| 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
- Validate the URL before extraction.
- 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.
