- name
- youtube-transcript-generator
- description
- Download and generate clean, readable transcripts from any YouTube video. Extracts subtitles (auto-generated or manual), removes timestamps and formatting, and outputs a clean paragraph-style transcript. Use when asked to transcribe, get transcript, or extract text from a YouTube video.
YouTube Transcript Generator
Download clean transcripts from any YouTube video URL.
Requirements
yt-dlpmust be installed (brew install yt-dlporpip install yt-dlp)
Usage
Run the bundled script with a YouTube URL:
bash scripts/get_transcript.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"The script will:
- Try to download English manual subtitles first
- Fall back to auto-generated English subtitles
- Try all available languages if English is unavailable
- Clean the raw subtitle file into readable paragraphs
- Output the transcript to stdout and save to
transcript_VIDEO_ID.txt
Options
# Save to a specific file
bash scripts/get_transcript.sh "URL" output.txt
# Get transcript WITH timestamps (default: without)
bash scripts/get_transcript.sh "URL" output.txt en timestamps
# Get transcript in a specific language
bash scripts/get_transcript.sh "URL" output.txt frHow It Works
yt-dlpdownloads the subtitle track (VTT/SRT format)- The script strips HTML tags and duplicate lines
- Without timestamps (default): merges into clean, readable paragraphs
- With timestamps: preserves
[HH:MM:SS]markers before each line for easy reference
Example Output
Input: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMTxOecbyPg
Output:
How OpenClaw Runs My Entire Business. I record a podcast episode and that is
literally the only thing I do. Everything else is handled by 13 AI agents
running on a Mac Mini in my office...Troubleshooting
- No subtitles found: Not all videos have subtitles. The script will report which languages are available.
- yt-dlp not found: Install with
brew install yt-dlp(macOS) orpip install yt-dlp. - Rate limited: Wait a moment and retry. YouTube occasionally throttles subtitle requests.
Links
- Full guides and templates: OpenClaw Lab
- Free OpenClaw installer: installopenclawnow.com
- Community: OpenClaw Lab on Skool