modbender YouTube Transcript Downloader (with Tor Proxy)
This skill downloads YouTube video transcripts using Tor proxy to bypass IP blocking. It automatically prioritizes manual subtitles over auto-generated ones.
Prerequisites
Tor - Install on Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y tor sudo systemctl start tor sudo systemctl enable toryt-dlp - Install:
sudo wget -q https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlpPython - For transcript cleanup (usually pre-installed)
Quick Start
# Run the script
./scripts/youtube-transcript.sh <video_url_or_id> [language]
Examples:
./scripts/youtube-transcript.sh dQw4w9WgXcQ
./scripts/youtube-transcript.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
./scripts/youtube-transcript.sh cMx139eTxoc en
How It Works
1. Tor Proxy
- YouTube blocks cloud VPS IPs (AWS, GCP, Hetzner, etc.)
- Tor provides rotating IPs to bypass this blocking
- Connects via SOCKS5 proxy at
127.0.0.1:9050
2. yt-dlp Usage
yt-dlp --proxy "socks5://127.0.0.1:9050"- Routes through Tor--write-subs- Downloads manually uploaded subtitles--write-auto-subs- Downloads auto-generated subtitles--sub-format vtt- Downloads in VTT format
3. Automatic Detection Logic
1. Check if manual subtitles exist (--write-subs)
2. If found, download manual subtitles (preferred)
3. If not found, fallback to auto-generated (--write-auto-subs)
4. Clean up VTT file (remove timestamps, HTML tags)
5. Save as {video_title}_clean.txt
4. Transcript Cleanup
The cleanup script:
- Removes VTT timestamps (
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.030) - Removes HTML-like tags (
<c>,<00:00:00.160>, etc.) - Removes duplicate lines
- Saves clean text file
Output Files
Two files are created in /home/ubuntu/.openclaw/workspace/tmp/:
{title}.vtt- Original VTT file with timestamps{title}_clean.txt- Clean transcript (recommended)
Troubleshooting
| Error | Solution |
|---|---|
| "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" | Tor is running but IP might be flagged. Wait and retry. |
| "No supported JavaScript runtime" | Install yt-dlp properly - this is just a warning |
| "Connection refused" | Start Tor: sudo systemctl start tor |
| "No subtitles available" | Video might not have any subtitles |
API Reference
Main Script: youtube-transcript.sh
Parameters:
$1- Video URL or Video ID (required)$2- Language code (optional, default:en)
Environment:
OUTPUT_DIR- Default:/home/ubuntu/.openclaw/agents/<agent-id>/yt-transcriptsAGENT_ID- Agent ID (default: main)PROXY- Default:socks5://127.0.0.1:9050
Cleanup Script: clean_transcript.py
Usage:
python3 scripts/clean_transcript.py <input.vtt> [output.txt]
Alternative Methods
If Tor doesn't work:
- Residential Proxy - Paid services like Bright Data (~$10/month)
- VPN with residential exit - Connect to home network via WireGuard
- Browser with cookies - Export YouTube cookies and pass to yt-dlp:
yt-dlp --cookies /path/to/cookies.txt ...
Notes
- Tor might be slow - be patient
- Each request gets a different IP (rotating)
- Some videos have no subtitles at all
- Auto-generated subtitles may contain errors
- Manual subtitles are always preferred when available