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.
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"}]
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.
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.
Accepts: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ID, https://youtu.be/ID, youtube.com/shorts/ID, or bare ID.
Response (format=json):
{"video_id":"dQw4w9WgXcQ","language":"en","transcript":[{"text":"We're no strangers...","start":18.0,"duration":3.5}],"metadata":{"title":"...","author_name":"...","author_url":"..."}}
{"results":[{"type":"video","videoId":"dQw4w9WgXcQ","title":"Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up","channelId":"UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw","channelTitle":"Rick Astley","channelHandle":"@RickAstley","channelVerified":true,"lengthText":"3:33","viewCountText":"1.5B views","publishedTimeText":"14 years ago","hasCaptions":true,"thumbnails":[{"url":"...","width":120,"height":90}]}],"result_count":20}
{"results":[{"videoId":"abc123xyz00","title":"Latest Video","channelId":"UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q","channelTitle":"TED","channelHandle":"@TED","lengthText":"15:22","viewCountText":"3.2M views","thumbnails":[...],"index":"0"}],"playlist_info":{"title":"Uploads from TED","numVideos":"5000"},"continuation_token":"4qmFsgKlARIYVVV1...","has_more":true}
GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/latest — FREE (0 credits)
