Get your own YouTube API key

For use with Cloaki's "Bring your own key" feature

Cloaki works out of the box using its own privacy proxy — you don't need an API key for normal use. The optional Bring your own key feature lets power users supply a personal YouTube Data API key, which gives you your own daily quota (so you're never limited by the shared one) and lets you verify exactly what data is sent. This guide walks you through creating one. It's free, and it takes about five minutes.

You'll need a Google account. For the best privacy protection you may want to create a dummy account that is only used for Cloaki and not otherwise associated with your personal details. The YouTube Data API has a generous free tier (10,000 quota units per day by default), and Cloaki's usage stays well within it for typical browsing. Google does not charge for this API.

Step 1 — Open the Google Cloud Console

Go to console.cloud.google.com and sign in with your Google account. If this is your first time, accept the terms of service when prompted.

Step 2 — Create a project

At the top of the page, click the project selector (it may say Select a project) and choose New Project. Give it any name you like — for example, Cloaki — and click Create. Wait a few seconds for the project to be created, then make sure it's selected in the project selector.

Step 3 — Enable the YouTube Data API v3

  1. In the search bar at the top, type YouTube Data API v3 and select it from the results.
  2. On the API's page, click Enable.

If you'd rather navigate by menu, open APIs & Services → Library, search for the same API, and enable it there.

Step 4 — Create an API key

  1. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials.
  2. Click Create Credentials at the top, then choose API key.
  3. Google generates a key and shows it in a dialog. Click the copy icon to copy it.

Step 5 — Restrict the key (recommended)

Restricting the key limits the damage if it's ever exposed. In the dialog (or later from Credentials, by clicking your key's name):

Click Save.

Step 6 — Add the key to Cloaki

  1. Open Cloaki and go to Settings.
  2. Find Bring your own key and paste your API key.
  3. Save. Your searches and channel requests now use your personal quota.

How your key is used

With the proxy enabled (the default), your key is forwarded by Cloaki's proxy server, so your IP address stays hidden from Google even though the requests count against your key's quota. With the proxy disabled, your key — and your IP address — are sent directly to Google. Either way, requests made with your key count against your own Google account's quota and can be associated with that account by Google. See the Privacy Policy for full details.

Your own key and the daily search allowance

The 5-searches-per-day allowance exists to protect Cloaki's shared resources — its own API quota and the proxy server that spends it — so that no one user can drain the day's pool for everybody else. If you use your own key and turn Enable Proxy off in Settings, your searches consume neither, so the allowance no longer applies and Settings shows "Unlimited searches — running on your own quota". Both are required: with the proxy on, requests still go through Cloaki's server — and the proxy can only be turned off once you've saved a key of your own. This is a deliberate trade-off rather than a free upgrade — turning the proxy off means your searches go straight to Google from your device, giving up a significant portion of the privacy protection Cloaki provides. Cloaki Premium is the other way out: subscribers fund the proxy that spends the shared quota, so they aren't counted against the allowance and keep the privacy protection. Both routes reach the same YouTube data — the allowance is about Cloaki's proxy capacity, never about access to YouTube itself.

Troubleshooting

Still stuck?

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