| name | get-youtube-transcript |
| description | Extract the transcript from a YouTube video by URL or video ID. Use when the user shares a YouTube link and wants the transcript, captions, or text content of the video. Falls back automatically if the requested language isn't available. |
| allowed-tools | ["Bash"] |
| user-invocable | true |
| argument-hint | <youtube-url-or-video-id> |
Get YouTube Transcript
Extract a full transcript from any YouTube video using the local youtube-transcript-api (no rate limits, no API key required).
State Dependencies
| Source | Location | Read | Write |
|---|
| Script | scripts/utilities/yt-transcript.sh | ✓ | - |
| Venv | scripts/utilities/yt_transcript_venv/ | ✓ | - |
| YouTube | External (via youtube-transcript-api) | ✓ | - |
Process
Step 1: Extract the transcript
Run the wrapper script with the URL or video ID the user provided:
$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/utilities/yt-transcript.sh "<url-or-id>"
Options:
-l <lang> — language code (default: en). If user specifies a language, pass it.-f text — plain text output (default, best for reading)-f json — structured output with timestamps (use when user needs timestamps)
Step 2: Handle errors
If the script fails:
- Language not found — retry without
-l flag (auto-selects any available language)
- Video unavailable — inform user the video may be private, deleted, or region-restricted
- No transcript available — inform user the video has no captions
Step 3: Present the transcript
Return the full transcript text to the user. If it's long (>500 lines), summarize what the video covers first, then provide the full text.
Example
User: "get me the transcript of https://youtu.be/abc123"
$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/utilities/yt-transcript.sh "https://youtu.be/abc123"
Notes
- Uses
youtube-transcript-api Python package — works locally with no quota
- Falls back to any available language if English isn't found
- The MCP youtube-transcript tool hits rate limits; always prefer this script
