# Watch Video

When you want to extract content from a video, YouTube, Loom, Vimeo, Riverside, Zoom...

- Repository: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/makerskills (880 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-26
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill watch-video -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill watch-video -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill watch-video -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill watch-video -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/makerskills`

## Description

When you want to extract content from a video, YouTube, Loom, Vimeo, Riverside, Zoom recording, local MP4, X/IG video, anything yt-dlp supports. Three depth modes user picks per invocation, transcript (just words, fast/free), visual (transcript + ffmpeg frame extraction + Claude vision pass on key moments), multimodal (Gemini native video ingestion if $GEMINI_API_KEY set, else dense Claude vision). Uses local Whisper for transcription (MLX-Whisper on Apple Silicon, faster-whisper elsewhere), falls back to platform-provided transcripts when available (Loom, Riverside, YouTube auto-subs). Saves to ~/Documents/videos/<source>-<slug>-<date>/ and optionally captures summary to second-brain raw/ as call-/meeting-/note-. Triggers on "/watch-video <url>," "watch this video," "transcribe this loom," "analyze this video," "summarize this recording," "key moments from this," "what happened in this video." For a post's text and engagement, use social-fetch.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# /watch-video, Transcribe and analyze any video at the depth you choose

Replaces and broadens the prior `youtube-transcript` skill. YouTube is now one of many sources; depth is user-controlled.

## Step 1, Parse input

Accept:
- **YouTube**: full URL, `youtu.be/<id>`, `youtube.com/shorts/<id>`, raw 11-char ID
- **Loom**: `loom.com/share/<id>` or `loom.com/embed/<id>`
- **Vimeo**: `vimeo.com/<id>`
- **Riverside**: download URL or local file
- **Zoom**: local `.mp4` from a downloaded recording
- **X / IG / TikTok video**: URL, defers to `social-fetch` for metadata, uses yt-dlp for the file
- **Local file**: any path to an `.mp4` / `.mov` / `.webm` / `.mkv`

Detect source from URL pattern or file extension. If ambiguous, ask.

## Step 2, Parse depth mode

| Invocation | Mode | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| `/watch-video <url>` | **transcript** (default) | Clean text, metadata, optional chapters |
| `/watch-video <url> transcript` | transcript | Same as default |
| `/watch-video <url> visual` | visual | Transcript + frames at intervals + Claude vision pass identifying key moments |
| `/watch-video <url> multimodal` | multimodal | Native video to Gemini (if `$GEMINI_API_KEY`), else dense Claude vision frame-by-frame |

If the depth isn't specified and the video is >10 minutes, ask before defaulting (visual/multimodal cost real money on long videos).

## Step 3, Pull metadata

For URL sources, use yt-dlp:

```bash
yt-dlp --print "%(title)s|%(uploader)s|%(duration_string)s|%(upload_date>%Y-%m-%d)s|%(description)s" \
  --print "%(chapters)j" --skip-download "<url>"
```

Capture: title, uploader/channel, duration, upload date, description (first paragraph), chapters (JSON or null).

For local files, use ffprobe:

```bash
ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 "<file>"
```

## Step 4, Build workdir

```
~/Documents/videos/<source>-<slug>-<date>/
```

The rest: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/makerskills/blob/HEAD/skills/watch-video/SKILL.md