# Lex Transcript Search > Find where a word, topic, quote, or moment comes up in a Lex Fridman Podcast episode, using the official transcripts on lexfridman.com, and return timestamped YouTube deep links with verbatim quotes. Use whenever the user mentions a Lex Fridman podcast/episode and asks "where did they talk about X", "when does mention X", "find the part about X", "what did say about X", wants timestamps for a topic, wants to find a quote or moment, or says they can't listen to or watch the whole episode. - Skill: `barnabys-drew/lex-transcript-search` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add barnabys-drew/lex-transcript-search` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/barnabys-drew/lex-transcript-search/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: barnabys-drew (https://skillmd.com/u/barnabys-drew) - Updated: 2026-09-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/barnabys-drew/lex-transcript-search --- # Lex Transcript Search Lex Fridman publishes a human-written, timestamped transcript for every recent episode at `https://lexfridman.com/-transcript/`. Each paragraph carries its speaker, a `(hh:mm:ss)` start time, and a link into the full YouTube episode. `search.py` fetches that page, parses it into segments, and greps them, so every timestamp you report comes straight from the page. For non-Lex videos, or for a full "what's interesting in this" summary rather than finding a specific topic, use the `youtube-digest` skill instead. ## Workflow ### 1. Identify the episode - WebSearch `Lex Fridman ` (or `Lex Fridman podcast latest episode`). You want the `lexfridman.com/-transcript/` URL. The episode page `lexfridman.com//` also works, because the script follows its transcript link. - Slugs are the guest's name, and repeat guests get `-2`, `-3`, and so on (`dhh-2-transcript`, `sam-altman-2-transcript`). If the user says "the latest DHH episode", make sure you have the highest-numbered one. - Check that you have the right episode: the script prints the page title with the episode number (e.g. `Lex Fridman Podcast #501`). If that doesn't match the user's description (guest, rough date, topic), say so before answering. ### 2. Search: the literal word plus sensible variants ```bash python3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/lex-transcript-search/search.py" [ ...] [-c N] [--json] ``` - Terms are **case-insensitive regexes**, and all of them are searched at once. A plain stem matches every form: `inferenc` finds inference and inferencing. Use `\bword\b` when a short word would match inside other words (e.g. `\bAI\b`, `\bcompute\b`). - For a **concept** (not an exact word), add synonyms, related names, and spelling variants in the same call. For "inference" that could be `inferenc 'open.weight' Fireworks 'token'`. For "security" it could be `secur vulnerab exploit hack`. Use `.` or `[- ]?` for hyphen/space variants (`open.source`), since the transcripts are typed by people and aren't consistent. - `-c 1` or `-c 2` prints neighbouring segments, so you can tell what the conversation was about. `--json` gives structured output. - Clips in the "Episode highlight" cold open at 0:00 are skipped by default, because they replay material from later in the episode. The script says how many it skipped. Use `--include-highlights` to show them. - If there are no matches, the script says so and suggests variants. Try a shorter stem or synonyms before telling the user the topic never comes up. - Pages are cached in `~/.cache/lex-transcript-search/`. Use `--refresh` if a transcript was published or corrected recently. ### 3. Read around the hits Run again with `-c 2` on the interesting hits (or read the `context` field in `--json`) so that you understand the actual discussion. A keyword hit in passing is not the same as a real discussion. Tell those apart for the user. ### 4. Answer For each relevant moment, give: - **Timestamp range and deep link**, copied exactly from the script output: `02:40:06–02:40:43` → `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYFGCESmikA&t=9606s` - **Speaker** and a **short verbatim quote** (one or two sentences) containing the term. - **A plain-English explanation** of what was being discussed and why it matters. Add a sentence of background if the user is unlikely to know the topic. Rules: - **Never invent or estimate timestamps.** Use only the ones the script printed. If the script can't find a video id, give the transcript timestamps without links. - The timestamp is the **start of the paragraph**. A long paragraph can run about a minute, so the word may come 30–60s after the link starts. Say so when the quote is near the end of the paragraph. The `->` end time is when the next segment begins. - Group adjacent hits (back-to-back segments on the same thread) into one moment. - Quote verbatim. The transcript is human-made and may have small errors, so don't "fix" names or model versions without saying that you did. ## Limitations - This only works for episodes that have a lexfridman.com transcript. Older or very new episodes may not have one yet. In that case fall back to `youtube-digest`. - It matches text, not meaning, so the quality of your synonyms decides how much you find. - The video id is the most-linked one on the page (the full episode). Clips or shorts on other channels have different timings. ## Tests `cd "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/lex-transcript-search" && python3 -m unittest test_search.py` (offline, synthetic HTML).