| name | download-transcripts |
| description | Download YouTube transcripts for videos tracked in a CSV file. Use when you need to download transcripts in bulk with progress tracking, fetching transcripts overnight, processing video libraries, or when the user mentions "get transcripts", "download captions", or "bulk transcript download". |
Download Transcripts from CSV
Why? Manually downloading transcripts one-by-one is tedious and error-prone. This skill automates bulk transcript downloads with rate limiting, progress tracking, and resume capability.
Quick Start
ytscriber download --folder <channel-name> --delay 60
ytscriber add "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --folder random
Workflow
1. Verify Prerequisites
Ensure you have a CSV file with video URLs:
- Created by
extract-videos skill, OR
- Manually curated with
url column
head -5 ~/Documents/YTScriber/<channel-name>/videos.csv
[!TIP]
If you don't have a CSV yet, run extract-videos first to build your video list from a YouTube channel.
2. Run Download Command
ytscriber download --folder <folder-name> --delay 60
| Option | Description | Default | Notes |
|---|
--folder | Folder name containing videos.csv | Required | Uses platformdirs data path |
--delay | Seconds between requests | 60 | Minimum 30, recommended 60+ |
--verbose, -v | Enable verbose output | False | Shows download progress |
[!CAUTION]
NEVER set --delay below 30 seconds. YouTube will block your IP if you make requests too quickly. The default of 60 seconds exists for a reason. You WILL get banned and may wait hours before downloading again.
3. Validate Downloads
After the command completes:
ls -la ~/Documents/YTScriber/<folder-name>/transcripts/*.md | wc -l
grep -c "success" ~/Documents/YTScriber/<folder-name>/videos.csv
The command automatically:
- Downloads transcripts as markdown with YAML frontmatter
- Updates CSV
transcript_downloaded column with success/error/empty
- Skips already-downloaded videos on re-run
Output Format
Transcripts are saved as markdown with YAML frontmatter:
---
video_id: dQw4w9WgXcQ
video_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
title: Building Resilient Microservices at Scale
author: Jane Smith
published_date: 2025-03-15
length_minutes: 42.5
views: 15234
description: "Video description..."
is_generated: True
---
[Transcript text as continuous paragraph]
Examples
Overnight Batch Processing
ytscriber download --folder aws-reinvent-2025 --delay 90 --verbose
Conference Playlist
ytscriber download --folder pycon-2024 --delay 30
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Cause | Solution |
|---|
| "No transcript found" | Video lacks captions | Some videos have no captions available |
| IP blocked / 403 errors | Too many requests too quickly | Wait 30-60 minutes, then retry with --delay 120 |
| Script interrupted mid-run | Network issue or Ctrl+C | Re-run the exact same command; it skips completed videos |
| Empty transcript files | Auto-captions unavailable or video is live | Check if video has captions on YouTube; skip if not |
| "Folder not found" | Wrong folder name | Verify folder with ls ~/Documents/YTScriber/ |
| Slow downloads | Rate limiting working correctly | This is expected; 100 videos at 60s delay = ~2 hours |
Common Mistakes
-
Reducing delay to "speed up" - Do not set delay below 30 seconds. You will get IP banned. Use overnight runs for large batches.
-
Running without checking CSV first - Always verify your CSV exists and has videos before running. Empty CSVs waste time.
-
Not using resume capability - If interrupted, don't start over. Re-run the same command to resume from where you left off.
Quality Checklist
Before running:
After running:
