Video Transcript

Video Transcript

Extract transcripts from videos via [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com).

Setup

If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, help the user create an account (100 free credits, no card):

Step 1 — Register: Ask user for their email.

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js register --email USER_EMAIL

→ OTP sent to email. Ask user: _"Check your email for a 6-digit verification code."_

Step 2 — Verify: Once user provides the OTP:

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js verify --token TOKEN_FROM_STEP_1 --otp CODE

> API key saved to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. See File Writes below for details. Existing file is backed up before modification.

Manual option: [transcriptapi.com/signup](https://transcriptapi.com/signup) → Dashboard → API Keys.

File Writes

The verify and save-key commands save the API key to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (sets skills.entries.transcriptapi.apiKey and enabled: true). Existing file is backed up to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak before modification.

To use the API key in terminal/CLI outside the agent, add to your shell profile manually:

export TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY=<your-key>

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

| Param | Required | Default | Values |

| ------------------- | -------- | ------- | -------------------------------------- |

| video_url | yes | — | YouTube URL or 11-char video ID |

| format | no | json | json (structured), text (readable) |

| include_timestamp | no | true | true, false |

| send_metadata | no | false | true, false |

Accepted URL formats:

• -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• -https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
• -https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
• -Bare video ID: dQw4w9WgXcQ

Response (format=text&send_metadata=true):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": "[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love\n[00:00:21] You know the rules...",
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "author_name": "Rick Astley",
    "author_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley",
    "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"
  }
}

Response (format=json):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 },
    { "text": "You know the rules and so do I", "start": 21.5, "duration": 2.8 }
  ]
}

Tips

• -Summarize long transcripts into key points first, offer full text on request.
• -Use format=json when you need precise timestamps for quoting specific moments.
• -Use send_metadata=true to get video title and channel for context.
• -Works with YouTube Shorts too.

Errors

| Code | Meaning | Action |

| ---- | ------------- | ----------------------------------- |

| 401 | Bad API key | Check key or re-setup |

| 402 | No credits | Top up at transcriptapi.com/billing |

| 404 | No transcript | Video may not have captions enabled |

| 408 | Timeout | Retry once after 2s |

1 credit per successful request. Errors don't consume credits. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.