SKILL.md

name: youtube-transcribe description: Use when "youtube transcript", "extract subtitles", "video captions", "get transcript", "video to text" version: 1.0.0

YouTube Transcript Extraction

Extract subtitles and transcripts from YouTube videos.

Methods

Method	Tool	When to Use
CLI	yt-dlp	Fast, reliable, preferred
Browser	Chrome automation	Fallback when CLI fails
API	youtube-transcript-api	Python programmatic access

yt-dlp Method (Preferred)

Basic Command

yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --write-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" "VIDEO_URL"

Key Flags

Flag	Purpose
`--write-sub`	Download manual subtitles
`--write-auto-sub`	Download auto-generated subtitles
`--sub-lang LANG`	Specify language (en, zh-Hans, etc.)
`--skip-download`	Don't download video
`--cookies-from-browser chrome`	Use browser cookies for restricted videos

Common Issues

Issue	Solution
Sign-in required	Add `--cookies-from-browser chrome`
No subtitles found	Video has no captions available
Age-restricted	Use cookies from logged-in browser

Browser Automation Fallback

When CLI fails, use browser automation:

Open video page - Navigate to YouTube URL
Expand description - Click "...more" button
Open transcript - Click "Show transcript" button
Extract text - Query DOM for transcript segments

DOM Selectors

Element	Selector
Transcript segments	`ytd-transcript-segment-renderer`
Timestamp	`.segment-timestamp`
Text	`.segment-text`

Output Formats

Format	Extension	Use Case
VTT	.vtt	Web standard, includes timing
SRT	.srt	Video editing, media players
TXT	.txt	Plain text, no timing

Convert VTT to Plain Text

# Strip timing and formatting
sed '/^[0-9]/d; /^$/d; /WEBVTT/d; /-->/d' video.vtt > video.txt

Language Codes

Language	Code
English	`en`
Chinese (Simplified)	`zh-Hans`
Chinese (Traditional)	`zh-Hant`
Spanish	`es`
Multiple	`en,es,zh-Hans`

Best Practices

Practice	Why
Try manual subs first	Higher quality than auto-generated
Use cookies for restricted	Avoids sign-in errors
Check multiple languages	Some videos have better subs in other languages
Verify transcript exists	Not all videos have captions

Score

Total Score

50/100

Based on repository quality metrics

✓SKILL.md

SKILL.mdファイルが含まれている

+20

○LICENSE

ライセンスが設定されている

0/10

○説明文

100文字以上の説明がある

0/10

○人気

GitHub Stars 100以上

0/15

○最近の活動

3ヶ月以内に更新がある

0/10

○フォーク

10回以上フォークされている

0/5

✓Issue管理

オープンIssueが50未満

+5

✓言語

プログラミング言語が設定されている

+5

○タグ

1つ以上のタグが設定されている

0/5

Reviews

💬

Reviews coming soon