How do I install the Youtube Search skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add theveller/youtube-search in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Youtube Search safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Youtube Search?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Youtube Search free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Youtube Search?

TheVeller (@theveller) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Youtube Search by theveller — Agent Skill

Name: Youtube Search
Author: TheVeller

Youtube Search

Search YouTube for videos via yt-dlp and return structured results (title, channel, views, duration, description) for analysis. Use when the user wants to search YouTube, find top videos on a topic, or pull video metadata.

TheVeller 1f03eaf 2.6 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

YouTube Search Skill

Search YouTube for videos and return structured results using yt-dlp.

Trigger

Use this skill when the user wants to:

Search YouTube for videos on a topic
Find top YouTube videos about a query
Research what's popular on YouTube about a subject
Get video metadata (views, channel, duration, description) for analysis

How to Use

When triggered, call the Bash tool to run yt-dlp with the search query.

Basic Search

yt-dlp "ytsearch10:{QUERY}" \
  --dump-json \
  --no-download \
  --flat-playlist \
  --no-warnings \
  2>/dev/null

Each line of output is a JSON object. Parse and return structured results.

Result Fields to Extract

From each JSON object, extract:

id → YouTube video ID
title → Video title
url → Full URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={id}
view_count → Number of views (may be null for search results)
channel → Channel name
channel_url → Channel URL
duration → Duration in seconds (convert to MM:SS)
description → First 300 chars of description
upload_date → Date in YYYYMMDD format
like_count → Likes (may be null)

Output Format

Return results as a structured markdown list:

## YouTube Search Results: "{query}"

Found {N} videos

| # | Title | Channel | Views | Duration |
|---|-------|---------|-------|----------|
| 1 | [Title](URL) | Channel Name | 1.2M | 12:34 |
...

### Full Details

**1. [Video Title](URL)**
- Channel: Channel Name
- Views: 1,234,567
- Duration: 12:34
- Published: 2024-03-15
- Description: First 300 chars...

Parameters

query — Search query string (required)
limit — Number of results (default: 10, max: 50)
sort_by — Sort preference: relevance (default), views, date

Notes

yt-dlp is installed at /opt/homebrew/bin/yt-dlp
Search results may not include view counts (YouTube API limitation with yt-dlp search)
For view counts, a second pass fetching individual video metadata may be needed
If view counts are needed: yt-dlp --dump-json "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={id}"

Example Usage

User: "Search YouTube for the top 5 videos about Claude Code MCP servers"

yt-dlp "ytsearch5:Claude Code MCP servers" --dump-json --no-download --flat-playlist --no-warnings 2>/dev/null

Parse JSON output → return structured table + details.

---name: youtube-searchdescription: Search YouTube for videos via yt-dlp and return structured results (title, channel, views, duration, description) for analysis. Use when the user wants to search YouTube, find top videos on a topic, or pull video metadata.---# YouTube Search SkillSearch YouTube for videos and return structured results using yt-dlp.## TriggerUse this skill when the user wants to:- Search YouTube for videos on a topic- Find top YouTube videos about a query- Research what's popular on YouTube about a subject- Get video metadata (views, channel, duration, description) for analysis## How to UseWhen triggered, call the Bash tool to run yt-dlp with the search query.### Basic Search```bashyt-dlp "ytsearch10:{QUERY}" \ --dump-json \ --no-download \ --flat-playlist \ --no-warnings \ 2>/dev/null```Each line of output is a JSON object. Parse and return structured results.### Result Fields to ExtractFrom each JSON object, extract:- `id` → YouTube video ID- `title` → Video title- `url` → Full URL: `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={id}`- `view_count` → Number of views (may be null for search results)- `channel` → Channel name- `channel_url` → Channel URL- `duration` → Duration in seconds (convert to MM:SS)- `description` → First 300 chars of description- `upload_date` → Date in YYYYMMDD format- `like_count` → Likes (may be null)### Output FormatReturn results as a structured markdown list:```markdown## YouTube Search Results: "{query}"Found {N} videos| # | Title | Channel | Views | Duration ||---|-------|---------|-------|----------|| 1 | [Title](URL) | Channel Name | 1.2M | 12:34 |...### Full Details**1. [Video Title](URL)**- Channel: Channel Name- Views: 1,234,567- Duration: 12:34- Published: 2024-03-15- Description: First 300 chars...```## Parameters- `query` — Search query string (required)- `limit` — Number of results (default: 10, max: 50)- `sort_by` — Sort preference: `relevance` (default), `views`, `date`## Notes- yt-dlp is installed at `/opt/homebrew/bin/yt-dlp`- Search results may not include view counts (YouTube API limitation with yt-dlp search)- For view counts, a second pass fetching individual video metadata may be needed- If view counts are needed: `yt-dlp --dump-json "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={id}"`## Example UsageUser: "Search YouTube for the top 5 videos about Claude Code MCP servers"```bashyt-dlp "ytsearch5:Claude Code MCP servers" --dump-json --no-download --flat-playlist --no-warnings 2>/dev/null```Parse JSON output → return structured table + details.

Frequently asked questions