Configuration overview

Every constructor option is optional. The simplest and usually best starting point is:

const yt = new YouTube();

Configuration should answer a real need. UK search results need locale options. A slow upstream may need a longer timeout. A test may need a custom fetch. Adding every option at once makes problems harder to understand.

The four questions options answer

Question	Options	Read next
What language and region should YouTube use?	`lang`, `location`, `timezone`, `enableSafetyMode`	Locale and region
How should this anonymous session be created?	`visitorData`, `poToken`, `generateSessionLocally`, `failFast`, `retrieveInnertubeConfig`	Session options
How should requests travel and recover?	`timeoutMillis`, `retries`, `proxy`, `fetch`, `userAgent`	Network and retries
Which predefined YouTube client should ask?	`client`, per-call `client`	Client profiles

A small, purposeful configuration

This client targets US results and gives each request 30 seconds:

import { YouTube } from 'just-yt';

const yt = new YouTube({
  location: 'US',
  timezone: 'America/New_York',
  timeoutMillis: 30_000,
});

The underscores in 30_000 only make the number easier to read. It is still thirty thousand milliseconds, or thirty seconds.

Defaults are part of the design

With no options, the SDK uses English, the US region, the Eastern US timezone (America/New_York), the WEB client profile, a 20-second timeout, and two retry attempts. It creates anonymous session data and falls back to local session data when bootstrap is unavailable.

Those defaults are intended for ordinary public-data requests. Keep them until you can name the behavior you want to change.

The remaining pages explain each choice and its trade-offs. For exact property types and defaults, use the API reference.