Karate at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics was held from 17 to 18 October at Europa Pavilion in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This marked the debut of Karate at the Youth Olympics.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter a maximum of 6 competitors, 3 per gender and one per event.

The remaining 40 places were to be decided in various ways; namely, the Youth Olympic Rankings and two qualification tournaments.

[1] To be eligible to participate in these events, athletes must have been born between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2002.