Search YouTube for videos in a niche or category. Returns video IDs and basic metadata sorted by the specified order. Use this for targeted searches when you already have video IDs from a previous search or want raw search results without metric calculations.

Fetch full metadata and calculated engagement metrics for one or more video IDs. Returns title, description, tags, thumbnails, duration, view/like/comment counts, engagement rate, view velocity, and more. Batches efficiently (50 per API call).

Fetch channel metadata including subscriber count, total views, video count, and creation date. Useful for understanding the competitive landscape — whether top videos come from large or small channels.

High-level niche analysis — the primary entry point for YouTube research. Searches for videos, fetches full metadata, calculates engagement metrics, and returns sorted results with aggregate statistics including median views, engagement rates, top tags, duration distribution, publishing day patterns, and channel size breakdown. Filters out Shorts (<60s) and active live streams automatically.

Download thumbnail images for video IDs to a local directory. Enables Claude vision analysis of thumbnail style, composition, text overlays, faces, and colour schemes. Tries maxresdefault first, falls back to hqdefault. No API quota cost.

Returns estimated API quota consumption for the current server session. YouTube Data API v3 has a 10,000 unit daily limit. A typical full niche analysis costs ~103 units.