YouTube transcripts

Transcripts and subtitles for any YouTube video with captions, from YTAPI.

Setup

If YTAPI_API_KEY is not set, read references/auth-setup.md and follow it: the user either pastes a key or you create a free account with their email (200 credits, no card). Send the key as Authorization: Bearer $YTAPI_API_KEY and never print it.

Get a transcript (1 credit)

curl -s "https://api.ytapi.dev/v1/transcripts?video_id=VIDEO_ID_OR_URL&format=text" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $YTAPI_API_KEY"

Param	Default	Values
video_id	required	11-character ID or a YouTube URL
format	segments	text, markdown, segments (JSON with start/end seconds), sentences, srt, vtt, word_timestamps
languages	*	Comma-separated codes in order of preference; * is the video's own language. en,* = English if available, else the original
word_level	false	Word timings on auto-generated tracks (with format=word_timestamps)

• Use format=text or markdown to read, summarize or quote; segments when you need timestamps (link a moment as https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID?t=SECONDS); srt or vtt for subtitle files.
• Which languages exist, for free: GET /v1/videos/VIDEO_ID/basic-info (available_languages, each manual or asr).
• Long videos give long transcripts: save to a file and read it in parts.
• 404 language_not_found / captions_disabled: no captions in those languages, or none at all. Try languages=*.

Credits and errors

Only successful responses use credits; errors are free. New accounts get 200 free credits. Until a credit pack is bought, a key can make 1 request per second and 100 per day (UTC); 429 daily_limit_exceeded means that day's limit is used up (it resets at 00:00 UTC; any pack removes it). 402 insufficient_credits means the balance is empty: packs from $9 at https://ytapi.dev/?utm_source=skill#pricing. 401 means the key is missing or wrong.

For video details, search, channels, playlists and batches in one skill, install ytapi. Full reference: https://docs.ytapi.dev