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gh-kivilaid-plugin-marketpl…/skills/youtube-transcript/SKILL.md
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---
name: youtube-transcript
description: Download YouTube video transcripts when user provides a YouTube URL or asks to download/get/fetch a transcript from YouTube. Also use when user wants to transcribe or get captions/subtitles from a YouTube video.
allowed-tools:
- Bash
- Read
- Write
---
# YouTube Transcript Downloader
This skill helps download transcripts (subtitles/captions) from YouTube videos using yt-dlp.
## When to Use This Skill
Activate this skill when the user:
- Provides a YouTube URL and wants the transcript
- Asks to "download transcript from YouTube"
- Wants to "get captions" or "get subtitles" from a video
- Asks to "transcribe a YouTube video"
- Needs text content from a YouTube video
## How It Works
### Priority Order:
1. **Check if yt-dlp is installed** - install if needed
2. **List available subtitles** - see what's actually available
3. **Try manual subtitles first** (`--write-sub`) - highest quality
4. **Fallback to auto-generated** (`--write-auto-sub`) - usually available
5. **Last resort: Whisper transcription** - if no subtitles exist (requires user confirmation)
6. **Confirm the download** and show the user where the file is saved
7. **Optionally clean up** the VTT format if the user wants plain text
## Installation Check
**IMPORTANT**: Always check if yt-dlp is installed first:
```bash
which yt-dlp || command -v yt-dlp
```
### If Not Installed
Attempt automatic installation based on the system:
**macOS (Homebrew)**:
```bash
brew install yt-dlp
```
**Linux (apt/Debian/Ubuntu)**:
```bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y yt-dlp
```
**Alternative (pip - works on all systems)**:
```bash
pip3 install yt-dlp
# or
python3 -m pip install yt-dlp
```
**If installation fails**: Inform the user they need to install yt-dlp manually and provide them with installation instructions from https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#installation
## Check Available Subtitles
**ALWAYS do this first** before attempting to download:
```bash
yt-dlp --list-subs "YOUTUBE_URL"
```
This shows what subtitle types are available without downloading anything. Look for:
- Manual subtitles (better quality)
- Auto-generated subtitles (usually available)
- Available languages
## Download Strategy
### Option 1: Manual Subtitles (Preferred)
Try this first - highest quality, human-created:
```bash
yt-dlp --write-sub --skip-download --output "OUTPUT_NAME" "YOUTUBE_URL"
```
### Option 2: Auto-Generated Subtitles (Fallback)
If manual subtitles aren't available:
```bash
yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --skip-download --output "OUTPUT_NAME" "YOUTUBE_URL"
```
Both commands create a `.vtt` file (WebVTT subtitle format).
## Option 3: Whisper Transcription (Last Resort)
**ONLY use this if both manual and auto-generated subtitles are unavailable.**
### Step 1: Show File Size and Ask for Confirmation
```bash
# Get audio file size estimate
yt-dlp --print "%(filesize,filesize_approx)s" -f "bestaudio" "YOUTUBE_URL"
# Or get duration to estimate
yt-dlp --print "%(duration)s %(title)s" "YOUTUBE_URL"
```
**IMPORTANT**: Display the file size to the user and ask: "No subtitles are available. I can download the audio (approximately X MB) and transcribe it using Whisper. Would you like to proceed?"
**Wait for user confirmation before continuing.**
### Step 2: Check for Whisper Installation
```bash
command -v whisper
```
If not installed, ask user: "Whisper is not installed. Install it with `pip install openai-whisper` (requires ~1-3GB for models)? This is a one-time installation."
**Wait for user confirmation before installing.**
Install if approved:
```bash
pip3 install openai-whisper
```
### Step 3: Download Audio Only
```bash
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --output "audio_%(id)s.%(ext)s" "YOUTUBE_URL"
```
### Step 4: Transcribe with Whisper
```bash
# Auto-detect language (recommended)
whisper audio_VIDEO_ID.mp3 --model base --output_format vtt
# Or specify language if known
whisper audio_VIDEO_ID.mp3 --model base --language en --output_format vtt
```
**Model Options** (stick to `base` for now):
- `tiny` - fastest, least accurate (~1GB)
- `base` - good balance (~1GB) ← **USE THIS**
- `small` - better accuracy (~2GB)
- `medium` - very good (~5GB)
- `large` - best accuracy (~10GB)
### Step 5: Cleanup
After transcription completes, ask user: "Transcription complete! Would you like me to delete the audio file to save space?"
If yes:
```bash
rm audio_VIDEO_ID.mp3
```
## Getting Video Information
### Extract Video Title (for filename)
```bash
yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "YOUTUBE_URL"
```
Use this to create meaningful filenames based on the video title. Clean the title for filesystem compatibility:
- Replace `/` with `-`
- Replace special characters that might cause issues
- Consider using sanitized version: `$(yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "URL" | tr '/' '-' | tr ':' '-')`
## Post-Processing
### Convert to Plain Text (Recommended)
YouTube's auto-generated VTT files contain **duplicate lines** because captions are shown progressively with overlapping timestamps. Always deduplicate when converting to plain text while preserving the original speaking order.
```bash
python3 -c "
import sys, re
seen = set()
with open('transcript.en.vtt', 'r') as f:
for line in f:
line = line.strip()
if line and not line.startswith('WEBVTT') and not line.startswith('Kind:') and not line.startswith('Language:') and '-->' not in line:
clean = re.sub('<[^>]*>', '', line)
clean = clean.replace('&amp;', '&').replace('&gt;', '>').replace('&lt;', '<')
if clean and clean not in seen:
print(clean)
seen.add(clean)
" > transcript.txt
```
### Complete Post-Processing with Video Title
```bash
# Get video title
VIDEO_TITLE=$(yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "YOUTUBE_URL" | tr '/' '_' | tr ':' '-' | tr '?' '' | tr '"' '')
# Find the VTT file
VTT_FILE=$(ls *.vtt | head -n 1)
# Convert with deduplication
python3 -c "
import sys, re
seen = set()
with open('$VTT_FILE', 'r') as f:
for line in f:
line = line.strip()
if line and not line.startswith('WEBVTT') and not line.startswith('Kind:') and not line.startswith('Language:') and '-->' not in line:
clean = re.sub('<[^>]*>', '', line)
clean = clean.replace('&amp;', '&').replace('&gt;', '>').replace('&lt;', '<')
if clean and clean not in seen:
print(clean)
seen.add(clean)
" > "${VIDEO_TITLE}.txt"
echo "✓ Saved to: ${VIDEO_TITLE}.txt"
# Clean up VTT file
rm "$VTT_FILE"
echo "✓ Cleaned up temporary VTT file"
```
## Output Formats
- **VTT format** (`.vtt`): Includes timestamps and formatting, good for video players
- **Plain text** (`.txt`): Just the text content, good for reading or analysis
## Tips
- The filename will be `{output_name}.{language_code}.vtt` (e.g., `transcript.en.vtt`)
- Most YouTube videos have auto-generated English subtitles
- Some videos may have multiple language options
- If auto-subtitles aren't available, try `--write-sub` instead for manual subtitles
## Complete Workflow Example
```bash
VIDEO_URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
# Get video title for filename
VIDEO_TITLE=$(yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "$VIDEO_URL" | tr '/' '_' | tr ':' '-' | tr '?' '' | tr '"' '')
OUTPUT_NAME="transcript_temp"
# ============================================
# STEP 1: Check if yt-dlp is installed
# ============================================
if ! command -v yt-dlp &> /dev/null; then
echo "yt-dlp not found, attempting to install..."
if command -v brew &> /dev/null; then
brew install yt-dlp
elif command -v apt &> /dev/null; then
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y yt-dlp
else
pip3 install yt-dlp
fi
fi
# ============================================
# STEP 2: List available subtitles
# ============================================
echo "Checking available subtitles..."
yt-dlp --list-subs "$VIDEO_URL"
# ============================================
# STEP 3: Try manual subtitles first
# ============================================
echo "Attempting to download manual subtitles..."
if yt-dlp --write-sub --skip-download --output "$OUTPUT_NAME" "$VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null; then
echo "✓ Manual subtitles downloaded successfully!"
ls -lh ${OUTPUT_NAME}.*
else
# ============================================
# STEP 4: Fallback to auto-generated
# ============================================
echo "Manual subtitles not available. Trying auto-generated..."
if yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --skip-download --output "$OUTPUT_NAME" "$VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null; then
echo "✓ Auto-generated subtitles downloaded successfully!"
ls -lh ${OUTPUT_NAME}.*
else
# ============================================
# STEP 5: Last resort - Whisper transcription
# ============================================
echo "⚠ No subtitles available for this video."
# Get file size
FILE_SIZE=$(yt-dlp --print "%(filesize_approx)s" -f "bestaudio" "$VIDEO_URL")
DURATION=$(yt-dlp --print "%(duration)s" "$VIDEO_URL")
TITLE=$(yt-dlp --print "%(title)s" "$VIDEO_URL")
echo "Video: $TITLE"
echo "Duration: $((DURATION / 60)) minutes"
echo "Audio size: ~$((FILE_SIZE / 1024 / 1024)) MB"
echo ""
echo "Would you like to download and transcribe with Whisper? (y/n)"
read -r RESPONSE
if [[ "$RESPONSE" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
# Check for Whisper
if ! command -v whisper &> /dev/null; then
echo "Whisper not installed. Install now? (requires ~1-3GB) (y/n)"
read -r INSTALL_RESPONSE
if [[ "$INSTALL_RESPONSE" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
pip3 install openai-whisper
else
echo "Cannot proceed without Whisper. Exiting."
exit 1
fi
fi
# Download audio
echo "Downloading audio..."
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --output "audio_%(id)s.%(ext)s" "$VIDEO_URL"
# Get the actual audio filename
AUDIO_FILE=$(ls audio_*.mp3 | head -n 1)
# Transcribe
echo "Transcribing with Whisper (this may take a few minutes)..."
whisper "$AUDIO_FILE" --model base --output_format vtt
# Cleanup
echo "Transcription complete! Delete audio file? (y/n)"
read -r CLEANUP_RESPONSE
if [[ "$CLEANUP_RESPONSE" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
rm "$AUDIO_FILE"
echo "Audio file deleted."
fi
ls -lh *.vtt
else
echo "Transcription cancelled."
exit 0
fi
fi
fi
# ============================================
# STEP 6: Convert to readable plain text with deduplication
# ============================================
VTT_FILE=$(ls ${OUTPUT_NAME}*.vtt 2>/dev/null || ls *.vtt | head -n 1)
if [ -f "$VTT_FILE" ]; then
echo "Converting to readable format and removing duplicates..."
python3 -c "
import sys, re
seen = set()
with open('$VTT_FILE', 'r') as f:
for line in f:
line = line.strip()
if line and not line.startswith('WEBVTT') and not line.startswith('Kind:') and not line.startswith('Language:') and '-->' not in line:
clean = re.sub('<[^>]*>', '', line)
clean = clean.replace('&amp;', '&').replace('&gt;', '>').replace('&lt;', '<')
if clean and clean not in seen:
print(clean)
seen.add(clean)
" > "${VIDEO_TITLE}.txt"
echo "✓ Saved to: ${VIDEO_TITLE}.txt"
# Clean up temporary VTT file
rm "$VTT_FILE"
echo "✓ Cleaned up temporary VTT file"
else
echo "⚠ No VTT file found to convert"
fi
echo "✓ Complete!"
```
**Note**: This complete workflow handles all scenarios with proper error checking and user prompts at each decision point.
## Error Handling
### Common Issues and Solutions:
**1. yt-dlp not installed**
- Attempt automatic installation based on system (Homebrew/apt/pip)
- If installation fails, provide manual installation link
- Verify installation before proceeding
**2. No subtitles available**
- List available subtitles first to confirm
- Try both `--write-sub` and `--write-auto-sub`
- If both fail, offer Whisper transcription option
- Show file size and ask for user confirmation before downloading audio
**3. Invalid or private video**
- Check if URL is correct format: `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID`
- Some videos may be private, age-restricted, or geo-blocked
- Inform user of the specific error from yt-dlp
**4. Whisper installation fails**
- May require system dependencies (ffmpeg, rust)
- Provide fallback: "Install manually with: `pip3 install openai-whisper`"
- Check available disk space (models require 1-10GB depending on size)
**5. Download interrupted or failed**
- Check internet connection
- Verify sufficient disk space
- Try again with `--no-check-certificate` if SSL issues occur
**6. Multiple subtitle languages**
- By default, yt-dlp downloads all available languages
- Can specify with `--sub-langs en` for English only
- List available with `--list-subs` first
### Best Practices:
- ✅ Always check what's available before attempting download (`--list-subs`)
- ✅ Verify success at each step before proceeding to next
- ✅ Ask user before large downloads (audio files, Whisper models)
- ✅ Clean up temporary files after processing
- ✅ Provide clear feedback about what's happening at each stage
- ✅ Handle errors gracefully with helpful messages
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