Youtube Summarizer

YouTube Summarizer Skill

Automatically fetch transcripts from YouTube videos, generate structured summaries, and deliver full transcripts to messaging platforms.

When to Use

Activate this skill when:

• User shares a YouTube URL (youtube.com/watch, youtu.be, youtube.com/shorts)
• User asks to summarize or transcribe a YouTube video
• User requests information about a YouTube video's content

Dependencies

Required: yt-dlp must be installed and available in PATH.

Check if yt-dlp is available:

which yt-dlp || echo "yt-dlp not found"

If not installed, you can install it:

pip3 install yt-dlp

Workflow

1. Detect YouTube URL

Extract video ID from these patterns:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
• https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
• Direct video ID: VIDEO_ID (11 characters)

2. Fetch Video Metadata

Get video information using yt-dlp:

yt-dlp --dump-json --skip-download "VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null | head -c 10000

Extract from the JSON:

• title - Video title
• uploader - Channel name
• view_count - View count
• upload_date - Publication date (YYYYMMDD format)
• duration - Video duration in seconds

3. Fetch Transcript

Option A: Use yt-dlp to get auto-generated subtitles (if available)

yt-dlp --list-subs --skip-download "VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null

Download subtitles if available:

yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download --sub-format txt -o "/tmp/yt_%(id)s.%(ext)s" "VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null

Read the subtitle file:

cat /tmp/yt_VIDEO_ID.en.txt 2>/dev/null || cat /tmp/yt_VIDEO_ID.txt 2>/dev/null

Option B: If yt-dlp subtitles fail, inform user:

"I couldn't retrieve the transcript for this video. This may be because:

• The video doesn't have captions/subtitles enabled
• The video owner has disabled auto-generated captions
• The video is restricted or private

You can try:

• Using YouTube's built-in transcript feature (click '...' below the video → 'Show transcript')
• Trying a different video that has captions enabled"

4. Process the Data

Clean up the transcript text:

• Remove timestamps if present
• Remove duplicate lines
• Join lines into paragraphs

Extract full text for summarization.

5. Generate Summary

Create a structured summary using this template:

📹 **Video:** [title]
👤 **Channel:** [author] | 👁️ **Views:** [views] | 📅 **Published:** [date]

**🎯 Main Thesis:**
[1-2 sentence core argument/message]

**💡 Key Insights:**
- [insight 1]
- [insight 2]
- [insight 3]
- [insight 4]
- [insight 5]

**📝 Notable Points:**
- [additional point 1]
- [additional point 2]

**🔑 Takeaway:**
[Practical application or conclusion]

Aim for:

• Main thesis: 1-2 sentences maximum
• Key insights: 3-5 bullets, each 1-2 sentences
• Notable points: 2-4 supporting details
• Takeaway: Actionable conclusion

6. Save Full Transcript (Optional)

If the user wants the full transcript saved:

Create the transcripts directory:

mkdir -p ~/.smart_bot/transcripts

Save the transcript:

cat > ~/.smart_bot/transcripts/YYYY-MM-DD_VIDEO_ID.txt << 'EOF'
Video: [title]
Channel: [author]
URL: [video_url]
Date: [date]

---

[Full transcript text]
EOF

7. Reply with Summary

Send the structured summary as your response to the user.

If you saved the transcript file, mention its location.

Error Handling

If yt-dlp is not installed:

# Try to install it
pip3 install yt-dlp

If transcript fetch fails:

• Check if video has captions enabled
• Try with --sub-lang en fallback if requested language unavailable
• Inform user that transcript is not available and suggest alternatives:
  • Manual YouTube transcript feature
  • Video may not have captions
  • Try a different video

If video ID extraction fails:

• Ask user to provide the full YouTube URL or video ID

If video is restricted/private:

• Inform user that the video cannot be accessed
• Ask them to check if the video is publicly available

Quality Guidelines

• Be concise: Summary should be scannable in 30 seconds
• Be accurate: Don't add information not in the transcript
• Be structured: Use consistent formatting for easy reading
• Be contextual: Adjust detail level based on video length
  • Short videos (<5 min): Brief summary
  • Long videos (>30 min): More detailed breakdown

Notes

• yt-dlp is a reliable tool that works on most YouTube videos
• Some videos may not have captions available
• Transcript quality depends on YouTube's auto-generated captions or manual captions
• Auto-generated captions may have errors, especially for technical terms or non-English content

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