| name | subtitles |
| description | Use when subtitles or the spoken text of a YouTube video is needed: pasted video links or IDs, requests to translate a video, read along, follow foreign-language content, or extract what was said. Also use for language learning or accessibility. Fetches timestamped subtitles from any YouTube video. Not for uploading subtitles or account management. |
| 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","subtitles","captions","transcripts","video","translation","language-learning"],"category":"media"}} |
Subtitles
Fetch YouTube video subtitles via TranscriptAPI.com.
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.
GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=text&include_timestamp=false&send_metadata=true" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
-H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"
| Param | Values | Use case |
|---|
video_url | YouTube URL or video ID | Required |
format | json, text | json for sync'd subs with timing |
include_timestamp | true, false | false for clean text for reading/translation |
send_metadata | true, false | Include title, channel, description |
For language learning — clean text without timestamps:
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_ID&format=text&include_timestamp=false" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
-H
