yt-transcribe

by @mhagrelius in Development

# Install this skill:

npx skills add mhagrelius/dotfiles --skill "yt-transcribe"

Install specific skill from multi-skill repository

# Description

Use when user asks about YouTube video content, wants to know what a video says, needs information from a YouTube URL, or when video transcription would answer their question

# SKILL.md

name: yt-transcribe
description: Use when user asks about YouTube video content, wants to know what a video says, needs information from a YouTube URL, or when video transcription would answer their question

YouTube Video Transcription

Overview

Use yt-transcribe to get the actual spoken content from YouTube videos. Web search and fetch tools cannot access video content - they only see metadata.

When to Use

Use this skill when:
- User shares a YouTube URL and asks what it says/contains
- User wants information that likely exists in a video
- User asks "what does this video talk about?"
- You need to extract spoken content from YouTube

Do NOT use:
- For video metadata only (title, description) - web search is faster
- When user explicitly wants just the link, not content

Quick Reference

Flag	Purpose
`-q`	Required for LLMs - clean stdout, no progress noise
`-m tiny`	Faster transcription (less accurate)
`-m medium`	More accurate (slower, larger model)
`-o file`	Save to file instead of stdout
`-f srt/vtt`	Include timestamps

Core Pattern

# Standard usage for LLM consumption
yt-transcribe "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" -q

# Faster but less accurate
yt-transcribe "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" -q -m tiny

# With timestamps
yt-transcribe "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" -q -f srt

Always use -q flag - suppresses progress output, gives clean transcript to stdout.

Workflow

User provides YouTube URL or asks about video content
Run: yt-transcribe "URL" -q
Read and summarize the transcript for the user
Answer their specific question using the transcript content

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Trying WebFetch on YouTube URLs	YouTube blocks bots, use yt-transcribe
Forgetting `-q` flag	Progress output pollutes response, always use `-q`
Web searching for "what does video say"	Search finds metadata, not content - transcribe instead
Using without setup	Run `yt-transcribe --setup` first if binaries missing (exit code 5)

Exit Codes

0 - Success
5 - Binary not found (run --setup)
3 - Network error
4 - Transcription error

# Supported AI Coding Agents

This skill is compatible with the SKILL.md standard and works with all major AI coding agents:

⚡ Amp 🚀 Antigravity 🤖 Claude Code 🦀 Clawdbot 📝 Codex ▶️ Cursor 🤖 Droid 💎 Gemini CLI 🐙 GitHub Copilot 🪿 Goose 📊 Kilo Code 🔧 Kiro CLI 💻 OpenCode 🦘 Roo Code 🌲 Trae 🏄 Windsurf

Learn more about the SKILL.md standard and how to use these skills with your preferred AI coding agent.