YouTube API - SocialAPI

The YouTube API in SocialAPI connects a YouTube channel. It uploads, schedules, edits, and deletes videos, reads and moderates comments, posts replies and top-level comments, and reads channel stats. SocialAPI’s own Google app connects the channel, so you register nothing: see Platform apps.

At a glance

Field	Value
Platform slug	`youtube`
Auth	OAuth 2.0 with Google
Platform API	YouTube Data API v3
Status	Available

Capabilities

An unsupported call returns 501 resource.not_supported.

Feature	Status	Condition
Publish a video	Yes	1 video per post. See YouTube publishing
Schedule a post	Yes	2 ways: `scheduled_at` makes SocialAPI upload the video at that time, and `platform_data.youtube.publish_at` makes YouTube publish an uploaded private video at that time
First comment on a video	Yes	Posted after the upload. A failure does not fail the post
Add a video to a playlist	Yes	`platform_data.youtube.playlist_id`. A failure does not fail the post
Update a video	Yes	Before publishing: `PATCH /v1/posts/{pid}`. After publishing: `PATCH /v1/platforms/youtube/accounts/{id}/videos/{videoId}`
Delete a video	Yes	Removes the video from YouTube
List posts	Yes	Every video in the channel’s uploads, including videos uploaded outside SocialAPI
List comments and replies	Yes	Comments are read per video
Reply to a comment	Yes
Post a top-level comment	Yes	Omit `comment_id` when you reply
Hide, unhide a comment	Yes	Hiding sets the comment to `rejected`
Hold a comment for review, ban its author	Yes	`POST /v1/platforms/youtube/comments/{commentId}/moderate`
Delete a comment	Conditional	Only comments your channel wrote. Another person’s comment returns `422 platform.youtube.processing_failure`: hide it instead
Edit your own comment	Yes	`PATCH /v1/platforms/youtube/comments/{commentId}`
Like a comment	No	`501 resource.not_supported`. YouTube has no comment-like API
Private reply	No	`501 resource.not_supported`
DMs	No	`501 resource.not_supported`
Mentions	No	`501 resource.not_supported`
Reviews	No	`GET /v1/inbox/reviews/{account_id}` returns `422 account.platform_unsupported`
Automations	No	A YouTube account returns `422 automation.platform_unsupported`
Channel summary	Yes	Subscribers, views, and video count
Analytics	Yes	Live post metrics (`likes`, `comments`, `views`, `extra.views`), stored post history, and a live channel summary. SocialAPI stores no channel history. See Analytics
Webhook events	Partial	Post and account events only. YouTube sends no comment events

The cross-platform matrix is on Platforms.

Connect an account

Connect with POST /v1/accounts/connect and "platform": "youtube". The shared flow, request fields, and result are in Connect accounts, and the redirect parameters are in Redirect parameters.

curl -X POST https://api.social-api.ai/v1/accounts/connect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "platform": "youtube",
    "redirect_uri": "https://app.example.com/oauth/callback",
    "state": "session_abc123"
  }'

Response (HTTP 202):

{
  "auth_url": "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth?client_id=...&state=...",
  "state": "4a8f2c1e9b3d7f06a5c2e8b4d1f3a7e2",
  "message": "Open this link to connect your youtube account. Once you've authorized, the account will be connected automatically."
}

YouTube-specific rules:

One account per channel. Each connected youtube account is 1 YouTube channel. When the Google login manages more than 1 channel, one authorization connects all of them, and the redirect carries their IDs in account_ids. Without brand_id, each channel connects into its own new brand. With a brand_id, the brand takes one channel and each further channel ends with error=account.already_linked: see Reconnect an account.
A login with no channel. A Google login that has no YouTube channel ends with status=error and error=platform.youtube.no_channels on your redirect_uri.
Reconnect. When YouTube no longer accepts the saved connection, calls return 401 platform.youtube.auth. See Reconnect an account.

Read videos and channel stats

GET /v1/posts?platform=youtube&account_ids={account_id} lists the channel’s videos with their permalink and engagement metrics: see YouTube publishing. GET /v1/platforms/youtube/accounts/{id}/summary returns the channel’s aggregate stats:

curl https://api.social-api.ai/v1/platforms/youtube/accounts/acc_01HZ9X3Q4R5M6N7P8V2K0W1J/summary \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCAPI_KEY"

Response (HTTP 200):

{
  "title": "Acme Corp",
  "handle": "@acmecorp",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/abc",
  "subscriber_count": 12400,
  "view_count": 980000,
  "video_count": 47
}

POST /v1/platforms/youtube/accounts/{id}/sync re-reads the channel’s videos at once and returns {"success": true}. Use it after you upload a video outside SocialAPI.

Comments

YouTube comments are read per video. A video is identified by its YouTube video ID, which is the {postId} in the comment paths. For the cross-platform endpoints, see Comments. This section lists what is specific to YouTube.

curl "https://api.social-api.ai/v1/inbox/comments/dQw4w9WgXcQ?account_id=acc_01HZ9X3Q4R5M6N7P8V2K0W1J&order=relevance" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCAPI_KEY"

Response (HTTP 200):

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "sapi_cmt_TT974YVQH4RAHNN2HY2DJSNY9111D7LMTP1XXPCVQVL",
      "platform_id": "UgxK3m9pQ2",
      "platform": "youtube",
      "text": "Great video!",
      "author_id": "UCxyz123",
      "author_name": "Jane Smith",
      "author_username": "Jane Smith",
      "author_picture": "https://yt3.ggpht.com/abc",
      "is_owner": false,
      "like_count": 5,
      "reply_count": 2,
      "has_replies": true,
      "liked_by_viewer": false,
      "is_hidden": false,
      "moderation_status": "published",
      "parent_id": null,
      "created_at": "2026-03-15T10:30:00Z",
      "capabilities": {
        "can_reply": true,
        "can_delete": true,
        "can_hide": true,
        "can_like": false,
        "can_private_reply": false
      }
    }
  ],
  "pagination": { "has_more": false, "next_cursor": "" }
}

These query parameters apply to YouTube only:

Parameter	Description
`moderation_status`	`published` (default), `held_for_review`, or `likely_spam`. The last two list comments waiting for your review. Another value returns `400 validation.field_invalid`
`order`	`recent` (default) or `relevance`. Another value returns `400 validation.field_invalid`
`q`	Keyword search across comment text, up to 256 characters

YouTube-specific behavior:

Videos with comments. GET /v1/inbox/comments lists commented videos only when you pass account_id. The list is 1 page with no cursor.
Comments turned off. Listing the comments of a video with comments turned off returns 422 platform.youtube.comments_disabled. Retrying does not help: stop polling the video until the channel owner turns comments back on in YouTube Studio. After that, the error can continue for up to 24 hours.
Reply or top-level comment. POST /v1/inbox/comments/{postId} with comment_id replies to that comment. Without comment_id, it posts a new top-level comment on the video. Each costs 1 interaction credit.
Hide. POST /v1/inbox/comments/{postId}/{commentId}/hide sets the comment to rejected, which removes it from public view. DELETE on the same path sets it back to published.
Moderate. POST /v1/platforms/youtube/comments/{commentId}/moderate sets the status explicitly.
Delete. DELETE /v1/inbox/comments/{postId}/{commentId} removes a comment your channel wrote. capabilities.can_delete is true on every YouTube comment, including other people’s. Deleting another person’s comment returns 422 platform.youtube.processing_failure. Hide it instead.
Like and private reply. Not available. can_like and can_private_reply are false.

Moderate a comment

curl -X POST https://api.social-api.ai/v1/platforms/youtube/comments/UgxK3m9pQ2/moderate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "account_id": "acc_01HZ9X3Q4R5M6N7P8V2K0W1J",
    "post_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "status": "rejected",
    "ban_author": true
  }'

Response (HTTP 200):

{ "success": true }

Field	Description
`account_id`	Required. The connected YouTube account
`post_id`	Required. The YouTube video ID the comment is on
`status`	Required. `published`, `held_for_review`, or `rejected`. Another value returns `400 validation.field_invalid`
`ban_author`	Optional. `true` also bans the author from commenting on your channel. Valid only with `status` `rejected`, otherwise `400 validation.field_invalid`

A missing account_id or post_id returns 400 validation.field_required.

Edit your own comment

curl -X PATCH https://api.social-api.ai/v1/platforms/youtube/comments/UgxK3m9pQ2 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "account_id": "acc_01HZ9X3Q4R5M6N7P8V2K0W1J",
    "post_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "text": "Updated comment text"
  }'

Response (HTTP 200):

{ "success": true }

account_id, post_id, and text are all required. A missing one returns 400 validation.field_required. YouTube accepts the edit only on a comment your channel wrote.

Webhook events

YouTube sends nothing to SocialAPI, so it emits no comment events: read comments with the endpoints above. Every post.* event in Webhook events is emitted for videos you publish through SocialAPI. You also receive account.connected when you connect a channel, account.disconnected when SocialAPI flags the channel, and account.updated when the account loses permissions you did not remove yourself. See Webhook events.

Suspended or closed channels

When YouTube suspends or closes the account or its channel, every call on it returns 403 platform.youtube.account_suspended. The saved connection is still valid, so reconnecting changes nothing: the owner resolves the suspension with YouTube. SocialAPI sets the account’s reconnect_reason to youtube_account_suspended, and sends an account.disconnected event with that reason.

Limits

Limit	Value
Video title	100 characters
Video description	5,000 bytes
Video file	256 GB
YouTube’s own limits	A call that reaches one returns `429 platform.youtube.rate_limit`. Wait, then retry

The publishing rules are in YouTube publishing.

Scopes

SocialAPI’s Google app requests this scope at connect. You apply for no Google app review. The consent screen is the same whichever permissions you select.

Scope	Used for
`https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.force-ssl`	Upload, edit, and delete videos, read channel and video data, and read, post, moderate, and edit comments

YouTube asks for 1 scope that covers reading and writing, so the consent screen shows it whatever you select. The account is still limited to the permissions you selected: an account connected with comments.read alone cannot reply to comments. A call the granted scope does not permit returns 403 platform.youtube.insufficientPermissions. Reconnect the account to grant it again.

YouTube publishing: fields, scheduling, and quirks for publishing videos
Comments: the cross-platform comment endpoints
Connect accounts: the shared connect flow
Webhook events: the post and account events
Platforms: the capability matrix
Errors: every error code

​At a glance

​Capabilities

​Connect an account

​Read videos and channel stats

​Comments

​Moderate a comment

​Edit your own comment

​Webhook events

​Suspended or closed channels

​Limits

​Scopes

​Related

At a glance

Capabilities

Connect an account

Read videos and channel stats

Comments

Moderate a comment

Edit your own comment

Webhook events

Suspended or closed channels

Limits

Scopes

Related