video-transcript

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Extract video transcripts: yt-dlp subtitles to clean paragraphs.

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How to use this skill

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I want to install this Agent Skill for this project in Codex.

Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/blob/HEAD/skills/bash/video-transcript/SKILL.md

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First, summarize what it does, its dependencies, license status if identifiable, and any risks. Show the exact files you propose to add under .agents/skills/video-transcript/. Do not write files or run scripts until I approve.

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Video Transcript

Pull a video's transcript as readable paragraphs. Two paths, in order:

Path 1 — uploader subtitles (accurate, prefer when present):

yt-dlp --skip-download --write-subs --sub-langs en --sub-format vtt \
  -o '<work-dir>/%(id)s' '<URL>'

Path 2 — auto-generated captions (fallback when path 1 writes no file):

yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-subs --sub-langs en --sub-format vtt \
  -o '<work-dir>/%(id)s' '<URL>'

Then clean the VTT into paragraphs:

python3 skills/research/video-transcript/scripts/vtt_to_paragraph.py <work-dir>/<id>.en.vtt

Default output is plain paragraph text with [Music]-style cues stripped and the rolling duplicates of auto-captions deduplicated. Use --timestamps for [mm:ss] markers, --keep-brackets to keep cue tags, -o FILE to write to a file.

For other languages, change --sub-langs (e.g. de, en.*). List what a video offers with yt-dlp --list-subs '<URL>'.

Error handling

Both paths write no .vtt file

Cause: video has no subtitles or captions in the requested language. Solution: run yt-dlp --list-subs '<URL>' and pick an available language; if none exist, report that and offer audio transcription via the markdown-converter skill on a downloaded audio file.

HTTP 429 / "Sign in to confirm"

Cause: platform rate-limiting the host. Solution: wait and retry with --sleep-requests 2; keep request volume low.

Cleaner output repeats lines

Cause: VTT came from a third path (e.g. translated captions) with cue formats the dedupe misses. Solution: rerun the cleaner; if repeats remain, file the sample VTT alongside a fix to vtt_to_paragraph.py.

Other versions