| name | video-transcript |
| description | Use this skill to extract full transcripts from video content for analysis, summarization, note-taking, or research. Trigger this whenever the user shares a YouTube URL, a video ID, or explicitly asks to "transcribe this", "get the text from this video", or "convert video to text". This is essential for converting video into readable formats. |
Video Transcript
Extract transcripts from videos via TranscriptAPI.com.
Setup
If TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not found in the .env file within the skill directory, help the user create an account (100 free credits, no card):
Step 1 — Register: Ask the user for their email.
uv run scripts/auth.py register --email USER_EMAIL
→ OTP sent to email. Ask user: "Check your email for a 6-digit verification code."
Step 2 — Verify: Once the user provides the OTP:
uv run scripts/auth.py verify --token TOKEN_FROM_STEP_1 --otp CODE
API key saved to .env in the skill directory. Ready to use.
Manual option: transcriptapi.com/signup → Dashboard → API Keys.
Usage
Use scripts/transcribe.py to get transcripts.
uv run scripts/transcribe.py VIDEO_URL --format [json|text]
Options
| Param | Description | Default |
|---|
video_url | YouTube URL or 11-char video ID | — |
--format | json (structured) or text (readable) | json |
--no-timestamps | Exclude timestamps from text output | true |
--no-metadata | Exclude metadata from response | true |
Accepted URL formats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_IDhttps://youtu.be/VIDEO_IDhttps://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID- Bare video ID:
dQw4w9WgXcQ
Example Response (--format text)
{
"video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"language": "en",
"transcript": "[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love\n[00:00:21] You know the rules...",
"metadata": {
"title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
"author_name": "Rick Astley",
"author_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley",
"thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"
}
}
Tips
- Summarize long transcripts into key points first, offer full text on request.
- Use
json format when you need precise timestamps for quoting specific moments.
- Metadata includes video title and channel for additional context.
- Works with YouTube Shorts too.
Errors
| Status | Meaning | Action |
|---|
| 401 | Bad API key | Check key or re-setup |
| 402 | No credits | Top up at transcriptapi.com/billing |
| 404 | No transcript | Video may not have captions enabled |
| 408 | Timeout | Retry once after 2s |
1 credit per successful request. Errors don't consume credits. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.
