How do I install the Youtube Transcript skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add nord342/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.

Is Youtube Transcript safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: executes scripts, makes network calls. 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?

nord342 (@nord342) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Youtube Transcript by nord342 — Agent Skill

Name: Youtube Transcript
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: nord342

Youtube Transcript

Fetch the transcript/captions of any YouTube video. Use whenever the user pastes a YouTube link (youtube.com, youtu.be, shorts) or asks for a video's transcript, subtitles, captions, or "what does this video say / summarize this video". Runs locally via yt-dlp with browser cookies, so it works reliably without an API key.

nord342 2c9c258 2 files · 14.1 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

YouTube Transcript

Get the full transcript of a YouTube video so you can summarize it, quote it, answer questions about it, or pull out key points — all locally, no API key.

When to use

Trigger this skill whenever the user:

Pastes any YouTube URL (youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, /shorts/, /embed/), with or without a question.
Asks for a video's transcript, captions, or subtitles.
Asks you to summarize, analyze, quote, or answer questions about a YouTube video.

How to fetch a transcript

Run the bundled script. It calls yt-dlp with your browser cookies (which is what reliably gets past YouTube's bot checks), reads the caption track, and prints clean text to stdout. Progress/metadata go to stderr.

python3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/youtube-transcript/scripts/yt_transcript.py" "<YOUTUBE_URL>"

If ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} is not set in your environment, use the script's path inside this skill directory (scripts/yt_transcript.py).

Options

--timestamps — prefix each line with [mm:ss] (use when the user wants to cite or jump to moments).
--lang <code> — preferred caption language, e.g. --lang es (default en; falls back to English, then any available).
--list-langs — list which caption languages exist for the video, then exit. Use this if the default language isn't what the user wanted.
--browser <name> — cookie source: auto (default), chrome, safari, brave, edge, firefox. auto tries each, then no cookies.
--json — emit {title, uploader, duration_seconds, language, caption_source, transcript} as JSON. Use when you want the metadata too.

Typical flow

Run the script with the user's URL. For long videos, prefer --json or plain text and then work from the captured output.
Lead your answer with the video title and channel (shown on stderr, or in --json), so the user knows it fetched the right video.
Then do what the user asked — summarize, extract steps/quotes, answer a question, etc. If they didn't ask for anything specific, give a concise summary and offer the full transcript.
Don't paste a huge raw transcript back unless the user explicitly asks for the full text.

Troubleshooting

"yt-dlp is not installed" → brew install yt-dlp (or pipx install yt-dlp).
Metadata fetch fails / "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" → the user must be signed in to YouTube in the chosen browser. Try --browser chrome explicitly, or yt-dlp -U to update. A logged-in Chrome profile is the most reliable on macOS.
"no captions/subtitles available" → the video genuinely has no captions (some do not). There is no transcript to fetch; tell the user.
TLS / certificate errors → the script auto-falls back, but the clean fix is pip3 install certifi.

Notes

No video is downloaded — only the caption track. It's fast.
Prefers human-made (manual) subtitles over auto-generated captions when both exist.
Works on unlisted videos you can access; will not work on private/members-only videos your browser can't see.

---name: youtube-transcriptdescription: Fetch the transcript/captions of any YouTube video. Use whenever the user pastes a YouTube link (youtube.com, youtu.be, shorts) or asks for a video's transcript, subtitles, captions, or "what does this video say / summarize this video". Runs locally via yt-dlp with browser cookies, so it works reliably without an API key.---# YouTube TranscriptGet the full transcript of a YouTube video so you can summarize it, quote it,answer questions about it, or pull out key points — all locally, no API key.## When to useTrigger this skill whenever the user:- Pastes any YouTube URL (`youtube.com/watch?v=`, `youtu.be/`, `/shorts/`, `/embed/`), with or without a question.- Asks for a video's transcript, captions, or subtitles.- Asks you to summarize, analyze, quote, or answer questions about a YouTube video.## How to fetch a transcriptRun the bundled script. It calls `yt-dlp` with your browser cookies (which iswhat reliably gets past YouTube's bot checks), reads the caption track, andprints clean text to stdout. Progress/metadata go to stderr.```bashpython3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/youtube-transcript/scripts/yt_transcript.py" "<YOUTUBE_URL>"```If `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}` is not set in your environment, use the script'spath inside this skill directory (`scripts/yt_transcript.py`).### Options- `--timestamps` — prefix each line with `[mm:ss]` (use when the user wants to cite or jump to moments).- `--lang <code>` — preferred caption language, e.g. `--lang es` (default `en`; falls back to English, then any available).- `--list-langs` — list which caption languages exist for the video, then exit. Use this if the default language isn't what the user wanted.- `--browser <name>` — cookie source: `auto` (default), `chrome`, `safari`, `brave`, `edge`, `firefox`. `auto` tries each, then no cookies.- `--json` — emit `{title, uploader, duration_seconds, language, caption_source, transcript}` as JSON. Use when you want the metadata too.### Typical flow1. Run the script with the user's URL. For long videos, prefer `--json` or plain text and then work from the captured output.2. Lead your answer with the video **title** and **channel** (shown on stderr, or in `--json`), so the user knows it fetched the right video.3. Then do what the user asked — summarize, extract steps/quotes, answer a question, etc. If they didn't ask for anything specific, give a concise summary and offer the full transcript.4. Don't paste a huge raw transcript back unless the user explicitly asks for the full text.## Troubleshooting- **"yt-dlp is not installed"** → `brew install yt-dlp` (or `pipx install yt-dlp`).- **Metadata fetch fails / "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot"** → the user must be signed in to YouTube in the chosen browser. Try `--browser chrome` explicitly, or `yt-dlp -U` to update. A logged-in Chrome profile is the most reliable on macOS.- **"no captions/subtitles available"** → the video genuinely has no captions (some do not). There is no transcript to fetch; tell the user.- **TLS / certificate errors** → the script auto-falls back, but the clean fix is `pip3 install certifi`.## Notes- No video is downloaded — only the caption track. It's fast.- Prefers human-made (manual) subtitles over auto-generated captions when both exist.- Works on unlisted videos you can access; will not work on private/members-only videos your browser can't see.

Frequently asked questions