transcriptapi

name	transcriptapi
description	Use when YouTube is or could be relevant — even if not mentioned: pasted video/channel/playlist links, video IDs, @handles, creator lookups, video summaries, quotes, translations, topic research, tutorials, talks, lectures, expert discussions, product reviews, how-to guides, new product announcements, or anything where video content is fresher or richer than text search. Covers transcripts, video/channel search, channel browsing, playlists, and within-channel search. Not for uploads, account management, or written-source-only research.
version	1.5.0
user-invocable	true
compatibility	Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.
required_environment_variables	[{"name":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","prompt":"Your TranscriptAPI key (starts with sk_)","help":"Free account at https://transcriptapi.com — 100 credits, no card required. Or let the agent create one for you.","required_for":"all API requests"}]
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"▶️","requires":{"env":"[Truncated]"},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","homepage":"https://transcriptapi.com"},"hermes":{"tags":["youtube","transcripts","video","search","channels","playlists","captions"],"category":"media"}}

TranscriptAPI

Full YouTube data toolkit via TranscriptAPI.com. Transcripts, search, channels, playlists — one API key.

Setup

If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, read references/auth-setup.md and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.

Required Headers

Every request needs two headers:

• Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
• User-Agent: your agent's name and version if known (e.g. HermesAgent/0.11.0, ClaudeCode/1.0). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.

API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: transcriptapi.com/openapi.json — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

Auth

All requests: -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Endpoints

Channel endpoints accept channel — an @handle, channel URL, or UC... ID. No need to resolve first. Playlist endpoints accept playlist — a playlist URL or ID.

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript — 1 credit

GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

Param	Required	Default	Validation
video_url	yes	—	YouTube URL or 11-char video ID
format	no	json	json or text
include_timestamp	no	true	true or false
send_metadata	no