curl -X POST https://api.fetchlayer.dev/youtube/comments \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ss-your-key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ","sort":"top"}'

Tip

videoUrl accepts any standard YouTube link format — full URLs, youtu.be short links, and Shorts links all work.

3. Understand the response

Comments come back as a flat array. Each comment includes username, text, likes, and relative date. Use the /comments/replies endpoint to load a specific comment thread.

json

{
  "username": "@User123",
  "comment": "Great video!",
  "likes": 42,
  "hasReplies": true,
  "date": "1 day ago"
}

4. Extract a transcript

Get the transcript of any YouTube video as timestamped segments and plain text.

curl

bash

curl -X POST https://api.fetchlayer.dev/youtube/transcript \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ss-your-key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ","language":"en"}'

Next steps

Error responses

Every error, on every route, is JSON in one shape: error (what went wrong, in words), status, code, retryable and requestId, which also comes as the X-Request-Id header. Branch on code and retryable rather than on the text; on a 5xx the text is generic. Quote requestId when reporting a problem.

json

{
  "error": "Missing required parameter: url",
  "status": 400,
  "missing": ["url"],
  "code": "invalid_input",
  "retryable": false,
  "requestId": "922874e3-c0d0-40d8-8866-d198af132420"
}

code	Status	Retryable	Meaning
invalid_input	400	no	The request needs fixing; error names the field. A missing required parameter also lists it in missing.
unauthorized	401	no	The API key is missing or not valid.
insufficient_credits	402	no	Nothing left to spend: no credits, a used-up free trial, or a monthly allowance and credit balance both spent. error says which. Waiting does not help; topping up does.
forbidden	403	no	This key or account is not allowed this request.
not_found	404	no	What the request names does not exist or is not public.
expired	410	no	What the request refers to is no longer available; ask for it afresh.
quota_exceeded	429	no	A request-rate limit was reached; error says which. Slow down before sending more.
cancelled	499	no	The caller closed or cancelled the request before it finished. The work was stopped and nothing was charged.
time_limit	503	yes	Your timeoutMs ran out before there was anything to return; ask again, or allow more time.
temporarily_unavailable	503	yes	Not available right now; ask again shortly.
posts_unavailable	403	no	TikTok user videos: TikTok is not showing this account’s posts publicly right now. Asking again at once returns the same answer; nothing is charged.
store_unreachable	503	yes	Store routes (Shopify, WooCommerce): the store itself can’t be reached right now — it may be offline. Ask again later. Where a store route doesn’t say so yet, an offline store is temporarily_unavailable.
upstream_error	502	yes	The source answered in a way that could not be used; ask again later.
internal_error	500	yes	Something failed on our side; ask again later, and quote requestId if it persists.
tool_error	—	no	MCP only: a tool call failed in a way no other code describes; error says what.

More codes may be added; treat one you do not recognise by its retryable flag. Over MCP, a tool error carries the same fields in structuredContent, and as a JSON text block beside the message.

Product overviewYouTube API: what it returns, pricing and use cases

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