Captions
Use when captions, subtitles, or the spoken text of a YouTube video is needed, even if...
Install
npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill captions -g -a claude-code -y- Repository
- ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills1.2k
- Category
- Design
- Updated
- 8d ago
- License
- MIT
- Context cost
- Lightabout 744 tokens
- Runs scripts
- No, instructions only
What it does
Use when captions, subtitles, or the spoken text of a YouTube video is needed, even if not explicitly requested: pasted video links or IDs, requests to read, quote, or translate a video, accessibility needs, deaf/HoH use cases, content review, or language learning. Fetches timestamped caption data from any YouTube video. Not for uploading subtitles or account management.
Captions
Extract closed captions from YouTube videos 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=json&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 video ID |
format | no | json | json (structured), text (plain) |
include_timestamp | no | true | true, false |
send_metadata | no | false | true, false |
Response (format=json, best for accessibility/timing):
{
"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": "...", "author_name": "...", "thumbnail_url": "..." }
}
start: seconds from video startduration: how long caption is displayed
Response (format=text, readable):
