# /youku/shows

`POST /api/youku/shows`

Price: 10 credits

Get one Youku show — a drama, film, variety show, anime, documentary or kids title — by its id or URL. Returns the Chinese title and subtitle, synopsis, category, genre and programming-block labels, release date, episode count and completion state, the user rating, the popularity score and its chart placement, comment, like and follower counts, VIP flags, artwork, the full billed cast with their credited roles, the other seasons and versions of the title, and the episode the play page currently opens on.

## How to use it

Pass the 20-character show id, the numeric show id, or any v.youku.com URL — a show URL, an episode URL or an `id_<videoId>.html` play URL all resolve to the show the episode belongs to, so a single video link is enough to reach the title. A creator id is rejected with 422. `latest_video` is the episode the play page opens on, not necessarily the newest one, and its `comment_count` and `like_count` belong to that episode while the show's own counters sit at the top level. Everything here is in Chinese; there is no translated variant. For the ordered episode list use /youku/shows/videos — `episode_total` counts aired episodes and undercounts trailers, clips and specials, which that endpoint does return.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `show` (string, required) — Show id, numeric show id, or a youku.com show or episode URL (examples: "dbfe5da9899349c6a9dc", "822839", "https://v.youku.com/video?s=dbfe5da9899349c6a9dc"; minLength: 1)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "YoukuShow")
- `id` (string, required)
- `numeric_id` (string, nullable)
- `name` (string, nullable)
- `subtitle` (string, nullable)
- `description` (string, nullable)
- `url` (string, nullable)
- `category` (string, nullable)
- `category_id` (string, nullable)
- `feature` (string, nullable)
- `release_date` (string, nullable)
- `episode_total` (integer, nullable)
- `episode_label` (string, nullable)
- `last_episode_date` (string, nullable)
- `is_completed` (boolean) (default: false)
- `is_vip` (boolean) (default: false)
- `heat` (integer, nullable)
- `rating` (number, nullable)
- `chart` (string, nullable)
- `chart_rank` (integer, nullable)
- `comment_count` (integer, nullable)
- `like_count` (integer, nullable)
- `follower_count` (integer, nullable)
- `image` (string, nullable)
- `image_vertical` (string, nullable)
- `package_types` (array) (default: [])
- `tags` (array) (default: [])
- `genre_labels` (array) (default: [])
- `cast` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "YoukuCastMember")
  - `id` (string, required)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `role` (string, nullable)
  - `image` (string, nullable)
- `seasons` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "YoukuSeason")
  - `id` (string, required)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `url` (string, nullable)
  - `last_video_id` (string, nullable)
  - `last_video_url` (string, nullable)
  - `is_current` (boolean) (default: false)
- `latest_video` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "YoukuVideo")
  - `id` (string, required)
  - `numeric_id` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `url` (string, nullable)
  - `show_id` (string, nullable)
  - `show_name` (string, nullable)
  - `show_url` (string, nullable)
  - `creator_id` (string, nullable)
  - `creator_name` (string, nullable)
  - `creator_url` (string, nullable)
  - `category` (string, nullable)
  - `video_type` (string, nullable)
  - `episode_order` (integer, nullable)
  - `stage` (string, nullable)
  - `stage_label` (string, nullable)
  - `duration` (integer, nullable)
  - `image` (string, nullable)
  - `publish_date` (string, nullable)
  - `comment_count` (integer, nullable)
  - `like_count` (integer, nullable)
  - `is_vip` (boolean) (default: false)
  - `is_pinned` (boolean) (default: false)
  - `allow_comment` (boolean) (default: false)
  - `allow_download` (boolean) (default: false)
  - `allow_share` (boolean) (default: false)
  - `allow_like` (boolean) (default: false)
  - `audio_languages` (array) (default: [])

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

The request body did not validate

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

No show with this id

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.