# Youtube Advisor > Build or update a Claude Code advisor skill from any YouTube channel. Use when the user pastes a YouTube channel URL or handle, names a creator, or says "make an advisor on …", "build a skill from …", "обнови … advisor", "refresh that advisor". Triggers on bare URLs like https://youtube.com/@channel, @handles, or creator-name mentions. - Skill: `provencal-potatoskin571/youtube-advisor` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 12 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add provencal-potatoskin571/youtube-advisor` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/provencal-potatoskin571/youtube-advisor/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: provencal-potatoskin571 (https://skillmd.com/u/provencal-potatoskin571) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/provencal-potatoskin571/youtube-advisor --- # youtube-advisor — build a Claude Code advisor from any YouTube channel ## Two-action user contract The user does exactly two things: 1. **Drops a channel URL/handle and a one-sentence intent in chat.** 2. **Uses the resulting `/-advisor` skill** to ask questions about that channel. **You (the AI agent) do everything in between.** Never expose `--since`, `--max`, `--out`, `bash`, or any CLI flag to the user. Never paste a shell command for the user to run. Compose every command silently, run it via Bash, and report results in plain language. ## When this skill triggers - A YouTube channel URL, `@handle`, or playlist URL appears in the message. - Creator name appears in a "build me an advisor on …" / "make a skill from …" / "make a YC advisor" framing. - The user says "обнови yc-advisor", "refresh that advisor", "check for new videos". ## Workflow ### Step 1 — parse intent silently Extract from the user's message: - **Channel(s)** — URL, `@handle`, playlist URL, or a named creator. - If a creator is named without a URL, search via `yt-dlp ytsearch5:""` (or `yt-dlp --get-id ytsearch3:" channel"`), then ASK the user "I found @navalr — Naval Ravikant's channel — use that one?" before continuing. Don't guess. - **Selection hints**: - "last year" → `--since 2025-MM-DD` (today minus 1 year). - "long videos only" → `--title-exclude "shorts|#shorts"` (already default — no extra flag). - "the Founder Stories series" → `--title-include "Founder Stories"`. - Pasted video URLs → write IDs to `/tmp/ids.txt`, pass `--ids /tmp/ids.txt`. - **Intent sentence** — for the LLM SKILL.md drafter (`--intent "..."`). - **Language preference** — match the chat language by default; pass `--answer-language` only if the user explicitly says. If the message is ambiguous, ask AT MOST 3 short questions in plain language. NEVER list flag names. NEVER show CLI syntax. ### Step 2 — confirm in plain language Print a one-line summary: > "I'll fetch ~187 videos from @ycombinator (2022 → today), output to `~/.claude/skills/yc-advisor`. Roughly 20 minutes. Go?" Only ask about Whisper time if the estimated duration is > 15 minutes for the Whisper fallback. ### Step 3 — execute via Bash (HIDDEN from the user) ``` youtube-advisor bootstrap \ --channel @ycombinator \ --since 2022-01-01 \ --out ~/.claude/skills/yc-advisor \ --from-natural-language --intent "YC startup advice with focus on hiring" \ --answer-language auto \ --quote-style auto \ --yes ``` Run it via the Bash tool. The user does NOT see this command. ### Step 4 — stream progress sparsely Reuse the scriba progress-streaming pattern: - Emit a short status message on each stage transition (resolving channel, ingesting, indexing, embedding, drafting SKILL.md, running evals). - Emit on ~25% audio-processed boundaries for Whisper transcription (NOT every 10%, NOT on a timer). - NEVER use `/loop`, `ScheduleWakeup`, or any periodic wake-up — they cost prompt-cache misses ($). #### Live status from a side terminal While bootstrap is running, you can peek at progress without tailing the verbose stdout: ``` bash /scripts/status.sh # or youtube-advisor status ``` Both read `/.progress.json` and print a one-line snapshot, e.g. `🎬 ingesting · 4/187 · 02:14 · ETA 18:45`. Use this when the user asks "how far along is it?" — read the progress JSON, don't tail bash output. The JSON updates atomically on every stage change and per-video ingest. ### Step 4 — polish the draft (YOU are the LLM) Whenever `bootstrap` ran without `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` (the default Claude Code case) — or when you passed `--no-llm` — the CLI writes a **stub** `SKILL.md` plus a hand-off file at `/.pending-llm-draft.json`. **Do not** echo the postrun guide yet. Instead: 1. Read `/.pending-llm-draft.json` (it contains the schema, ~8 transcript excerpts, the corpus metadata, the user intent, and the output paths). 2. Draft a polished `SKILL.md` directly from those samples — anti-patterns must be specific to THIS channel's actual failure modes (not generic clichés), and example_queries must be real questions this corpus can answer well. 3. Re-render `SKILL.md` and `AGENTS.md` at the paths listed in `output_paths`. Use the same Jinja templates the stub came from (`templates/advisor.SKILL.md.tmpl`, `advisor.AGENTS.md.tmpl`) — only the description/purpose/anti_patterns/example_queries change. 4. (Optional) Draft `evals/benchmark.json` (10–20 channel-grounded Q/A items with `expected_quote_video_ids` and `must_terms`) so the user can later run a quality check. 5. **Delete `.pending-llm-draft.json`** — that marker file's presence means "AI hasn't polished yet". Removing it signals the advisor is ready. Only then echo the postrun guide. ### Step 5 — show the postrun guide When `bootstrap` exits, it prints the "what's next" guide. Echo it to the user AS-IS (verbatim from the CLI output). Do NOT add commentary about what flags you used. The user should see only the guide and a brief "Done!" framing. ### Update flow When the user says "обнови yc-advisor", "refresh the advisor", "check for new videos", "что нового на канале": ``` youtube-advisor update --advisor ~/.claude/skills/yc-advisor --yes ``` Same UX: never show the user the command. Echo the postrun summary. If the user provides a hint ("обнови, но только за эту неделю"), translate it to `--since `. ## Worked examples (for YOU the agent — never shown to the user) Each example shows: user message → flags YOU compose → what the user sees. ### Example 1 — bare URL + intent User: `https://www.youtube.com/@ycombinator. I want a YC advisor focused on startup hiring and fundraising.` You parse: - channel = `@ycombinator` - intent = `"YC startup advice with focus on hiring and fundraising"` - language = match chat language (RU/EN auto) You run: ``` youtube-advisor bootstrap \ --channel @ycombinator \ --out ~/.claude/skills/yc-advisor \ --from-natural-language \ --intent "YC startup advice with focus on hiring and fundraising" \ --answer-language auto \ --yes ``` User sees: confirmation summary → progress updates → postrun guide. NEVER sees the flags. ### Example 2 — date hint, long videos only User: `pick interviews longer than 1 hour from 2024 onwards on @lexfridman` You parse: - channel = `@lexfridman` - since = `2024-01-01` - title_exclude default already drops shorts; "longer than 1 hour" is a length filter not yet in v1 — skip it and accept all matching videos. You run: ``` youtube-advisor bootstrap --channel @lexfridman --since 2024-01-01 \ --out ~/.claude/skills/lex-advisor \ --from-natural-language --intent "Long-form Lex Fridman interviews" --yes ``` Tell the user: "Note: I'll pull videos from 2024 onwards. The shorts filter is on by default. Length-based filtering isn't a v1 feature, so very short interviews will also be included — let me know if you'd like to drop them manually later." ### Example 3 — explicit video IDs User: `Use these specific videos: https://youtu.be/abc, https://youtu.be/def, https://youtu.be/ghi` You: 1. Extract IDs: `abc`, `def`, `ghi`. 2. `echo -e "abc\ndef\nghi" > /tmp/youtube-advisor-ids.txt` (via Bash). 3. Run: ``` youtube-advisor bootstrap --channel "" \ --ids /tmp/youtube-advisor-ids.txt \ --max 3 \ --out ~/.claude/skills/-advisor \ --from-natural-language --intent "" --yes ``` Ask the user briefly: "These three videos come from . Use that as the channel handle? And: what should this advisor be good at? (One sentence.)" ### Example 4 — named creator, no URL User: `Build me an advisor on Naval` You: 1. Run `yt-dlp --flat-playlist -J "ytsearch3:Naval Ravikant channel" | jq -r '.entries[] | .channel'` to find candidates. 2. Ask: "I found `@navalr` — Naval Ravikant's channel. Use that one?" 3. On `y`, run bootstrap with `--channel @navalr`. ### Example 5 — update with hint User: `обнови yc-advisor — также проверь нет ли новых видео за эту неделю` You parse: - advisor = `~/.claude/skills/yc-advisor` - since override = 7 days ago. You run: ``` youtube-advisor update --advisor ~/.claude/skills/yc-advisor --since 2026-05-29 --yes ``` Tell user the result via the postrun summary. ## Rules - **Never show flags to the user.** Always build the command silently. Run it via Bash. Echo the result. - **Never paste a `bash` command for the user to run.** You run everything; you echo only natural-language summaries and the post-run guide. - **Match the user's language** in conversation (RU / EN / etc.) — but the CLI itself is English-only. - **If Whisper time is estimated > 15 min**, ask before continuing ("Some videos lack captions and would need ~3h of local transcription. Skip them, or wait?"). - **Don't poll status on a timer.** Reuse the scriba pattern: emit on stage change + 25% audio progress. - **End with the bootstrap_guide output unmodified.** No additional commentary. - **Never use `/loop` or `ScheduleWakeup`** for progress monitoring — they cost prompt-cache misses. - **Don't fabricate channel handles.** If the user names a creator without a URL, always disambiguate via search first. ## Installation prerequisites If `youtube-advisor` is not installed (`which youtube-advisor` fails), do the install yourself — the user shouldn't have to leave chat. Clone into `~/.claude/skills/youtube-advisor` (or `~/tools/youtube-advisor` outside Claude Code), then run `bash scripts/install.sh` via the Bash tool. If `ffmpeg` is missing, `install.sh` will surface that — run `brew install ffmpeg` (macOS) or the platform equivalent and retry. Only ping the user if a step needs a sudo password or a non-trivial decision. `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` is **not required** when this skill is invoked from inside Claude Code — the agent in chat (you) drafts `SKILL.md` directly via the `.pending-llm-draft.json` hand-off (see Step 4). If the env var IS set, the CLI auto-uses the Anthropic SDK to pre-draft `SKILL.md` and the eval benchmark — that is purely an optimization, never a prerequisite. Pass `--no-llm` to force the hand-off path explicitly. ## When YouTube blocks the fetch If you see HTTP 429 / "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" / `_extract_player_response failed` errors, YT's anti-bot is rate-limiting this IP. yt-dlp invocations already pass `--remote-components ejs:github` (the EJS JS-challenge solver) and `--extractor-args youtube:formats=missing_pot` (PO-token tolerance) by default — but the EJS solver needs **`deno`** on PATH at runtime. If `which deno` fails, install via `brew install deno` (macOS) or `curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh` (Linux) and retry. If you're still blocked after that, two more fixes: **Option 1 — Use your logged-in browser cookies (recommended):** Pass `--cookies-from-browser chrome` (or `firefox`, `safari`, `brave`, `edge`). yt-dlp reads cookies straight from the browser profile — no copy-paste. With cookies set, the captions pool stays at concurrency 8. **Option 2 — Wait it out:** The defaults already slow requests (1–5s random sleep) and retry on 429 with exponential backoff. Without cookies the captions pool also drops to concurrency 2 + a 0.5–2s jitter per call. A retry after a few minutes usually clears. You can also set `YOUTUBE_ADVISOR_COOKIES_BROWSER=chrome` once in your shell rc, or drop a Netscape `cookies.txt` at `~/.config/youtube-advisor/cookies.txt`, to default that browser/file for all advisors.