Let Claude search YouTube videos with views and upload date
To let Claude search YouTube videos, install Wield and ask in plain words, for example: "Search YouTube for lasagne recipe videos, sort by view count, and show channel, views and length." Claude runs one read-only Wield recipe. It sends one search request from your own browser tab and returns the videos with channel, views, length and upload date. You do not need a YouTube login.
YouTube Search YouTube videos with channel, views, length and upload date
Read-only, no loginRuns in your browser only
Parameters (4)
What you need
- Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or another MCP client.
- A Chromium browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi, Opera or Chromium) with the Wield extension.
- wield-mcp. Run
npx -y wield-mcp init, or follow the quick start. Claude Desktop users can also use the one-click bundle on wield.run/install.
Ask your agent
Name the query, the order and the fields you want. Two examples:
- "Search YouTube for lasagne recipe videos, sort by view count, and show channel, views and length."
- "Find 20 videos about sourdough starter, newest first, for country DE."
Your agent calls the recipe youtube.com/search-videos, version 1. The recipe is read-only. It searches and changes nothing on YouTube.
Params: what to put where
Your agent fills these in from your request. You do not write them yourself.
| Param | Required | Allowed values | Default | What to put in it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
query | yes | text | none | What to search for, such as 'lasagne recipe' or 'how to replace a bike chain'. |
sort | no | relevance, upload_date, view_count, rating | relevance | The order of results. Use view_count for the most watched videos. |
country | no | ISO country code | US | The region for results, such as DE. |
limit | no | 5, 10 or 20 | 10 | How many videos to return. |
What comes back
The result has three top-level fields: query, estimated_results (a number, or null when YouTube gives none) and videos. Each video has these fields:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
id, title, url, thumbnail | The video and its link and image |
channel, channel_url | The channel name and its link |
views | The view count |
duration_s, duration_text | Length in seconds and as text |
published | How long ago it was published |
live | True for a live stream |
Shorts shelves, ads and channel or playlist cards are left out. The search runs in your browser, so results follow your YouTube settings.
In a live check on 7 November 2026, run without cookies, a search for 'lasagne recipe' returned 10 videos in 855 ms. All 5 checks passed. Sorting by view count and the country setting both worked in that check.
What leaves your computer
- One request per search, to
www.youtube.com. It goes out from a YouTube tab in your browser, the same as a search you would run yourself. - Nothing goes through wield.run. Results go from the Wield extension to wield-mcp and then to your AI app.
- Wield logs each request on your computer only: method, host, path, status and timing. The log holds no bodies and no query values, so your search text stays out of it.
- Telemetry is off by default. If you turn it on, it sends only the recipe id, version, outcome, duration and error code.
Limits and terms
YouTube's terms restrict automated access. The official YouTube Data API is the sanctioned route for bulk use. This recipe is for your own searches: one request per call, as you would make it in a browser. Don't loop it or run it in bulk.
Every Wield run is capped at 12 steps, 40 requests, 5 MB per response and 60 seconds. If YouTube shows a bot check, Wield stops with site_challenge and asks you to solve it in your own tab. Wield does not solve these checks.
FAQ
Do I need to log in to YouTube?
No. The recipe does not require a login. Wield never reads or sends your cookies or passwords.
Can the results include Shorts?
No. Shorts shelves are left out, so the list shows regular videos only.
Is there an official YouTube API?
Yes, the YouTube Data API. It is the sanctioned route for bulk use. This Wield recipe covers one search at a time from your browser. For the API side, see the YouTube API page.
Does this work with other AI apps?
Wield is a local MCP server, so any MCP client can use it. Setup is documented for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and Codex. For the full tool list, see the YouTube MCP page.
How fast is it?
In a live check on 7 November 2026, a 10-video search took 855 ms. This recipe has no benchmark row yet, so this page makes no comparison with a browser agent for this task.