summarize

name	summarize
description	Summarize or extract text/transcripts from URLs, podcasts, and local files.
emoji	🧾
requires	{"bins":["summarize"]}
install	[{"id":"brew","kind":"brew","formula":"steipete/tap/summarize","bins":["summarize"],"label":"Install summarize (brew)"}]

Summarize

Fast CLI to summarize URLs, local files, and YouTube links using the summarize CLI tool.

When to use (trigger phrases)

Use this skill immediately when the user asks any of:

• "use summarize.sh"
• "what's this link/video about?"
• "summarize this URL/article"
• "transcribe this YouTube/video"
• "what does this article say?"

Prerequisites

Install the summarize CLI:

brew install steipete/tap/summarize

Quick start

# Summarize a URL
summarize "https://example.com" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview

# Summarize a local file
summarize "/path/to/file.pdf" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview

# Summarize a YouTube video
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto

YouTube: summary vs transcript

For best-effort transcript extraction (URLs only):

summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto --extract-only

If the user asked for a transcript but it's huge, return a tight summary first, then ask which section/time range to expand.

Model + API keys

Set the API key for your chosen provider:

• OpenAI: OPENAI_API_KEY
• Anthropic: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
• xAI: XAI_API_KEY
• Google: GEMINI_API_KEY (aliases: GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY, GOOGLE_API_KEY)

Default model is google/gemini-3-flash-preview if none is set.

Useful flags

Flag	Description
--length short|medium|long|xl|xxl|<chars>	Summary length
--max-output-tokens <count>	Max output tokens
--extract-only	Extract text only (URLs)
--json	Machine readable output
--firecrawl auto|off|always	Fallback extraction
--youtube auto	Apify fallback for YouTube

Fallback without CLI

If the summarize CLI is not installed, you can fallback to using the web tool:

# Use fetch_url to get content, then have the LLM summarize
curl -s "https://example.com" | head -c 50000

Then ask the LLM to summarize the fetched content.

Config

Optional config file: ~/.summarize/config.json

{ "model": "openai/gpt-4o" }

Optional services:

• FIRECRAWL_API_KEY for blocked sites
• APIFY_API_TOKEN for YouTube fallback