient_credits` | Not enough credits for this call. Buy a pack or wait for tomorrow's top-up. | | 404 | `not_found` | The endpoint, or the thing you asked for (ad, post, subreddit), doesn't exist. Charged when the platform was checked. | | 405 | `method_not_allowed` | Endpoints take GET with query params. | | 429 | `rate_limited` | Too many calls at once. Wait for the `retry-after` seconds, then retry. | | 500 | `internal_error` | Something broke on our side. Retry; 5xx errors are free. | | 502 | `upstream_error` | The platform didn't give a usable answer. Retry; 5xx errors are free. | | 503 | `upstream_busy` | All our connections to the platform are busy. Retry in a few seconds; 5xx errors are free. | | 504 | `upstream_timeout` | The platform took over 30 seconds to answer. Retry; timeouts are free. | ## Use it in Claude Once LurkAPI is [connected to Claude](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#claude), this endpoint is the `youtube_channel_shorts` tool. Ask in plain English, for example: Ask Claude: ```text Use LurkAPI's youtube_channel_shorts with handle "MrBeast" and summarize what you find. ``` Claude calls `youtube_channel_shorts` with arguments like these, and each call costs 1 credit: Tool arguments: ```json { "handle": "MrBeast" } ``` Tool results skip nulls and empty lists to save tokens. --- Previous: [Channel videos](https://lurkapi.com/docs/youtube/channel-videos.md) · Next: [Search YouTube](https://lurkapi.com/docs/youtube/search.md)