youtube-summary

# YouTube Summary Automatically get subtitles from any public YouTube video and generate a clean, structured summary with key points. Saves hours of watching long videos when you just need the main ideas. ## Core Capabilities ### 1. Get full subtitles from any public YouTube video - Works with videos that have auto-generated captions - Supports multiple languages - Outputs clean formatted text ### 2. Generate concise summaries - Extracts all key points and main arguments - Adjusts summary length based on your needs (short/medium/detailed) - Structures output with bullet points for easy reading ### 3. Export results - Save summary as markdown or text file - Copy-paste ready for note-taking ## Quick Start Given a YouTube URL: 1. **Extract video ID** from the URL - `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ` → ID: `dQw4w9WgXcQ` - `https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ` → ID: `dQw4w9WgXcQ` 2. **Fetch subtitles** using the Python script: ```python from scripts.youtube_subtitles import get_youtube_subtitles subtitles = get_youtube_subtitles(video_id) ``` 3. **Generate summary** with the AI model using the subtitle text 4. **Format and present** the result with: - Video title and link - Executive summary (1-paragraph overview) - Key points (bulleted list) - Detailed notes (optional) ## Usage Examples **Example request:** "Summarize this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz" **Expected output:** ``` # Video Summary: [Title] Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyz ## Executive Summary One paragraph overview of the entire video's main message. ## Key Points - Point 1: Main argument or finding - Point 2: Second important topic - Point 3: Key takeaway - ... ## Detailed Notes (optional for longer videos) More detailed breakdown... ``` ## Language Support - The script automatically gets the available subtitle tracks - Default to first available track (usually the video's original language) - Can specify preferred language (e.g., "summarize in English" or "summarize in Chinese") ## Scripts ### `scripts/youtube_subtitles.py` Python utility to fetch subtitles from YouTube using youtube-transcript-api. **Usage:** ```bash python scripts/youtube_subtitles.py <video-id> [language-code] ``` **Requirements:** ``` pip install youtube-transcript-api ``` ### `scripts/summarize.py` Helper script to format subtitles for summarization. ## When to use this skill ✅ **Use when:** - You want the main ideas from a long YouTube video without watching - You need to take notes from a lecture or talk - You want to share key points from a video with others - You're doing research and need to process multiple videos quickly ❌ **Don't use when:** - The video is private and has no public captions - The video has no captions/subtitles at all - You need a full word-for-word transcription (this skill focuses on summarization)