youtube-transcript

name	youtube-transcript
description	Extracts transcripts from YouTube videos using a bundled Node.js script backed by yt-dlp. Returns cleaned transcript output with timestamps in text or JSON. Use when the user says `$yt-transcript <url>` or asks for a YouTube transcript or cleaned captions.

YouTube Transcripts

Use this skill when the user asks for a YouTube transcript.

Workflow

1. Validate the URL before extraction.
2. Run the bundled transcript script:

node <skill-dir>/scripts/youtube-transcript.js <url> [--lang <lang>] [--format json]

The script handles downloading, parsing, and cleaning in one step — no separate download/parse phases needed.

node is preferred, but bun and deno works as well. Use whatever is available in the system.

Output Format

text (default) — one timestamped segment per line:

[00:01] All right, so here we are, in front of the elephants
[00:05] the cool thing about these guys is that they have really long trunks

json — array of segments with start, end, and text:

[
  {"start": 1.2, "end": 3.36, "text": "All right, so here we are..."},
  {"start": 5.32, "end": 7.97, "text": "the cool thing about..."}
]

Notes

• The script is a self-contained Node.js bundle (no node_modules needed at runtime).
• Prefer this bundled script over ad hoc one-off parsing.
• Return transcript output only.