YouTube
youtube.com · Social & Community modeTransactional
Last probed 2026-09-07 17:00 UTC · Provisional
YouTube — Video publishing and discovery.
Verdict: Partially — an AI agent can use YouTube, but activate is blocked — SSO-only signup, no API-key path and manage is blocked — SSO-only — no admin API path.
- DiscoverIncomplete
- ActivateBlocked
- OperateNot yet probedgated by Activate
- ManageBlockedgated by Activate
Checkout flow not yet probed (Tier 2). For a transactional listing the purchase path is where interrupts actually bite — this readout reflects only what passive and signup-level checks could observe, not a verified purchase.
Capability parity
Each stage answers one question about what an agent can do unattended. Stages are ordered by the credential-gateway dependency: Activate issues the keys that unlock Operate and Manage. A row marked “Not yet probed” means no probe has tried that capability yet — a different ledger from the “unassessed” properties under Findings, where no probe tier capable of catching that interrupt has run.
Discover
Can an agent find and read it, no account?
Assessment incomplete - not yet probed: Read what it does and how to use it; Read pricing & limits without login.
- Be found by a retrieval agentEasy
Retrieval access present.
Evidence
- Path tried
- robots.txt / sitemap / discovery headers
- Where it stalled
- completed
- Evidence tier
- Tier 1 (unauth probe)
- Verification
- Evidence-only — graded from passive signal, not live-verified.
- Backing checks
retrieval_bot_access, sitemap_xml
- Read what it does and how to use itNot yet probed
No machine-readable docs found - llms.txt, AGENTS.md, and schema.org checks all failed or are absent.
- Read pricing & limits without loginNot yet probed
Public pricing was not confirmed - the page was absent, gated, or unreadable.
Activate
Can an agent sign up and walk away with the keys it needs?
Assessment incomplete - not yet probed: Obtain a management / admin key.
- Create an account self-serveBlocked
SSO-only signup, no API-key path.
SSO-only signup, no API-key issuance blocks this.
Evidence
- Path tried
- signup flow
- Where it stalled
- verification step
- Evidence tier
- Tier 1 (unauth probe)
- Verification
- Evidence-only — graded from passive signal, not live-verified.
- SSO-only signup, no API-key issuanceSignupSignup redirects to an SSO/identity provider (https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?continue=https://www.youtube.com/signin?action_handle_signin%3Dtrue%26app%3Ddesktop%26hl%3Den-GB%26next%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Faccount%252Fcreate%26feature%3Dredirect_login&hl=en-GB&passive=true&service=youtube&uilel=3&flowName=WebLiteSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin&dsh=S991924409:1788800439538416) with no programmatic credential path.
- Obtain an API / MCP access credentialBlocked
SSO-only — no API-key path.
SSO-only signup, no API-key issuance blocks this.
Evidence
- SSO-only signup, no API-key issuanceSignupSignup redirects to an SSO/identity provider (https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?continue=https://www.youtube.com/signin?action_handle_signin%3Dtrue%26app%3Ddesktop%26hl%3Den-GB%26next%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Faccount%252Fcreate%26feature%3Dredirect_login&hl=en-GB&passive=true&service=youtube&uilel=3&flowName=WebLiteSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin&dsh=S991924409:1788800439538416) with no programmatic credential path.
- Obtain a management / admin keyNot yet probed
No scoped or administrative key path was confirmed after activation.
- Accept the terms without a bot-banEasy
No bot-prohibition signal found.
Evidence
- Path tried
- ToS / policy scan
- Where it stalled
- completed
- Evidence tier
- Tier 0 (passive scan)
- Verification
- Evidence-only — graded from passive signal, not live-verified.
Operate
Can an agent do the service's actual jobs — call, transact, pay?
No probe has attempted this stage yet: Use the service's primary job; Complete a transaction / checkout; Pay via an agent rail (x402 / ACP / AP2).
Gated by Activate — the credential this stage needs isn't issued unattended, so these rows may be unreachable even where they read Easy.
- Use the service's primary jobNot yet probed
No machine interface found by passive checks, and no live Tier-2 call attempted.
Gated by Activate — the credential this needs isn't issued unattended.
- Complete a transaction / checkoutNot yet probed
Live checkout not yet attempted (Tier 2).
Gated by Activate — the credential this needs isn't issued unattended.
- Pay via an agent rail (x402 / ACP / AP2)Not yet probed
No agent-payment metadata detected - payment rails not yet probed.
Gated by Activate — the credential this needs isn't issued unattended.
Manage
Can an agent administer the account and provision resources?
Assessment incomplete - not yet probed: View usage & billing; Cancel / export / delete (offboard).
Gated by Activate — the credential this stage needs isn't issued unattended, so these rows may be unreachable even where they read Easy.
- Provision / scale / tear down a serviceBlocked
SSO-only — no admin API path.
SSO-only signup, no API-key issuance blocks this.
Gated by Activate — the credential this needs isn't issued unattended.
- Change account details / set budget / rotate keysBlocked
SSO-only — no admin API.
SSO-only signup, no API-key issuance blocks this.
Gated by Activate — the credential this needs isn't issued unattended.
- View usage & billingNot yet probed
Authenticated usage and billing access was not confirmed.
Gated by Activate — the credential this needs isn't issued unattended.
- Cancel / export / delete (offboard)Not yet probed
No self-serve cancellation, export, or deletion path was confirmed.
Gated by Activate — the credential this needs isn't issued unattended.
Findings
How scoring works →Interrupt tier: Moderate-Interrupt — derived from 2 findings; interrupt score 67 / 100 — the badge-driving metric. (range 36–86 · 10 unassessed)
Every tool starts at 100. Each interrupt found subtracts a penalty of base weight × timing × hardness × evidence — the multiplier values below come from the same rubric tables the score is computed with. New snapshots also provisionally subtract 50% of the full worst-case tax for each unassessed property and 25% for evidence-graded successes not live-verified by Tier 2.
Property coverage
A check only counts as clean when a probe tier capable of detecting that interrupt actually ran and found nothing. Not tested ≠ clean.
| Property | Stage | State | Evidence | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSO-only signup, no API-key issuance | activate | failed | Active finding — itemized in the penalty matrix below. Tier 1 assesses this property. | no |
| No Machine Interface | operate | failed | Active finding — itemized in the penalty matrix below. Tier 1 assesses this property. | yes |
| Email OTP verification | activate | unassessed | Tier 1 (unauth probe) ran but did not gather enough evidence to claim clean. Tier 1 assesses this property. | no |
| SMS / phone OTP verification | activate | unassessed | Tier 1 (unauth probe) ran but did not gather enough evidence to claim clean. Tier 1 assesses this property. | no |
| Mandatory phone verification call | activate | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| Mailed physical code (postal) | activate | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| “Contact sales” wall (no self-serve path) | activate | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| Manual approval queue | activate | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| Rate-limit-triggered manual review | manage | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| One-time account / payment-method provisioning | manage | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| Identity / KYC verification | activate | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| Crypto wallet / key-custody setup | operate | unassessed | No probe tier that can detect this has run yet — unknown, not clean. Tier 2 assesses this property. | no |
| CAPTCHA / bot-challenge | activate | success | None found — checked at Tier 0 (passive scan) + Tier 1 (unauth probe) (evidence-graded; not yet live-verified by a Tier 2 probe) Tier 0 assesses this property. | no |
| ToS clause banning automated/bot access | discover | success | None found — checked at Tier 0 (passive scan) (evidence-graded; not yet live-verified by a Tier 2 probe) Tier 0 assesses this property. | no |
| Mandatory redirect to vendor’s own site | operate | success | None found — checked at Tier 1 (unauth probe) (evidence-graded; not yet live-verified by a Tier 2 probe) Tier 1 assesses this property. | no |
| Interrupt found | Base weight | × Timing | × Hardness | × Evidence | = Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting score | 100 | ||||
| No Machine InterfaceoperateNeither an MCP server nor a usable API machine interface was found after Tier 0 and Tier 1 candidate checks. | 9 | ×1one-time setup | ×2.5hard | ×0.8Tier 1 (unauth probe)inferred | −9 |
| SSO-only signup, no API-key issuanceSignupSignup redirects to an SSO/identity provider (https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?continue=https://www.youtube.com/signin?action_handle_signin%3Dtrue%26app%3Ddesktop%26hl%3Den-GB%26next%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Faccount%252Fcreate%26feature%3Dredirect_login&hl=en-GB&passive=true&service=youtube&uilel=3&flowName=WebLiteSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin&dsh=S991924409:1788800439538416) with no programmatic credential path. | 5 | ×1one-time setup | ×2.5hard | ×0.8Tier 1 (unauth probe)inferred | −5 |
| Total penalty | −14 | ||||
| Full unknown tax 108.2 — capped at 25 (point score uses 50% of the capped value) | −108.2 | ||||
| Evidence-graded tax (successes not live-verified by a Tier 2 probe) 120.2 — capped at 25 (point score uses 25% of the capped value) | −120.2 | ||||
| Raw score = 100 − 14 = 86 Point score = 86 − 50% × 25 − 25% × 25 = 67.3 → 67 | 67 | ||||
inferred = detected from passive signals, not a directly observed interrupt — penalized at half weight
What would make this Easy
One concrete change per blocker found. These are the diffs between this listing's current parity and an unattended agent path.
- Activate / Manage — SSO-only signup, no API-key issuanceExpose an API / MCP credential alongside SSO.
How we scored this
- Confidence: Provisional (0.55) — Based on Tier 0/1 evidence only (passive checks, no live transaction attempt) — treat the number as a triage signal, not a verified outcome.
- Machine-Readability sub-score: 17 / 100 (a separate integration-ease signal — it never enters the Interrupt Score or badge).
- Some capability stages are not yet probed — shown plainly in the spine above, never as a pass.
- Rubric, tiers, confidence model, and badge thresholds →
Machine-readability checks 17 / 100
Four check groups, equal weight: machine interfaces, browsing efficiency, element discoverability, and discovery/agent access. Each check carries an evidence grade (proven / plausible / emerging) — an honesty label that never weights the score. What these mean →
- llms.txtemergingNot provided
- llms-full.txtemergingNot provided
- AGENTS.mdemergingNot provided
- A2A agent cardemergingNot provided
- MCP server (well-known or official registry)plausibleNot provided
- OpenAPI/Swagger specplausibleNot provided
- Rate-limit headersplausibleNot provided
- Structured JSON error responsesplausibleNot provided
- OAuth authorization-server metadata (RFC 8414)provenNot provided
- API catalog (RFC 9727) (emerging)emergingNot provided
- Agent-payment discovery (x402 / UCP) (emerging)emergingNot provided
- Lean HTML transfer sizeplausibleNot provided
- Manageable DOM sizeplausibleNot provided
- High content-to-markup densityplausibleNot provided
- Content readable without JS executionprovenraw HTML holds 92% of rendered text (146 vs 159 chars; threshold 40%)
- Clean-content alternate (RSS/Atom/feed/markdown)plausibleNot provided
- Serves markdown on Accept: text/markdownplausibleNot provided
- Interactive elements are semanticplausibleNot provided
- Form fields have accessible namesplausibleNot provided
- Inputs carry autocomplete hintsplausibleNot provided
- WebMCP tools (modelContext API)emergingNot provided
- AI retrieval/search fetchers allowed (robots.txt)provenno retrieval-fetcher blocks in robots.txt
- Sitemap (indexability)plausibleFound — www.youtube.com/sitemaps/sitemap.xml
- schema.org JSON-LD in raw HTMLplausibleNot provided
- Content-Signal directives (robots.txt)emergingNot provided
- Web Bot Auth key directory (emerging)emergingNot provided
- Discovery Link headers on homepage (emerging)emergingNot provided
- Pricing visible without loginNot provided
- robots.txt AI-crawler accessplausibleno AI-crawler blocks in robots.txt
- Unauthenticated API error is structured JSONplausibleNot provided
- Unauthenticated API returns auth guidance (401/403 or documented)plausibleNot provided
- API exposes rate-limit headersplausibleNot provided
- API key obtainable without human interactionplausibleNot provided
Evidence & history
Last probed 2026-09-07 17:00 UTC. The raw JSON is the archival record.
| Date | Score | Badge | Rubric version |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-07 17:00 UTC | 67 | Moderate-Interrupt (current) | rubric v2026.4 |
| 2026-09-07 17:00 UTC | 81 | Low-Interrupt | rubric v2026.4 |
Alternatives in Social & Community
Other Social & Community tools in the same mode (transactional), ranked by Overall LLM-Friendliness (the mean of Interrupt Score and Machine-Readability) — comparable to this listing because they share its usage mode.