youtube-transcript-io-cli

name	youtube-transcript-io-cli
description	Fetch YouTube video transcripts and channel info via CLI - transcripts, channels. Use when user mentions 'youtube transcript', 'video transcript', 'get transcript', 'youtube captions', 'channel videos', 'video subtitles', or wants to extract text from YouTube videos for analysis, AI processing, or automation.
category	devtools

youtube-transcript-io-cli

CLI wrapper for the YouTube Transcript API. Extract transcripts from YouTube videos and fetch channel metadata.

When To Use This Skill

Use the youtube-transcript-io-cli skill when you need to:

• Extract transcripts/captions from one or more YouTube videos by video ID
• Fetch YouTube channel metadata and playlist data by channel username
• Get video text content for summarization, translation, or AI analysis
• Batch-process up to 50 video transcripts in a single request
• Pipe transcript data into other tools using structured JSON output

Capabilities

• Transcripts: Fetch full transcript text for any public YouTube video, including title and video metadata (microformat)
• Channels: Look up channel info by username, optionally including playlist video data (Plus/Pro plans)
• Batch support: Up to 50 video IDs or channel usernames per request
• Automation: Stable --json output for chaining with other CLI tools or scripts
• Rate limit handling: Built-in retry logic for 429 responses (API limit: 5 req/10s)

Common Use Cases

• "Get the transcript of this YouTube video and summarize it."
• "Fetch transcripts for these 10 video IDs and extract key topics."
• "Look up a YouTube channel and list all their video titles."
• "Download the transcript from this video so I can translate it."
• "Get the captions from this video for creating blog content."

Auth

youtube-transcript-io-cli auth set <token>    # Save your API token
youtube-transcript-io-cli auth show           # Display current token (masked)
youtube-transcript-io-cli auth test           # Verify token works
youtube-transcript-io-cli auth remove         # Delete saved token

Token source: youtube-transcript.io profile page. Auth type: Basic (token sent as Authorization: Basic <token>).

Resources

transcripts

Command	Description
youtube-transcript-io-cli transcripts get <id> --json	Get transcript for a single video
youtube-transcript-io-cli transcripts get <id1> <id2> <id3> --json	Batch get transcripts (up to 50 IDs)

Video ID: The part after v= in a YouTube URL (e.g., jNQXAC9IVRw from youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw).

Response includes: transcript text, video title, and microformat metadata (thumbnail, description, duration, channel info).

channels

Command	Description
youtube-transcript-io-cli channels get <username> --json	Get channel info by username
youtube-transcript-io-cli channels get <u1> <u2> --json	Batch get channels (up to 50)
youtube-transcript-io-cli channels get <username> --include-playlist-data --json	Include video titles, IDs, and thumbnails

Username: The channel handle without @ (e.g., jawed from youtube.com/@jawed).

Requires Plus or Pro plan. Plus: max 5 channels/request. Pro: max 50.

Quick Reference

youtube-transcript-io-cli --help                      # List all resources and global flags
youtube-transcript-io-cli transcripts --help           # List transcript actions
youtube-transcript-io-cli transcripts get --help       # Show flags for transcript get
youtube-transcript-io-cli channels --help              # List channel actions
youtube-transcript-io-cli channels get --help          # Show flags for channel get

Output Format

--json returns a standardized envelope:

{ "ok": true, "data": [ ... ], "meta": { "total": 1 } }

On error: { "ok": false, "error": { "message": "...", "status": 401 } }

Rate Limits

The API allows 5 requests per 10 seconds. The CLI automatically retries on 429 responses with exponential backoff. When batch-processing, prefer fewer requests with multiple IDs (up to 50) over many single-ID requests.