How to Install and Use YouTube in OpenClaw

Open your terminal and install the YouTube skill from the ClawHub registry. The skill package includes YouTube Data API v3 client code, a natural language command parser that maps chat messages to YouTube API calls, and result formatting logic that presents video information in a readable format in OpenClaw chat. The installation takes under a minute. After it completes, verify the skill is listed as installed. It will show 'inactive' status until you configure an API key in the next step — this is normal behavior for skills that require external API credentials before they can function. If you see 'package not found' during installation, run `clawhub update` to refresh the skill registry index. If you see a version conflict, your OpenClaw installation may be below the minimum version required by the youtube skill — check with `openclaw --version` and update if needed.

1# Install the YouTube skill
2clawhub install youtube
3
4# Verify installation
5clawhub list --installed | grep youtube
6
7# Check initial status
8clawhub status youtube
9# Expected: 'youtube: installed (inactive — API key required)'

Go to console.cloud.google.com and sign in with your Google account. If you do not have a project, click 'Select a project' > 'New Project'. Name it 'OpenClaw YouTube' or similar. Click 'Create'. This is free and does not require billing. Once in your project, navigate to APIs & Services > Library. Search for 'YouTube Data API v3'. Click on it, then click 'Enable'. This adds the YouTube Data API to your project's allowed services. Next, create an API key. Go to APIs & Services > Credentials. Click 'Create Credentials' > 'API key'. Google creates a key immediately and displays it — copy it now. This is your YouTube Data API key. Optionally (recommended), restrict the key to only the YouTube Data API: click 'Edit API key', under 'API restrictions' select 'Restrict key', choose 'YouTube Data API v3' from the list, and save. This prevents the key from being used to call other Google APIs if it is ever leaked. The free quota for YouTube Data API v3 is 10,000 units per day. A search request costs 100 units, so you get approximately 100 searches per day at no cost. This is sufficient for personal and moderate team use. If you need higher quotas, Google offers paid quota increases.

1# Your YouTube Data API key will look like:
2# AIzaSyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
3
4# Test the key immediately after creation:
5curl "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&q=openclaw&maxResults=3&type=video&key=YOUR_API_KEY"
6
7# A successful response returns a 'items' array of video results
8# A 403 error means the key was not created correctly or the API is not enabled
9# A 400 error means the key is malformed

Open `~/.openclaw/config.yaml` and add the YouTube skill configuration block under the `skills` key. If a `skills` section already exists from other installed skills, add the youtube block inside it without replacing the existing content. The `api_key` field is your YouTube Data API v3 key from Step 2. The `max_results` field controls how many results the skill returns for search queries — 5 is a sensible default that provides enough context without overwhelming the chat interface. The `safe_search` option controls YouTube's content filtering: `moderate` (default) filters most explicit content while allowing news and documentary coverage; `strict` applies YouTube's strictest filtering; `none` disables filtering. For most users, `moderate` is appropriate. The `result_fields` list controls which video metadata fields the skill includes in search results. The defaults (title, channel, duration, views, url) give a good summary — add `description` if you want video description snippets in results, though this makes responses longer. After saving the config, reload OpenClaw with `openclaw reload` or restart the process. The YouTube skill status should change from 'inactive' to 'active'.

1# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml
2skills:
3  youtube:
4    api_key: "YOUR_YOUTUBE_DATA_API_V3_KEY"
5    max_results: 5              # Videos returned per search query (default: 5, max: 50)
6    safe_search: "moderate"     # 'strict', 'moderate', or 'none'
7    default_region: "US"        # ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for regional results
8    default_language: "en"      # Preferred video language
9    result_fields:
10      - title
11      - channel
12      - duration
13      - views
14      - url
15      # - description   # Uncomment to include video descriptions in results

Open the OpenClaw chat interface and test YouTube commands. The skill understands a wide range of natural language video queries — you do not need to use specific syntax. Commands like 'Search YouTube for...', 'Find me videos about...', 'What are the most popular videos on...', and 'Get details for this YouTube video...' all work as you would expect. Start with a simple search to confirm the integration is responding correctly. You should see formatted results with video titles, channel names, view counts, and clickable URLs within seconds. Then try a more specific query — searching for a particular creator's videos or a specific video by approximate title. For video metadata retrieval, paste a YouTube URL directly in the chat and ask OpenClaw to summarize or describe the video. The skill fetches the video's metadata from the API and formats the key details.

1# Example OpenClaw chat prompts for the YouTube skill:
2
3# Basic search
4"Search YouTube for tutorials on building a React app with TypeScript"
5"Find the most popular videos about sourdough bread baking"
6
7# Channel-specific
8"Show me the 5 most recent videos from the Kurzgesagt YouTube channel"
9"Find videos from Fireship published in the last month"
10
11# Video metadata
12"Get the details for this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
13"How many views and likes does this video have: [URL]"
14
15# Discovery
16"What are the trending YouTube videos in the Technology category today?"
17"Find beginner Python tutorials with more than 1 million views"
18
19# Playback (if OpenClaw has a media output configured)
20"Play the first result for 'lofi hip hop study music'"
21"Queue up 3 jazz piano videos for background listening"

The YouTube skill becomes most powerful when combined with other OpenClaw skills and integrations. For example: search YouTube for relevant tutorials on a topic you are researching, then ask OpenClaw to summarize the top results using the summarize skill; or find the latest news videos on a topic and route the links to your Telegram or Discord channel automatically. For research workflows, the YouTube skill can retrieve video descriptions and metadata, which you can then process with OpenClaw's AI capabilities — extracting key points, comparing approaches across multiple tutorial videos, or building a curated content list. If you need YouTube transcripts (the spoken text content of videos rather than just titles and descriptions), the Video Transcript Downloader skill is a complementary tool. It works well alongside the YouTube search skill: search for relevant videos first, then download their transcripts for deeper analysis. The YouTube skill's API quota (100 searches/day on the free tier) is sufficient for personal and research use. For high-volume use cases, RapidDev's team can advise on API quota management and efficient querying patterns to stay within the free tier limits.

1# Combine YouTube search with transcript download workflow:
2# 1. Search for relevant videos
3# 2. Extract video IDs from results
4# 3. Use video-transcript-downloader to get transcript text
5# 4. Summarize transcript content
6
7# In OpenClaw chat (multi-step workflow example):
8# "Search YouTube for the best OpenClaw tutorial videos,
9#  then download the transcript for the top result,
10#  and give me a 3-sentence summary of what it covers"
11
12# API quota usage reference:
13# Search query: 100 units
14# Video details: 1-5 units
15# Channel details: 1-5 units
16# Playlist items: 1-5 units
17# Daily free quota: 10,000 units
18# = approximately 100 searches/day at no cost