| name | mk-youtube-summarize |
| description | Summarize YouTube videos or channel's latest videos. Use for single video URL, channel URL, or @handle to summarize recent uploads. |
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"version":"1.1.0","author":"kouko","tags":["youtube","summarize","pipeline"]} |
| compatibility | {"claude-code":">=1.0.0"} |
YouTube Summarize (Pipeline)
End-to-end pipeline that summarizes YouTube videos by orchestrating existing skills in sequence. Supports both single video URLs and channels (summarizes latest N videos).
Quick Start
/mk-youtube-summarize <URL|Channel> [count] [--force]
| Parameter | Description |
|---|
URL | Single video URL (existing behavior) |
Channel | Channel URL, @handle, or channel name |
count | Number of videos to process (default: 3, for channels only) |
--force | Force re-generate summary even if cached version exists |
Examples
/mk-youtube-summarize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
/mk-youtube-summarize https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
/mk-youtube-summarize @RickAstleyYT
/mk-youtube-summarize https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstleyYT
/mk-youtube-summarize @RickAstleyYT 5
/mk-youtube-summarize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ channel
/mk-youtube-summarize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ channel 5
Pipeline Flow
Single Video Flow
URL (single video)
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ /mk-youtube-transcript-summarize │ ← Step 0.5: Check cache
│ --check <URL> │
└────────────┬─────────────────────────┘
┌────┴────┐
│ │
exists:true exists:false
│ │
▼ ▼
┌─────────────┐ ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ Read & show │ │ /mk-youtube-get-info │ ← Step 1
│ ✅ DONE │ └────────────┬──────────────┘
└─────────────┘ │
┌────┴────┐
│ │
has_subs no_subs
│ │
▼ ▼
┌───────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│/mk-youtube- │ │/mk-youtube- │ ← Step 2a or 2b
│get-caption │ │get-audio │
└───────┬───────┘ └────────┬────────┘
│ │
│ ▼
│ ┌─────────────────┐
│ │/mk-youtube- │ ← Step 2c (audio path only)
│ │audio-transcribe │
│ └────────┬────────┘
│ │
└────────┬─────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ /mk-youtube-transcript-summarize │ ← Step 3: MANDATORY
└────────────────────────────────┘
Channel Flow
Channel (@handle, channel URL, or video URL + "channel")
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ /mk-youtube-get-channel-latest │ ← Step 0: Get latest N video URLs
│ [channel] [count] │
└────────────┬────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ For each video (1..N): │
│ Step 0.5: --check cache │
│ ├─ exists:true → Read & show │
│ └─ exists:false → Full │
│ pipeline (Steps 1 → 2 → 3) │
│ before moving to next video │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
✅ All summaries displayed
Steps
Step 0: Detect Input Type & Extract URL
Determine whether input is a single video or a channel:
Single Video → proceed to Step 1:
- URL contains
youtube.com/watch?v=
- URL contains
youtu.be/
- URL contains
youtube.com/shorts/ (single short)
Channel → proceed to Channel Path:
- URL contains
youtube.com/@
- URL contains
youtube.com/channel/
- URL contains
youtube.com/c/
- Input starts with
@ (e.g., @RickAstleyYT)
- Input is plain text without URL format (treated as @handle)
- User explicitly provides
channel keyword after video URL
Step 0.5: Check for Existing Summary (unless --force)
Skip this step if --force is specified.
For single video input, use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-transcript-summarize with --check:
/mk-youtube-transcript-summarize --check <URL>
If exists: true:
- Read the summary file at
output_summary using the Read tool
- Display the COMPLETE summary content (Full Display Rule applies)
- Include metadata footer (title, channel, url from the check output)
- STOP — do NOT proceed to Steps 1-3
If exists: false:
- Proceed to Step 1 as normal
For channel flow, the check happens per-video inside the loop after getting the video list. Each video URL is checked individually.
Channel Path: Get Latest Videos
Use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-get-channel-latest:
/mk-youtube-get-channel-latest <channel> [count]
- Default count: 3 (if not specified)
- Maximum recommended: 10 (to avoid excessive processing time)
The output is a JSON array of video objects. For each video in the array, execute the full Single Video pipeline (Steps 1 → 2 → 3) completely before moving to the next video.
Progress Display (recommended format):
Processing 3 videos from @RickAstleyYT...
[1/3] Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
→ ✅ Cached summary found, displaying...
[2/3] Rick Astley - Together Forever
→ Summary generated (new)
[3/3] Rick Astley - Take Me to Your Heart
→ ✅ Cached summary found, displaying...
✅ Completed: 3/3 summaries displayed (2 cached, 1 new)
Step 1: Get Video Info
Use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-get-info with the URL:
/mk-youtube-get-info <URL>
From the output, note:
has_subtitles and has_auto_captions — determines the path for Step 2language — used for model selection if audio transcription is needed
Step 2: Get Transcript
Choose ONE path based on subtitle availability from Step 1:
Path A — Subtitles available (has_subtitles: true OR has_auto_captions: true)
Use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-get-caption:
/mk-youtube-get-caption <URL>
Save the text_file_path from the output for Step 3.
Path B — No subtitles (has_subtitles: false AND has_auto_captions: false)
First, use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-get-audio:
/mk-youtube-get-audio <URL>
Then, use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-audio-transcribe with the file_path from the audio output:
/mk-youtube-audio-transcribe <file_path> auto <language>
Pass the language from Step 1 for best model auto-selection (e.g., zh → belle-zh, ja → kotoba-ja).
Save the text_file_path from the output for Step 3.
Step 3: Generate Summary — MANDATORY — NEVER SKIP
Use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-transcript-summarize with the text_file_path obtained from Step 2:
/mk-youtube-transcript-summarize <text_file_path> [--force]
Pass --force if the user specified it for mk-youtube-summarize.
CRITICAL: You MUST use the Skill tool to invoke /mk-youtube-transcript-summarize. Do NOT generate summaries directly. The skill contains critical rules for:
- Compression ratio calibration
- Section structure requirements
- Numerical data preservation
- Language handling
Skipping this step or generating summaries without the skill will produce lower-quality output.
Display Rule: The /mk-youtube-transcript-summarize skill will generate and save the full summary. You MUST display the COMPLETE summary content to the user as-is. Do NOT create a condensed or abbreviated version after the summary is generated.
Processing Multiple Videos
When summarizing multiple videos (either from a channel or manually specified):
- Execute ALL steps (1 → 2 → 3) for EACH video independently
- Do NOT batch Step 1 for all videos and then do Step 3
- Complete the full pipeline per video before moving to the next
- Display progress after each video completion
Notes
- This is a pure orchestration skill — it does not have its own scripts
- Summary caching: Before running the full pipeline, checks if a cached summary exists via
--check. Use --force to bypass and regenerate.
- Each sub-skill handles its own dependency management (yt-dlp, jq, whisper-cli, etc.)
- Each sub-skill also has its own file caching — repeated runs use local cached files
- For batch processing, consider limiting count to avoid context overflow
- Channel processing uses
/mk-youtube-get-channel-latest which auto-detects channel from video URLs
