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Subagent

Yt Scraper

Orchestrates YouTube data extraction via Apify actors — channel metadata, video details, search results — polling until complete and saving all datasets to disk. Use when collecting raw YouTube data for strategy analysis. Trigger with "scrape youtube channels", "fetch youtube data".

Type
Subagent
GitHub stars
2.8k
License
MIT
Repo last updated
Sep 27, 2026
Model
sonnet
Version
1.0.0
Author
Jeremy Longshore <[email protected]>

What Yt Scraper is

Yt Scraper is a subagent published in the jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace repository on GitHub, which has about 2.8k stars. The repository describes itself as: “Model-agnostic agent-skills platform with a harness-free canonical layer, verified adapters, and the ccpi package manager. Explore at tonsofskills.com.”

A subagent is a specialist assistant that Claude can hand part of a task to. It is a markdown file whose frontmatter sets a name, a description that tells Claude when to delegate, and optionally the tools and model it may use; the body becomes the subagent's own system prompt.

Because a subagent works in its own context, it keeps the main conversation focused: Claude can send a narrow job, such as a review or a specialised analysis, to Yt Scraper and get back a compact result.

It is set up to use these tools: Read, Write, Bash. Limiting tools is a good sign: the subagent can only do what those tools allow.

How to install Yt Scraper

Claude Code

  1. Download yt-scraper.md from the repository.
  2. Save it to ~/.claude/agents/ to use it in every project, or to .claude/agents/ inside one project to share it through version control.
  3. Claude Code watches these folders, so the subagent is usually available right away. Ask Claude to use it by name, or @-mention it to make sure it runs.

Claude Cowork

  1. Cowork loads subagents through plugins. If the repository is packaged as a plugin marketplace, add it under Customize → Plugins → Add marketplace and install the plugin that contains this subagent.
  2. Otherwise, bundle the file into your own plugin's agents/ folder and upload it from Customize → Plugins.

New to extending Cowork? Our plugins guide and Customize guide explain how skills, plugins, and connectors fit together.

Inside the source file

An excerpt from plugins/productivity/youtube-strategy/agents/yt-scraper.md, shared under the repository's MIT license. Read the full file on GitHub.

You are a YouTube data extraction specialist. Your job is to orchestrate YouTube scraping using Apify actors via the native Apify MCP connector.

Apify Actors for YouTube

Use the Apify MCP connector to discover and call YouTube-related actors. Common actors:

  1. YouTube Channel Scraper - Scrape channel metadata, subscriber count, video list
  • Input: {"channelUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/@channelname", ...]}
  • Returns: channel info, recent videos, metadata
  1. YouTube Video Scraper - Scrape individual video details
  • Input: {"startUrls": [{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..."}]}
  • Returns: title, views, likes, comments, description, publish date
  1. YouTube Search Scraper - Scrape YouTube search results
  • Input: {"searchKeywords": ["keyword1", "keyword2"]}
  • Returns: search result videos with metadata

Before calling any actor, use search-actors and fetch-actor-details to find the correct actor and understand its input schema. Actor IDs and input schemas may change over time.

Single Batch - Never Split Into Multiple Runs

CRITICAL: Send ALL URLs in a single API call per actor. Do NOT split URLs into multiple batches or runs. One call per actor with all URLs.

MCP Timeout Handling

The Apify MCP connector has a ~30 second timeout. For large scraping jobs, the actor will NOT finish in 30 seconds. This is expected. Handle it:

  1. Fire call-actor - it will likely timeout for large jobs
  2. The timeout does NOT mean the run failed. The Apify run continues in the background.
  3. Use get-actor-run to check the run status
  4. Poll until status is "SUCCEEDED" (check every 15-30 seconds)
  5. Once succeeded, use get-actor-output or get-dataset-items to fetch results

Data Persistence - Save to Disk Immediately

CRITICAL: Persist ALL fetched data to disk as JSON files immediately after fetching. Large Apify datasets will overflow the conversation context and get lost during context compaction.

After fetching channel data: save to channel_data.json After fetching video data: save to video_data.json After fetching search results: save to search_results.json

Use offset and limit parameters for pagination on large datasets. Save each batch to disk immediately.

Output

Save JSON files to the specified directory. Report:

  • Total channels scraped (with data vs without data)
  • Total videos fetched
  • Total search results fetched
  • Any errors or timeouts encountered

Before you install

  • Read the whole file first. Skills, commands, and subagents are instructions Claude will follow, so make sure they match what you want.
  • Check which tools, scripts, or MCP servers it uses. Local servers and scripts run with your permissions.
  • Try it in a test project or a copy of your files before pointing it at real work.
  • Pin the version you tested, and review changes before updating.
  • Watch for instructions that fetch web content or run shell commands; those are where prompt injection risks start. See our prompt injection guide.

FAQ

What is Yt Scraper?

Yt Scraper is a subagent for Claude Code and Claude Cowork from the jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace repository on GitHub. Orchestrates YouTube data extraction via Apify actors — channel metadata, video details, search results — polling until complete and saving all datasets to disk. Use when collecting raw YouTube data for strategy analysis. Trigger with "scrape youtube channels", "fetch youtube data".

How do I install Yt Scraper in Claude Code?

Download yt-scraper.md from the repository. Save it to ~/.claude/agents/ to use it in every project, or to .claude/agents/ inside one project to share it through version control. Claude Code watches these folders, so the subagent is usually available right away. Ask Claude to use it by name, or @-mention it to make sure it runs.

Can I use Yt Scraper in Claude Cowork?

Cowork loads subagents through plugins. If the repository is packaged as a plugin marketplace, add it under Customize → Plugins → Add marketplace and install the plugin that contains this subagent. Otherwise, bundle the file into your own plugin's agents/ folder and upload it from Customize → Plugins.

Is Yt Scraper safe to install?

It is a third-party community resource, not reviewed by Anthropic or this site. Read the source file first, check which tools and connectors it uses, and install only from sources you trust.

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Listing data comes from the public GitHub repository and was last checked in September 2026. Excerpts are © their authors and shared under MIT. This directory is independent and not affiliated with Anthropic or the resource's authors.