How to Use the YouTube Data API in Laravel: Fetch Playlist Videos, Save to Database, and Handle Quota

What I did to automate YouTube video sync for my Laravel app, and what tripped me up along the way.

I wanted my Laravel app to always have the latest videos from a YouTube playlist, without manual copy-paste. Here’s how I wired up the YouTube Data API, saved videos to my database, and handled all the weird quota and rate limit stuff Google throws at you.

Prerequisites

• Laravel 8+ installed
• Google Cloud project with YouTube Data API v3 enabled
• API key (store in .env as YOUTUBE_API_KEY)
• Database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.)

Step 1: Set Up Laravel for YouTube API

First, add your API key to .env:

YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Access it in code with config('services.youtube.key') or env('YOUTUBE_API_KEY').

Add this to config/services.php:

'youtube' => [
    'key' => env('YOUTUBE_API_KEY'),
],

Step 2: Create a Video Model and Migration

Run:

php artisan make:model Video -m

Edit the migration (database/migrations/xxxx_create_videos_table.php):

Schema::create('videos', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('youtube_id')->unique();
    $table->string('title');
    $table->string('duration')->nullable();
    $table->unsignedBigInteger('views')->default(0);
    $table->json('tags')->nullable();
    $table->timestamps();
});

Run the migration:

php artisan migrate

Step 3: Fetch Playlist Videos with Laravel’s HTTP Client

Use Laravel’s built-in HTTP client (no Guzzle needed):

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

$apiKey = config('services.youtube.key');
$playlistId = 'YOUR_PLAYLIST_ID';
$baseUrl = 'https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/playlistItems';

$params = [
    'part' => 'snippet',
    'maxResults' => 50,
    'playlistId' => $playlistId,
    'key' => $apiKey,
];

$response = Http::get($baseUrl, $params);
$items = $response->json('items') ?? [];

Gotcha: Use $response->json() not $response['items'].

Step 4: Get Video Details and Save to Database

Batch up to 50 video IDs per call:

$videoIds = collect($items)->map(fn($item) => $item['snippet']['resourceId']['videoId'])->implode(',');
$detailsResponse = Http::get('https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos', [
    'part' => 'contentDetails,statistics,snippet',
    'id' => $videoIds,
    'key' => $apiKey,
]);
$videoDetails = $detailsResponse->json('items') ?? [];

foreach ($videoDetails as $video) {
    \App\Models\Video::updateOrCreate(
        ['youtube_id' => $video['id']],
        [
            'title' => $video['snippet']['title'] ?? 'Untitled',
            'duration' => $video['contentDetails']['duration'] ?? null,
            'views' => $video['statistics']['viewCount'] ?? 0,
            'tags' => json_encode($video['snippet']['tags'] ?? []),
        ]
    );
}

Gotcha: Use updateOrCreate to avoid duplicates. Always check for missing fields.

Step 5: Where to Put the Sync Logic

• For manual runs: use an Artisan command (php artisan make:command SyncYoutubeVideos)
• For scheduled sync: add to app/Console/Kernel.php as a scheduled job
• For big playlists: use Laravel queues to batch requests and avoid timeouts

Step 6: Handle Rate Limiting and Quota in Laravel

• Add usleep(200000) between batches
• Catch exceptions with try/catch and log errors
• Use Laravel’s retry helper for transient errors:

$response = retry(3, fn() => Http::get($baseUrl, $params), 200);

Fallback: If you hit quota, log it and alert yourself (email, Slack, etc). For big jobs, consider chunking requests and running overnight.

Debugging & Manual Checks

• Log all API responses for troubleshooting
• Use Laravel’s Log facade for errors
• Double-check your database for missing or duplicate videos

More Resources

• YouTube Data API documentation
• Laravel HTTP Client

Summary

Automating YouTube video sync in Laravel keeps your app up-to-date and saves manual work. Use models, migrations, jobs, and queues for a robust solution. Watch out for quota, missing fields, and pagination. Log everything, use defaults, and check your work. For more API tips, check out my other articles.