yt

name	yt
description	Use when YouTube is relevant: pasted video links or IDs, @handles, quick video lookups, summaries, channel latest uploads, topic search, or any request involving YouTube content — even if YouTube is not mentioned explicitly. Covers transcripts, search, and channel latest. Not for uploads or account management.
version	1.5.1
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":["TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"]},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","homepage":"https://transcriptapi.com"},"hermes":{"tags":["youtube","transcripts","video","search","channels","utility"],"category":"media"}}

yt

Quick YouTube lookup 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.

API Reference

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

Transcript — 1 credit

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

Search — 1 credit

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=video&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Param	Default	Values
q	—	1-200 chars (required)
type	video	video, channel
limit	20	1-50

Channel latest — FREE

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Returns last 15 videos with exact view counts and publish dates. Accepts @handle, channel URL, or UC... ID.

Resolve handle — FREE

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Use to convert @handle to UC... channel ID.

Errors

Code	Meaning	Action
401	Bad API key	Check key
402	No credits	transcriptapi.com/billing
403/1010	Cloudflare block	Add or fix User-Agent header
404	Not found	No captions or resource doesn't exist
408	Timeout	Retry once

Free tier: 100 credits. Search and transcript cost 1 credit. Channel latest and resolve are free.