captions

name	captions
description	Extract closed captions and subtitles from YouTube videos. Use when the user asks for captions, closed captions, CC, accessibility text, or wants to read what was said in a video. Supports timestamps and multiple languages. Great for deaf/HoH accessibility, content review, quoting, and translation.
homepage	https://transcriptapi.com
user-invocable	true

Captions

Extract closed captions from YouTube videos via TranscriptAPI.com.

Setup

If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, help the user create an account (100 free credits, no card):

Step 1 — Register: Ask user for their email.

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js register --email USER_EMAIL

→ OTP sent to email. Ask user: "Check your email for a 6-digit verification code."

Step 2 — Verify: Once user provides the OTP:

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js verify --token TOKEN_FROM_STEP_1 --otp CODE

API key saved to your shell profile and agent config. Ready to use.

Manual option: transcriptapi.com/signup → Dashboard → API Keys.

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=json&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Param	Required	Default	Values
video_url	yes	—	YouTube URL or video ID
format	no	json	json (structured), text (plain)
include_timestamp	no	true	true, false
send_metadata	no	false	true, false

Response (format=json — best for accessibility/timing):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 },
    { "text": "You know the rules and so do I", "start": 21.5, "duration": 2.8 }
  ],
  "metadata": { "title": "...", "author_name": "...", "thumbnail_url": "..." }
}

• start: seconds from video start
• duration: how long caption is displayed

Response (format=text — readable):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": "[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love\n[00:00:21] You know the rules..."
}

Tips

• Use format=json for sync'd captions (accessibility tools, timing analysis).
• Use format=text with include_timestamp=false for clean reading.
• Auto-generated captions are available for most videos; manual CC is higher quality.

Errors

Code	Meaning	Action
402	No credits	transcriptapi.com/billing
404	No captions	Video doesn't have CC enabled
408	Timeout	Retry once after 2s

1 credit per request. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.