Yt - a Ruby client for the YouTube API

Yt helps you write apps that need to interact with YouTube.

The full documentation is available at rubydoc.info.

After registering your app, you can run commands like:

channel = Yt::Channel.new id: 'UCxO1tY8h1AhOz0T4ENwmpow'
channel.title #=> "Fullscreen"
channel.public? #=> true
channel.comment_count #=> 773
channel.videos.count #=> 12

video = Yt::Video.new id: 'MESycYJytkU'
video.title #=> "Fullscreen Creator Platform"
video.comment_count #=> 308
video.hd? #=> true
video.annotations.count #=> 1

The full documentation is available at rubydoc.info.

Available resources

Yt::Account

Use Yt::Account to:

authenticate as a YouTube account
read the attributes of the account
access the channel managed by the account
access the videos uploaded by the account

# Accounts can be initialized with access token, refresh token or an authorization code
account = Yt::Account.new access_token: 'ya29.1.ABCDEFGHIJ'

account.email #=> .. your e-mail address..
account.channel #=> #<Yt::Models::Channel @id=...>

account.videos.count #=> 12
account.videos.first #=> #<Yt::Models::Video @id=...>

All the above methods require authentication (see below).

Yt::ContentOwner

Use Yt::ContentOwner to:

authenticate as a YouTube content owner
list the channels partnered with a YouTube content owner

# Content owners can be initialized with access token, refresh token or an authorization code
content_owner = Yt::ContentOwner.new owner_name: 'CMSname', access_token: 'ya29.1.ABCDEFGHIJ'

content_owner.partnered_channels.count #=> 12
content_owner.partnered_channels.first #=> #<Yt::Models::Channel @id=...>

All the above methods require authentication (see below).

Yt::Channel

Use Yt::Channel to:

read the attributes of a channel
access the videos of a channel
access the playlists of a channel
subscribe to and unsubscribe from a channel
create and delete playlists from a channel
retrieve the daily earnings, views, comments, likes, dislikes, shares and impressions of a channel

channel = Yt::Channel.new id: 'UCxO1tY8h1AhOz0T4ENwmpow'

channel.title #=> "Fullscreen"
channel.description #=> "The first media company for the connected generation."
channel.description.has_link_to_playlist? #=> false
channel.thumbnail_url #=> "https://yt3.ggpht.com/-KMnbKDBl60w/.../photo.jpg"
channel.published_at #=> 2006-03-23 06:13:25 UTC
channel.public? #=> true

channel.view_count #=> 421619
channel.comment_count #=> 773
channel.video_count #=> 12
channel.subscriber_count #=> 136925
channel.subscriber_count_visible? #=> true

channel.videos.count #=> 12
channel.videos.first #=> #<Yt::Models::Video @id=...>

channel.playlists.count #=> 2
channel.playlists.first #=> #<Yt::Models::Playlist @id=...>

The methods above do not require authentication.

account = Yt::Account.new access_token: 'ya29.1.ABCDEFGHIJ'
channel = Yt::Channel.new id: 'UCxO1tY8h1AhOz0T4ENwmpow', auth: account

channel.subscribed? #=> false
channel.subscribe #=> true

channel.create_playlist title: 'New playlist' #=> true
channel.delete_playlists title: 'New playlist' #=> [true]

The methods above require to be authenticated as a YouTube account (see below).

content_owner = Yt::ContentOwner.new owner_name: 'CMSname', access_token: 'ya29.1.ABCDEFGHIJ'
channel = Yt::Channel.new id: 'UCxO1tY8h1AhOz0T4ENwmpow', auth: content_owner

channel.earnings_on 5.days.ago #=> 12.23
channel.views since: 7.days.ago #=> {Wed, 28 May 2014 => 12.0, Thu, 29 May 2014 => 3.0, …}
channel.comments until: 2.days.ago #=> {Wed, 28 May 2014 => 9.0, Thu, 29 May 2014 => 4.0, …}
channel.ch.likes from: 8.days.ago #=> {Tue, 27 May 2014 => 7.0, Wed, 28 May 2014 => 0.0, …}
channel.ch.dislikes to: 2.days.ago #=> {Tue, 27 May 2014 => 0.0, Wed, 28 May 2014 => 1.0, …}
channel.shares since: 7.days.ago, until: 7.days.ago  #=> {Wed, 28 May 2014 => 3.0}
channel.impressions_on 5.days.ago #=> 157.0

The methods above require to be authenticated as the channel’s content owner (see below).

Yt::Video

Use Yt::Video to:

read the attributes of a video
update the attributes of a video
access the annotations of a video
like and dislike a video

video = Yt::Video.new id: 'MESycYJytkU'

video.title #=> "Fullscreen Creator Platform"
video.description #=> "The new Fullscreen Creator Platform gives creators and brands a suite..."
video.description.has_link_to_channel? #=> true
video.thumbnail_url #=> "https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/MESycYJytkU/default.jpg"
video.published_at #=> 2013-07-09 16:27:32 UTC
video.public? #=> true
video.tags #=> []
video.channel_id #=> "UCxO1tY8h1AhOz0T4ENwmpow"
video.channel_title #=> "Fullscreen"
video.category_id #=> "22"
video.live_broadcast_content #=> "none"

video.duration #=> 86
video.hd? #=> true
video.stereoscopic? #=> false
video.captioned? #=> true
video.licensed? #=> false

video.annotations.count #=> 1
video.annotations.first #=> #<Yt::Models::Annotation @id=...>

The methods above do not require authentication.

account = Yt::Account.new access_token: 'ya29.1.ABCDEFGHIJ'
video = Yt::Video.new id: 'MESycYJytkU', auth: account

video.liked? #=> false
video.like #=> true

The methods above require to be authenticated as a YouTube account (see below).

video.update title: 'A title', description: 'A description', tags: ['a tag'], categoryId: '21'

The methods above require to be authenticated as the video’s owner (see below).

Yt::Playlist

Use Yt::Playlist to:

read the attributes of a playlist
update the attributes of a playlist
access the items of a playlist
add one or multiple videos to a playlist
delete items from a playlist

playlist = Yt::Playlist.new id: 'PLSWYkYzOrPMRCK6j0UgryI8E0NHhoVdRc'

playlist.title #=> "Fullscreen Features"
playlist.description #=> "You send us your best videos and we feature our favorite ones..."
playlist.description.has_link_to_subscribe? #=> false
playlist.thumbnail_url #=> "https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/36kL2alg7Jk/default.jpg"
playlist.published_at #=> 2012-11-27 21:23:38 UTC
playlist.public? #=> true
playlist.tags #=> []
playlist.channel_id #=> "UCxO1tY8h1AhOz0T4ENwmpow"
playlist.channel_title #=> "Fullscreen"

playlist.playlist_items.count #=> 1
playlist.playlist_items.first #=> #<Yt::Models::PlaylistItem @id=...>

The methods above do not require authentication.

playlist.update title: 'title', description: 'desc', tags: ['new tag'], privacy_status: 'private'
playlist.add_video 'MESycYJytkU'
playlist.add_videos ['MESycYJytkU', 'MESycYJytkU']
playlist.delete_playlist_items title: 'Fullscreen Creator Platform' #=> [true]

The methods above require to be authenticated as the playlist’s owner (see below).

Yt::PlaylistItem

Use Yt::PlaylistItem to:

read the attributes of a playlist item
delete a playlist item

item = Yt::PlaylistItem.new id: 'PLjW_GNR5Ir0GWEP_oveGBNjTvKkYyZfsna1TZDCBP-Z8'

item.title #=> "Titanium - David Guetta - Space Among Many Cover ft. Evan Chan and Glenna Roberts"
item.description #=> "CLICK to tweet this video: [...]"
item.description.has_link_to_channel? #=> true
item.thumbnail_url #=> "https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/W4GhTprSsOY/default.jpg"
item.published_at #=> 2012-12-22 19:38:02 UTC
item.public? #=> true
item.channel_id #=> "UCxO1tY8h1AhOz0T4ENwmpow"
item.channel_title #=> "Fullscreen"
item.playlist_id #=> "PLSWYkYzOrPMRCK6j0UgryI8E0NHhoVdRc"
item.position #=> 0
item.video_id #=> "W4GhTprSsOY"
item.video #=> #<Yt::Models::Video @id=...>

The methods above do not require authentication.

item.delete #=> true

The methods above require to be authenticated as the playlist’s owner (see below).

Yt::Annotation

Use Yt::Annotation to:

read the attributes of an annotation

video = Yt::Video.new id: 'MESycYJytkU'
annotation = video.annotations.first

annotation.below? 70 #=> false
annotation.has_link_to_subscribe? #=> false
annotation.has_link_to_playlist? #=> true

Annotations do not require authentication.

Configuring your app

In order to use Yt you must register your app in the Google Developers Console.

If you don’t have a registered app, browse to the console and select "Create Project": 01-create-project

When your project is ready, select APIs & Auth in the menu and enable Google+, YouTube Analytics and YouTube Data API: 02-select-api

The next step is to create an API key. Depending on the nature of your app, you should pick one of the following strategies.

Apps that do not require user interactions

If you are building a read-only app that fetches public data from YouTube, then all you need is a Public API access.

Click on "Create new Key" in the Public API section and select "Server Key": 03-create-key 04-create-server-key

Once the key for server application is created, copy the API key and add it to your code with the following snippet of code (replacing with your own key):

Yt.configure do |config|
  config.api_key = 'AIzaSyAO8dXpvZcaP2XSDFBD91H8yQ'
end

Remember: this kind of app is not allowed to perform any destructive operation, so you won’t be able to like a video, subscribe to a channel or delete a playlist from a specific account. You will only be able to retrieve read-only data.

Web apps that require user interactions

If you are building a web app that manages YouTube accounts, you need the owner of each account to authorize your app. There are three scenarios:

Scenario 1. If you already have the account’s access token, then you are ready to go. Just pass that access token to the account initializer, such as:

account = Yt::Account.new access_token: 'ya29.1.ABCDEFGHIJ'
account.email #=> (retrieves the account’s e-mail address)
account.videos #=> (lists a video to an account’s playlist)

Scenario 2. If you don’t have the account’s access token, but you have the refresh token, then it’s almost as easy. In the Google Developers Console, find the web application that was used to obtain the refresh token, copy the Client ID and Client secret and add them to you code with the following snippet of code (replacing with your own keys):

Yt.configure do |config|
  config.client_id = '1234567890.apps.googleusercontent.com'
  config.client_secret = '1234567890'
end

Then you can manage a YouTube account by passing the refresh token to the account initializer, such as:

account = Yt::Account.new refresh_token: '1/1234567890'
account.email #=> (retrieves the account’s e-mail address)
account.videos #=> (lists a video to an account’s playlist)

Scenario 3. If you don’t have any account’s token, then you can get one by having the user authorize your app through the Google OAuth page.

In the Google Developers Console, click on "Create new Client ID" in the OAuth section and select "Web application": 06-create-client-key

Fill the "Authorized Redirect URI" textarea with the URL of your app where you want to redirect users after they authorize their YouTube account.

Once the Client ID for web application is created, copy the Client ID and secret and add them to your code with the following snippet of code (replacing with your own keys):

Yt.configure do |config|
  config.client_id = '49781862760-4t610gtk35462g.apps.googleusercontent.com'
  config.client_secret = 'NtFHjZkJcwYZDfYVz9mp8skz9'
end

Finally, in your web app, add a link to the URL generated by running

Yt::Account.new(scopes: scopes, redirect_uri: redirect_uri).authentication_url

where redirect_uri is the URL you entered in the form above, and scopes is the list of YouTube scopes you want the user to authorize. Depending on the nature of your app, you can pick one or more among youtube, youtube.readonly userinfo.email.

Every user who authorizes your app will be redirected to the redirect_uri with an extra code parameter that looks something like 4/Ja60jJ7_Kw0. Just pass the code to the following method to authenticate and initialize the account:

account = Yt::Account.new authorization_code: '4/Ja60jJ7_Kw0'
account.email #=> (retrieves the account’s e-mail address)
account.videos #=> (lists a video to an account’s playlist)

Configuring with environment variables

As an alternative to the approach above, you can configure your app with variables. Setting the following environment variables:

export YT_CLIENT_ID="1234567890.apps.googleusercontent.com"
export YT_CLIENT_SECRET="1234567890"
export YT_API_KEY="123456789012345678901234567890"

is equivalent to configuring your app with the initializer:

Yt.configure do |config|
  config.client_id = '1234567890.apps.googleusercontent.com'
  config.client_secret = '1234567890'
  config.api_key = '123456789012345678901234567890'
end

so use the approach that you prefer. If a variable is set in both places, then Yt.configure takes precedence.

How to install

To install on your system, run

gem install yt

To use inside a bundled Ruby project, add this line to the Gemfile:

gem 'yt', '~> 0.7.4'

Since the gem follows Semantic Versioning, indicating the full version in your Gemfile (~> major.minor.patch) guarantees that your project won’t occur in any error when you bundle update and a new version of Yt is released.

Why you should use Yt…

… and not youtube_it? Because youtube_it does not support Google API V3 and the previous version has already been deprecated by Google and will soon be dropped.

… and not Google Api Client? Because Google Api Client is poorly coded, poorly documented and adds many dependencies, bloating the size of your project.

… and not your own code? Because Yt is fully tested, well documented, has few dependencies and helps you forget about the burden of dealing with Google API!

How to test

Yt comes with two different sets of tests:

tests in spec/models, spec/collections and spec/errors do not hit the YouTube API
tests in spec/requests hit the YouTube API and require authentication

The reason why some tests actually hit the YouTube API is because they are meant to really integrate Yt with YouTube. YouTube API is not exactly the most reliable API out there, so we need to make sure that the responses match the documentation.

You don’t have to run all the tests every time you change code. Travis CI is already set up to do this for when whenever you push a branch or create a pull request for this project.

To only run tests against models, collections and errors (which do not hit the API), type:

rspec spec/models spec/collections spec/errors

To also run live-tests against the YouTube API, type:

rspec

This will fail unless you have set up a test YouTube application and some tests YouTube accounts to hit the API. Once again, you probably don’t need this, since Travis CI already takes care of running this kind of tests.

How to contribute

Yt needs your support! The goal of Yt is to provide a Ruby interface for all the methods exposed by the YouTube Data API (v3) and by the YouTube Analytics API.

If you find that a method is missing, fork the project, add the missing code, write the appropriate tests, then submit a pull request, and it will gladly be merged!

How to release new versions

If you are a manager of this project, remember to upgrade the Yt gem whenever a new feature is added or a bug gets fixed.

Make sure all the tests are passing on Travis CI, document the changes in HISTORY.md and README.md, bump the version, then run

rake release

Remember that the yt gem follows Semantic Versioning. Any new release that is fully backward-compatible should bump the patch version (0.0.x). Any new version that breaks compatibility should bump the minor version (0.x.0)

Don’t hesitate to send code comments, issues or pull requests through GitHub! All feedback is appreciated. A googol of thanks! :)