ChannelToObsidian

ChannelToObsidian

Two-phase pipeline to capture a YouTube channel into an Obsidian Second Brain. Inspired by Zsolt's workflow (batch channel download + NotebookLM) but integrated directly into Obsidian with zero external dependencies and deep Second Brain wikilink structure.

Depends on: skill VideoToObsidian (must be installed as sibling directory)

When to use this skill

• The user gives a YouTube channel URL and wants to capture its content
• The user says "scan this channel", "index this channel", "ChannelToObsidian"
• The user wants to selectively process videos from a channel into structured notes

Requirements

• Python 3.9+ — stdlib only, no external dependencies
• Skill VideoToObsidian installed at ~/.copilot/skills/VideoToObsidian/
• OBSIDIAN_VAULT environment variable (optional)

Commands

# Phase 1 — Scan: create video checklist
python3 ~/.copilot/skills/ChannelToObsidian/scripts/channel_to_obsidian.py <channel_URL>

# Phase 2 — Process: generate notes for [x] videos
python3 ~/.copilot/skills/ChannelToObsidian/scripts/channel_to_obsidian.py <channel_URL> --process

Accepted channel URL formats:

• https://www.youtube.com/@channelhandle
• https://www.youtube.com/c/channelslug
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxxxx
• @channelhandle (shorthand)

Full workflow

Phase 1 — Scan

python3 ~/.copilot/skills/ChannelToObsidian/scripts/channel_to_obsidian.py "https://www.youtube.com/@channelhandle"

What happens:

1. Resolves the channel handle → channel name + UC browse ID via InnerTube
2. Paginates through all channel videos (handles channels with hundreds of videos)
3. Creates/updates Atlas/Personas/<ChannelName>.md with a checklist of every video:
   • [ ] — not yet reviewed
   • [x] — selected for processing
   • [p] — already processed (note exists in Atlas/Recursos/)
4. Opens the index in Obsidian automatically

Example output (index file):

## Videos

- [ ] **How to vectorize images automatically** `7GqL6xUvDuM` · 5:42 · 2 years ago
- [ ] **Obsidian as automation workbench** `l0cfhGwaAG8` · 29:29 · 1 year ago
- [p] **Getting started with Excalidraw** `abc123defgh` · 12:15 · 3 years ago

Between phases — User reviews the checklist

The user opens Atlas/Personas/<ChannelName>.md in Obsidian and:

• Changes [ ] to [x] for videos they want to process
• Leaves [ ] for videos to skip
• Already-processed videos show [p] — leave them unchanged

Phase 2 — Process

python3 ~/.copilot/skills/ChannelToObsidian/scripts/channel_to_obsidian.py "https://www.youtube.com/@channelhandle" --process

What happens:

1. Reads the index file
2. Finds all videos marked [x]
3. For each one: calls VideoToObsidian → full note + transcript
4. Marks processed videos [p] in the index
5. Opens the index in Obsidian when done

Second Brain structure

Atlas/
├── Personas/
│   └── <ChannelName>.md          ← channel index (MOC) ← created by Phase 1
├── Recursos/
│   ├── <VideoTitle>.md           ← technical notes ← created by Phase 2
│   └── Transcripciones/
│       └── VIDEO_ID - Title.md   ← transcripts ← created by Phase 2

Why Atlas/Personas/? A YouTube channel is a person or organization — a source of knowledge, not a resource itself. The index acts as a Map of Content (MOC) for that creator's work.

Conventions

• Channel index file name: <ChannelName>.md (max 60 chars, no special characters)
• Video note file name: same as VideoToObsidian: <VideoTitle>.md
• State markers: [ ] = pending, [x] = selected, [p] = processed

Notes

• Phase 1 is non-destructive: re-running it updates the video list without losing [x] or [p] states
• Phase 2 pauses 1 second between videos to avoid hammering the API
• If a video has no subtitles, VideoToObsidian creates the note without transcript section
• The script handles channels with hundreds of videos via InnerTube pagination
• No Google Cloud API key, no OpenAI API key, no yt-dlp needed