Agent skill

YouTube Video Transcript

by ZeroPointRepo in ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

Fetches YouTube transcripts through TranscriptAPI.com so an agent can summarize, quote or translate a video from a link or ID.

MITAuto-check passedKnowledge Management

Install YouTube Video Transcript

skills CLI
$ npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill video-transcript -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills video-transcript --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/video-transcript .claude/skills/video-transcript && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
video-transcript
GitHub stars
1k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
231 words
Files
3 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
12
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Fetches YouTube transcripts through TranscriptAPI.com so an agent can summarize, quote or translate a video from a link or ID.

  • Summarizing a YouTube video from its link
  • SKILL.md covers Setup, Required Headers, GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript and Tips, plus 2 more sections
  • Reaches youtube.com and transcriptapi.com; needs TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
  • Quoting a specific moment from a video with its timestamp

What it does

Given a YouTube watch link, a youtu.be link, a Shorts link or a bare 11-character video ID, the skill calls the TranscriptAPI.com transcript endpoint and returns the spoken text. It also applies when someone pastes a video URL with no explanation and wants to know what it says. Uploads and account management are out of scope.

The request takes the video URL, a format of text or json, whether to include timestamps, and whether to send metadata such as title and channel. Text output is readable, while json gives precise timestamps for quoting a specific moment. Every call needs a bearer token from the TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY variable and a User-Agent naming the agent, since a bare default is blocked with a 403.

Tips are to summarize long transcripts into key points first and offer the full text on request. Error codes are listed, such as 401 for a bad key and 402 when credits run out. Setup steps for the key and curl examples are in two reference files, and the only requirement is internet access to transcriptapi.com.

When your agent uses it

  • Summarizing a YouTube video from its link
  • Quoting a specific moment from a video with its timestamp
  • Translating or converting a video's spoken content to text

Example prompts

  • “Summarize this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ”
  • “Get the transcript with timestamps for this video and quote the part about pricing.”
  • “Convert this video to text and translate it into Spanish.”

Requirements

  • A TranscriptAPI.com key in TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
  • Internet access to transcriptapi.com
  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4f7994b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are json and http).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • youtube.com
    • transcriptapi.com
    • youtu.be
    • i.ytimg.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

  • Compatibility

    Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

YouTube Video Transcript loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.1k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 87 tokens; SKILL.md has 231 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~87
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~3.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills at commit 4f7994b, republished under its MIT licence (© ZeroPointRepo). 231 words, ~1,119 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/video-transcript/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 2 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
video-transcript
description
Use when video content needs to be extracted as text: pasted YouTube links or IDs, requests to transcribe, summarize, quote, translate, convert video to text, or extract information from video content. Also use when a user shares a video URL without explanation and wants to know what it says. Not for uploads or account management.
compatibility
Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.
version
1.5.1
user-invocable
true

Video Transcript

Extract transcripts from videos via TranscriptAPI.com.

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.

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript

http
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0
ParamRequiredDefaultValues
video_urlyes—YouTube URL or 11-char video ID
formatnojsonjson (structured), text (readable)
include_timestampnotruetrue, false
send_metadatanofalsetrue, false

Accepted URL formats:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
  • https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
  • https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
  • Bare video ID: dQw4w9WgXcQ

Response (format=text&send_metadata=true):

json
{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": "[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love\n[00:00:21] You know the rules...",
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "author_name": "Rick Astley",
    "author_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley",
    "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"
  }
}

Response (format=json):

json
{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 },
    { "text": "You know the rules and so do I", "start": 21.5, "duration": 2.8 }
  ]
}

Tips

  • Summarize long transcripts into key points first, offer full text on request.
  • Use format=json when you need precise timestamps for quoting specific moments.
  • Use send_metadata=true to get video title and channel for context.
  • Works with YouTube Shorts too.

Errors

CodeMeaningAction
401Bad API keyCheck key or re-setup
402No creditsTop up at transcriptapi.com/billing
403/1010Cloudflare blockAdd or fix User-Agent header
404No transcriptVideo may not have captions enabled
408TimeoutRetry once after 2s

1 credit per successful request. Errors don't consume credits. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.

Copy-paste examples

Every request in this file as a ready-to-run one-liner: references/curl-examples.md

© ZeroPointRepo, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in skills/video-transcript of ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/auth-setup.md
  • references/curl-examples.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4f7994b

Used in 1 other repository

We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

YouTube Video Transcript next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

YouTube Video Transcript compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
YouTube Video Transcript this skillZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills1k1 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Youtube Transcriptbadlogic/pi-skills2.6k1 repos~179Automated safety check: PassMIT
Video Lenskar2phi/video-lens113—~8.2kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Youtube Transcript Extractor API Skillbrowser-act/skills6.1k1 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
YouTube Transcript ReformatterPrismer-AI/PrismerCloud1.6k2 repos~905Automated safety check: PassMIT
Multi-Source to NotebookLM Processorjoeseesun/qiaomu-anything-to-notebooklm6.2k—~3.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

Similar skills

  • Youtube Transcript

    badlogic/pi-skills

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    2.6k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~179 tokens
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  • Video Lens

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More from ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

All 12 skills in this repo
  • YouTube Captions Fetcher

    ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

    Fetches timestamped captions or plain-text transcripts for any YouTube video through the TranscriptAPI service, for reading, quoting, translating or accessibility.

    1k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.1k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • YouTube Subtitle Fetcher

    ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

    Fetches timestamped subtitles for any YouTube video through TranscriptAPI, as clean text for reading and translation or timed JSON.

    1k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.1k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • YouTube Transcript Fetcher

    ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

    Fetches the transcript of a YouTube video through TranscriptAPI.com so the agent can summarize, quote, translate or fact-check what was said.

    1k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.1k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • YouTube TranscriptAPI

    ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

    Pulls YouTube transcripts, searches videos and channels and browses playlists through the TranscriptAPI service with a single API key.

    1k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~3k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • YouTube Data via TranscriptAPI

    ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

    Fetches YouTube transcripts, video metadata, channel info, search results and playlists through the TranscriptAPI.com service, with no Google API quota or OAuth setup.

    1k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.3k tokens
    Auto-check passed
  • YouTube Channel Tools

    ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills

    Browses YouTube channels through TranscriptAPI: resolves handles to channel IDs, lists recent uploads and pages through a channel's videos.

    1k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~3.3k tokens
    Auto-check passed

Works with

Questions about YouTube Video Transcript

What does YouTube Video Transcript do?

Fetches YouTube transcripts through TranscriptAPI.com so an agent can summarize, quote or translate a video from a link or ID. com transcript endpoint and returns the spoken text. It also applies when someone pastes a video URL with no explanation and wants to know what it says.

When should I use YouTube Video Transcript?

YouTube Video Transcript fits situations like: summarizing a YouTube video from its link; quoting a specific moment from a video with its timestamp; translating or converting a video's spoken content to text.

How do I install YouTube Video Transcript in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill video-transcript -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/video-transcript in ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills) into .claude/skills/video-transcript in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install YouTube Video Transcript in Codex?

Run `npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill video-transcript -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/video-transcript in ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills) into .agents/skills/video-transcript in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use YouTube Video Transcript in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill video-transcript -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/video-transcript, .gemini/skills/video-transcript, .github/skills/video-transcript and .opencode/skills/video-transcript in your project.

What does YouTube Video Transcript need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, YouTube Video Transcript needs credentials named TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY. Our summary lists: A TranscriptAPI.com key in TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY; Internet access to transcriptapi.com. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed..

Does YouTube Video Transcript access the network?

SKILL.md names 4 domains. In commands or code: youtube.com, transcriptapi.com, youtu.be and i.ytimg.com; the agent is likely to contact these when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is YouTube Video Transcript safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does YouTube Video Transcript use?

YouTube Video Transcript is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does YouTube Video Transcript use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 1.9k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to YouTube Video Transcript?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with YouTube Video Transcript: Youtube Transcript (badlogic/pi-skills, 2.6k stars), Video Lens (kar2phi/video-lens, 113 stars), Youtube Transcript Extractor API Skill (browser-act/skills, 6.1k stars) and YouTube Transcript Reformatter (Prismer-AI/PrismerCloud, 1.6k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains YouTube Video Transcript?

ZeroPointRepo (a GitHub organization) maintains it in ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills, which has 1,032 GitHub stars. The repository holds 12 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 6, 2026.

Source: ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.