How do I install the Youtube Transcript skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add hoangvantuan/youtube-transcript in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Youtube Transcript skill do?

Tải transcript/phụ đề từ YouTube video qua yt-dlp và convert VTT sang plain text sạch. It is listed under Coding & Dev Tools on SkillMD.

Is Youtube Transcript safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Youtube Transcript?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Youtube Transcript free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Youtube Transcript?

hoangvantuan (@hoangvantuan) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Youtube Transcript by hoangvantuan — Agent Skill

Name: Youtube Transcript
Author: hoangvantuan

File contents

YouTube Transcript Downloader

Download transcript from YouTube video, convert to clean plain text.

Workflow

Follow this exact order. Stop and inform the user if any step fails.

Step 1: Verify yt-dlp

command -v yt-dlp

If not found, install:

macOS: brew install yt-dlp
Linux: sudo apt install -y yt-dlp
Fallback: pip3 install yt-dlp

If installation fails, tell the user to install manually.

Step 2: Get video info and check subtitles

VIDEO_URL="THE_URL"
yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "$VIDEO_URL"
yt-dlp --list-subs "$VIDEO_URL"

Note what's available: manual subtitles (higher quality) vs auto-generated.

Step 3: Download subtitles

Try in order until one succeeds:

Manual subtitles (best quality):

yt-dlp --write-sub --skip-download --output "transcript_temp" "$VIDEO_URL"

Auto-generated subtitles (fallback):

yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --skip-download --output "transcript_temp" "$VIDEO_URL"

Both produce a .vtt file.

If neither works, inform the user that video này không có phụ đề.

Step 4: Convert VTT to plain text

Use the bundled conversion script to deduplicate and clean the VTT output:

VIDEO_TITLE=$(yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "$VIDEO_URL" | tr '/' '_' | tr ':' '-' | tr '?' '' | tr '"' '')
VTT_FILE=$(ls transcript_temp*.vtt 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)

python3 skills/youtube-transcript/scripts/vtt-to-txt.py "$VTT_FILE" "${VIDEO_TITLE}.txt"

Then clean up the temporary VTT file:

rm "$VTT_FILE"

Step 5: Confirm to user

Tell the user the file name and location. Offer to read/display the content if they want to review it.

Why deduplication matters

YouTube auto-generated VTT files show captions progressively with overlapping timestamps, producing many duplicate lines. The conversion script uses a seen-set to preserve speaking order while removing duplicates.

Language selection

By default yt-dlp downloads all available subtitle languages. To target a specific language:

yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --sub-langs vi --skip-download --output "transcript_temp" "$VIDEO_URL"

Common codes: en (English), vi (Vietnamese), ja (Japanese), ko (Korean).

Error handling

Read references/error-handling.md for solutions to common issues (private videos, geo-blocking, SSL errors, missing subtitles).

---name: youtube-transcriptdescription: Tải transcript/phụ đề từ YouTube video qua yt-dlp và convert VTT sang plain text sạch.---# YouTube Transcript DownloaderDownload transcript from YouTube video, convert to clean plain text.## WorkflowFollow this exact order. Stop and inform the user if any step fails.### Step 1: Verify yt-dlp```bashcommand -v yt-dlp```If not found, install:- macOS: `brew install yt-dlp`- Linux: `sudo apt install -y yt-dlp`- Fallback: `pip3 install yt-dlp`If installation fails, tell the user to install manually.### Step 2: Get video info and check subtitles```bashVIDEO_URL="THE_URL"yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "$VIDEO_URL"yt-dlp --list-subs "$VIDEO_URL"```Note what's available: manual subtitles (higher quality) vs auto-generated.### Step 3: Download subtitlesTry in order until one succeeds:**Manual subtitles (best quality):**```bashyt-dlp --write-sub --skip-download --output "transcript_temp" "$VIDEO_URL"```**Auto-generated subtitles (fallback):**```bashyt-dlp --write-auto-sub --skip-download --output "transcript_temp" "$VIDEO_URL"```Both produce a `.vtt` file.If neither works, inform the user that video này không có phụ đề.### Step 4: Convert VTT to plain textUse the bundled conversion script to deduplicate and clean the VTT output:```bashVIDEO_TITLE=$(yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "$VIDEO_URL" | tr '/' '_' | tr ':' '-' | tr '?' '' | tr '"' '')VTT_FILE=$(ls transcript_temp*.vtt 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)python3 skills/youtube-transcript/scripts/vtt-to-txt.py "$VTT_FILE" "${VIDEO_TITLE}.txt"```Then clean up the temporary VTT file:```bashrm "$VTT_FILE"```### Step 5: Confirm to userTell the user the file name and location. Offer to read/display the content if they want to review it.## Why deduplication mattersYouTube auto-generated VTT files show captions progressively with overlapping timestamps, producing many duplicate lines. The conversion script uses a seen-set to preserve speaking order while removing duplicates.## Language selectionBy default yt-dlp downloads all available subtitle languages. To target a specific language:```bashyt-dlp --write-auto-sub --sub-langs vi --skip-download --output "transcript_temp" "$VIDEO_URL"```Common codes: `en` (English), `vi` (Vietnamese), `ja` (Japanese), `ko` (Korean).## Error handlingRead `references/error-handling.md` for solutions to common issues (private videos, geo-blocking, SSL errors, missing subtitles).

Frequently asked questions

Youtube Transcript