Extract YouTube Transcript

Fetches plain-text transcripts from YouTube videos using extract_youtube_transcript.py in this skill folder.

Dependency

pip show youtube-transcript-api &>/dev/null || pip install youtube-transcript-api

Quick Start

python extract_youtube_transcript.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Supported URL formats: youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, /embed/, /live/, /shorts/, or a raw 11-char video ID.

Common Patterns

Fetch with preferred language(s)

python extract_youtube_transcript.py "URL" --lang zh-Hant en

Pass languages in priority order. Falls back to any available transcript if none match.

Save transcript to file

python extract_youtube_transcript.py "URL" --output transcript.txt

Text is printed to stdout and also written to the file.

List available languages first

python extract_youtube_transcript.py "URL" --list-langs

Use this to discover what language codes are available before fetching.

Language Codes

| Code | Language | |------|----------| | en | English | | zh-Hant | Traditional Chinese | | zh-Hans | Simplified Chinese | | ja | Japanese | | ko | Korean | | es | Spanish |

Error Handling

| Error | Cause | Recovery | |-------|-------|----------| | TranscriptsDisabled | Owner disabled captions | No transcript available | | NoTranscriptFound | Requested lang not found | Run --list-langs, pick an available code | | VideoUnavailable | Video is private/deleted | Verify the URL | | AgeRestricted | Age-gated video | Auth not supported; no workaround | | InvalidVideoId | Malformed URL or ID | Check the URL format |

Workflow

1. Try a direct fetch first
2. If NoTranscriptFound, run --list-langs to see available codes, then re-fetch with --lang <code>
3. Save long transcripts to a file with --output for easier downstream processing