gh-dotclaude-marketplace-plugins-yt-transcribe/commands/yt-fetch-transcript.md

model, allowed-tools, argument-hint, description

model	allowed-tools	argument-hint	description
claude-sonnet-4-5	Task, Bash, Read, Write, WebFetch	<video-url> [--method method] [--language lang] [--format format] [--quality quality]	Fetch transcript using YouTube API or speech-to-text

YouTube Fetch Transcript Command

Retrieve the transcript from a YouTube video using the fastest available method. Supports YouTube's native transcript API, fallback providers, and speech-to-text.

Arguments

$1 (Required): video-url

The full YouTube URL to fetch transcript from. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Optional flags:

• --method - Retrieval method: auto (default), api, speech-to-text, fallback
• --language - Specific language code (e.g., en, es, fr). Default: auto-detect
• --format - Output format: text (default), markdown, json, vtt, srt
• --quality - Quality preference: best (default), high, standard, draft
• --timestamps - Include timestamps in transcript
• --preserve-formatting - Keep original formatting and paragraph breaks
• --validate - Check transcript completeness and quality

Examples

/yt-fetch-transcript "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
/yt-fetch-transcript "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --method api --language en
/yt-fetch-transcript "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --method speech-to-text --quality best
/yt-fetch-transcript "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --format json --timestamps --validate

Retrieval Methods

auto (Default)

Intelligent fallback chain:

1. Check YouTube's native transcripts (fastest)
2. Look for manually added captions
3. Fall back to auto-generated captions
4. If no captions, use speech-to-text on downloaded video

api

Direct YouTube Transcript API call - fastest if captions exist

• Works for videos with any type of captions
• Returns immediately
• High accuracy (uses existing captions)

speech-to-text

Local transcription using Whisper or similar

• Works for any video with audio
• Slower but doesn't depend on captions
• Good for videos without captions

fallback

Try multiple transcript providers

• YouTube API first
• Third-party providers second
• Speech-to-text as last resort

Output Formats

• text - Plain text with timestamps
• markdown - Structured markdown with headers and formatting
• json - Structured JSON with timing metadata
• vtt - WebVTT subtitle format (for subtitles)
• srt - SubRip format (for subtitles)

Quality Levels

• best - Use highest quality available (manual captions preferred)
• high - Use auto-generated captions from YouTube
• standard - Accept any available captions
• draft - Quick retrieval, may be incomplete

Output

Returns:

• Full transcript text with optional timestamps
• Metadata: language, source (auto-generated vs. human), quality indicator
• Coverage: percentage of video covered by transcript
• Recommendations for quality or alternative methods

Tips

• --method auto provides best balance of speed and quality
• For videos without captions, expect --method speech-to-text to take longer
• Use --format json for downstream processing and analysis
• Use --format vtt or --format srt to create subtitle files
• Add --validate to check transcript completeness before proceeding
• Use --quality best for important content that needs high accuracy

---

Invoke the transcript-fetcher agent to retrieve transcripts via multiple methods and ensure data quality.