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BytesAgainBytesAgain
BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί youtube
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

youtube

by @tobeyrebecca

Search YouTube videos, get channel info, fetch video details and transcripts using SkillBoss API Hub or yt-dlp fallback.

Versionv1.0.0
Downloads316
#writing#video#legal#communication
TERMINAL
clawhub install godfery-yt

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: youtube description: Search YouTube videos, get channel info, fetch video details and transcripts using SkillBoss API Hub or yt-dlp fallback. metadata: {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"πŸ“Ή","requires":{"bins":["yt-dlp"],"npm":["zubeid-youtube-mcp-server"]},"primaryEnv":"SKILLBOSS_API_KEY"}}

YouTube Research & Transcription

Search YouTube, get video/channel info, and fetch transcripts via SkillBoss API Hub.

Features

  • πŸ“Ή Video details (title, description, stats, publish date)
  • πŸ“ Transcripts with timestamps
  • πŸ“Ί Channel info and recent videos
  • πŸ” Search within YouTube
  • 🎬 Playlist info

    • Setup

    1. Install dependencies

    MCP Server (primary method): 

    npm install -g zubeid-youtube-mcp-server

    Fallback tool (if MCP fails): 

    # yt-dlp for transcript extraction
pip install yt-dlp

    2. Get SkillBoss API Key

    1. Go to SkillBoss API Hub 2. Sign in and navigate to your API settings 3. Copy your API key from the dashboard

    3. Configure API Key

    Option A: Environment variable (recommended) 

    export SKILLBOSS_API_KEY="your-skillboss-api-key"

    Option B: Clawdbot config Add to ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json: 

    {
  "skills": {
    "entries": {
      "youtube": {
        "apiKey": "your-skillboss-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

    4. Setup MCP Server

    The skill will use mcporter to call the YouTube MCP server:

    # Build from source (if installed package has issues)
cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/ZubeidHendricks/youtube-mcp-server
cd youtube-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

    Usage

    Search Videos

    mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  search_videos query="ClawdBot AI" maxResults:5

    Returns video IDs, titles, descriptions, channel info.

    Get Channel Info

    mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  channels_info channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA"

    List Recent Videos from Channel

    mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  channels_listVideos channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA" maxResults:5

    Get Video Details

    mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  videos_details videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"

    Get Transcript (Primary)

    mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  transcripts_getTranscript videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"

    Get Transcript (Fallback with yt-dlp)

    If MCP transcript fails (empty or unavailable), use yt-dlp:

    yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --sub-format vtt \
  --output "/tmp/%(id)s.%(ext)s" \
  "https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FRe5AKmCU"

    Then read the .vtt file from /tmp/.

    Or get transcript directly: 

    yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --print "%(subtitles)s" \
  "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" 2>&1 | grep -A1000 "WEBVTT"

    Analyze Transcript with SkillBoss API Hub (LLM)

    After obtaining a transcript, use SkillBoss API Hub to analyze it:

    import requests, os
    SKILLBOSS_API_KEY = os.environ["SKILLBOSS_API_KEY"]
API_BASE = "https://api.skillbossai.com/v1"
    def pilot(body: dict) -> dict:
    r = requests.post(
        f"{API_BASE}/pilot",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {SKILLBOSS_API_KEY}", "Content-Type": "application/json"},
        json=body,
        timeout=60,
    )
    return r.json()
    Analyze transcript content
    
transcript_text = open("/tmp/VIDEO_ID.en.vtt").read()
result = pilot({
    "type": "chat",
    "inputs": {
        "messages": [
            {"role": "user", "content": f"Summarize the key points from this transcript:\n\n{transcript_text}"}
        ]
    },
    "prefer": "balanced"
})
summary = result["result"]["choices"][0]["message"]["content"]
print(summary)

    Common Workflows

    1. Find Latest Episode from a Podcast

    Example: Lex Fridman Podcast

    # Get channel ID (Lex Fridman: UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA)
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  channels_listVideos channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA" maxResults:1

    Returns most recent video with title, ID, publish date.

    2. Get Transcript for Research

    # Step 1: Get video ID from search or channel listing

    Step 2: Try MCP transcript first
    
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  transcripts_getTranscript videoId="VIDEO_ID"
    Step 3: If empty, fallback to yt-dlp
    
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en \
  --output "/tmp/%(id)s.%(ext)s" \
  "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
    cat /tmp/VIDEO_ID.en.vtt

    3. Search for Topics

    mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  search_videos query="Laravel AI productivity 2025" maxResults:10

    Filter results for relevant channels or dates.

    Channel IDs Reference

    Keep frequently used channels here for quick access:

  • Lex Fridman Podcast: UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA
  • Indie Hackers: (add when needed)
  • Laravel: (add when needed)

    • To find a channel ID: 1. Go to channel page 2. View page source 3. Search for "channelId": or "externalId"

    Or use search and extract from results.

    API Quota Limits

    YouTube Data API v3 has daily quotas:

  • Default: 10,000 units/day
  • Search: 100 units per call
  • Video details: 1 unit per call
  • Transcript: 0 units (uses separate mechanism)

    • Tip: Use transcript lookups liberally (no quota cost), be conservative with search.

    Troubleshooting

    MCP Server Not Working

    Symptom: Connection closed or SKILLBOSS_API_KEY environment variable is required

    Fix: Build from source: 

    cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/ZubeidHendricks/youtube-mcp-server
cd youtube-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build
    Test
    
SKILLBOSS_API_KEY="your_key" node dist/cli.js

    Empty Transcripts

    Symptom: Transcript returned but content is empty

    Cause: Video may not have captions, or MCP can't access them

    Fix: Use yt-dlp fallback (see above)

    yt-dlp Not Found

    pip install --user yt-dlp

    or
    
pipx install yt-dlp

    Security Note

    The SkillBoss API key is safe to use with this skill:

  • All authentication goes through SkillBoss API Hub (api.skillbossai.com)
  • Unified key management β€” no need to manage multiple third-party API keys
  • All network calls are routed via SkillBoss API Hub

    • However:

  • Keep the key in environment variables or Clawdbot config (not in code/scripts)
  • Don't commit the key to git repositories

    • Examples

    Research Podcast for LinkedIn Post Ideas

    # 1. Find latest Lex Fridman episode
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  channels_listVideos channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA" maxResults:1
    2. Get video details
    
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  videos_details videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
    3. Get transcript
    
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  transcripts_getTranscript videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
    If transcript empty, use yt-dlp
    
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en \
  --output "/tmp/%(id)s.%(ext)s" \
  "https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FRe5AKmCU"
    4. Analyze transcript for interesting topics via SkillBoss API Hub
    

    (read /tmp/Z-FRe5AKmCU.en.vtt and use pilot({type:"chat",...}) to extract key themes)

    Find Videos About a Trending Topic

    # Search for recent videos
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  search_videos query="ClawdBot security concerns" maxResults:10
    Pick relevant ones, get transcripts
    

    Analyze sentiment and technical claims via SkillBoss API Hub LLM

    Notes

  • MCP server path: /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js
  • Always pass API key via environment: SKILLBOSS_API_KEY="key" node ...
  • Or set globally in shell/Clawdbot config
  • Transcripts may be auto-generated (check accuracy for quotes)
  • yt-dlp can also download audio if you need it (--extract-audio --audio-format mp3)
  • LLM analysis of transcripts uses SkillBoss API Hub (https://api.skillbossai.com/v1/pilot), response at result.choices[0].message.content

    • πŸ’‘ Examples

    Research Podcast for LinkedIn Post Ideas

    # 1. Find latest Lex Fridman episode
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  channels_listVideos channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA" maxResults:1
    2. Get video details
    
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  videos_details videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
    3. Get transcript
    
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  transcripts_getTranscript videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
    If transcript empty, use yt-dlp
    
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en \
  --output "/tmp/%(id)s.%(ext)s" \
  "https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FRe5AKmCU"
    4. Analyze transcript for interesting topics via SkillBoss API Hub
    

    (read /tmp/Z-FRe5AKmCU.en.vtt and use pilot({type:"chat",...}) to extract key themes)

    Find Videos About a Trending Topic

    # Search for recent videos
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
  search_videos query="ClawdBot security concerns" maxResults:10
    Pick relevant ones, get transcripts
    

    Analyze sentiment and technical claims via SkillBoss API Hub LLM

    βš™οΈ Configuration

    1. Install dependencies

    MCP Server (primary method): 

    npm install -g zubeid-youtube-mcp-server

    Fallback tool (if MCP fails): 

    # yt-dlp for transcript extraction
pip install yt-dlp

    2. Get SkillBoss API Key

    1. Go to SkillBoss API Hub 2. Sign in and navigate to your API settings 3. Copy your API key from the dashboard

    3. Configure API Key

    Option A: Environment variable (recommended) 

    export SKILLBOSS_API_KEY="your-skillboss-api-key"

    Option B: Clawdbot config Add to ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json: 

    {
  "skills": {
    "entries": {
      "youtube": {
        "apiKey": "your-skillboss-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

    4. Setup MCP Server

    The skill will use mcporter to call the YouTube MCP server:

    # Build from source (if installed package has issues)
cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/ZubeidHendricks/youtube-mcp-server
cd youtube-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

    πŸ“‹ Tips & Best Practices

  • MCP server path: /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js
  • Always pass API key via environment: SKILLBOSS_API_KEY="key" node ...
  • Or set globally in shell/Clawdbot config
  • Transcripts may be auto-generated (check accuracy for quotes)
  • yt-dlp can also download audio if you need it (--extract-audio --audio-format mp3)
  • LLM analysis of transcripts uses SkillBoss API Hub (https://api.skillbossai.com/v1/pilot), response at result.choices[0].message.content