- name
- transcript
- description
- Use when the spoken content of a YouTube video is needed — even if not explicitly requested: pasted video links or IDs, requests to summarize, quote, transcribe, translate, fact-check, or extract anything from a video. Also use for research or learning when a video is the source. Not for uploads or account management.
- version
- 1.5.0
- user-invocable
- true
- compatibility
- Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.
- required_environment_variables
- prompt
- Your TranscriptAPI key (starts with sk_)
- help
- Free account at https://transcriptapi.com — 100 credits, no card required. Or let the agent create one for you.
- required_for
- all API requests
- metadata
- {"openclaw":{"emoji":"📝","requires":{"env":["TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"]},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","homepage":"https://transcriptapi.com"},"hermes":{"tags":["youtube","transcripts","video","captions","summarization","research","translation"],"category":"media"}}
Transcript
Fetch video transcripts via TranscriptAPI.com.
Setup
If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, read references/auth-setup.md and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.
Required Headers
Every request needs two headers:
- Authorization:
Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY - User-Agent: your agent's name and version if known (e.g.
HermesAgent/0.11.0,ClaudeCode/1.0). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.
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" \
-H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"| Param | Required | Default | Values |
|---|---|---|---|
video_url | yes | — | YouTube URL or 11-char video ID |
format | no | json | json, text |
include_timestamp | no | true | true, false |
send_metadata | no | false | true, false |
Accepts: full URLs (youtube.com/watch?v=ID), short URLs (youtu.be/ID), shorts (youtube.com/shorts/ID), or bare video IDs.
Default: Always use format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true unless user specifies otherwise.
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 }
],
"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=text):
{
"video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"language": "en",
"transcript": "[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love\
[00:00:21] You know the rules...",
"metadata": {...}
}Errors
| Code | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 401 | Bad API key | Check key or re-setup |
| 402 | No credits | Top up at transcriptapi.com/billing |
| 403/1010 | Cloudflare block | Add or fix User-Agent header |
| 404 | No transcript | Video may not have captions enabled |
| 408 | Timeout | Retry once after 2s |
| 429 | Rate limited | Wait and retry |
Tips
- For long videos, summarize key points first, offer full transcript on request.
- Use
format=jsonwhen you need precise timestamps for quoting specific moments. - Use
include_timestamp=falsefor clean text suitable for translation or analysis. - 1 credit per successful request. Errors don't cost credits.
- Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.