YouTube Shorts Trending API
Pull a fresh slice of YouTube's public Shorts trending feed — titles, counts, channel metadata, and durations — without a Google Cloud project.
GET /v1/youtube/shorts/trending1 credit per successful request.
About this endpoint
Trending Shorts are a moving target. Rankings shift by hour, and the same clip can reappear across pulls. If you are building a discovery dashboard, a creative brief pipeline, or a "what is blowing up in vertical video right now" job, you want the platform feed, not one channel's uploads tab.
`GET /v1/youtube/shorts/trending` takes no query parameters. Authenticate with your Social Fetch API key (`x-api-key`). A successful response returns `data.shorts` (typically about 48 items) and `data.totalResults` matching that array length. Each Short row can include id, url, title, description, thumbnail, view/like/comment counts (numeric and text forms), publish timestamps, nested `channel` (id, url, handle, title), keywords, and duration fields. Nulls mean the field was not available upstream — the key is still present.
There is no cursor and no page parameter. Call the same route again for another batch; new Shorts and overlaps are both expected. Pricing is on the credit badge for this operation — bill from `meta.creditsCharged`. For Shorts belonging to one channel, use `GET /v1/youtube/channels/shorts`. For a known video URL, use `GET /v1/youtube/videos`. Same API key across the YouTube tag.
YouTube Shorts Trending API FAQ
How do I fetch trending YouTube Shorts via API?
Call GET /v1/youtube/shorts/trending with your Social Fetch API key (x-api-key). The route accepts no query parameters. Read data.shorts and data.totalResults on a 200 response. Full schema and examples are in the API docs.
How much does the YouTube Shorts Trending API cost?
Pricing is documented on the operation in the API registry (shown on this page). Confirm on every response with meta.creditsCharged — that field is the billing source of truth.
How many Shorts does each call return?
Typically about 48 items in data.shorts. data.totalResults equals the length of that array for the response. Exact counts can vary when the upstream feed is thin or unavailable.
Does this endpoint support pagination or a cursor?
No. There is no cursor or page query param. To sample more of the feed, call GET /v1/youtube/shorts/trending again. Later batches may include new Shorts and may overlap with earlier ones.
What fields are on each trending Short?
When present: id, url, title, description, thumbnailUrl, view/like/comment counts (and text forms), publishedAt, publishedDateText, channel (id, url, handle, title), keywords, durationMs, and durationText. Treat null as missing upstream data, not as a schema omission.
How is this different from GET /v1/youtube/channels/shorts?
This route returns a platform-wide trending Shorts snapshot. GET /v1/youtube/channels/shorts lists Shorts for one channel by handle or channelId and supports sortBy plus cursor pagination. Use trending for discovery; use channel Shorts for creator-specific feeds.
Do I need a Google Cloud project or YouTube Data API quota?
No. You authenticate to Social Fetch with an API key. The route reads public trending Shorts data; it does not act on behalf of a logged-in YouTube user.
Can I filter trending Shorts by country or category?
Not on this operation. The documented request has no query parameters. If you need topic or channel filtering, pull a batch and filter client-side, or combine with search and channel Shorts routes documented under the YouTube tag.