🎁 Get the FREE AI Skills Starter Guide β€” Subscribe β†’
BytesAgainBytesAgain
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

youtube copy of yt

by @inaor

Fetch YouTube video transcripts via APIFY API using residential proxies to bypass bot detection, supporting text and JSON output formats.

Versionv1.0.0
Downloads2,089
Stars⭐ 1
TERMINAL
clawhub install some-other-youtube

πŸ“– About This Skill

youtube-apify-transcript

Fetch YouTube transcripts via APIFY API (works from cloud IPs, bypasses YouTube bot detection).

Why APIFY?

YouTube blocks transcript requests from cloud IPs (AWS, GCP, etc.). APIFY runs the request through residential proxies, bypassing bot detection reliably.

Free Tier

  • $5/month free credits (~714 videos)
  • No credit card required
  • Perfect for personal use
  • Cost

  • $0.007 per video (less than 1 cent!)
  • Track usage at: https://console.apify.com/billing
  • Links

  • πŸ”— APIFY Pricing
  • πŸ”‘ Get API Key
  • 🎬 YouTube Transcripts Actor
  • Setup

    1. Create free APIFY account: https://apify.com/ 2. Get your API token: https://console.apify.com/account/integrations 3. Set environment variable:

    # Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
    export APIFY_API_TOKEN="apify_api_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"

    Or use .env file (never commit this!)

    echo 'APIFY_API_TOKEN=apify_api_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE' >> .env

    Usage

    Basic Usage

    # Get transcript as text
    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

    Short URL also works

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID"

    Options

    # Output to file
    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --output transcript.txt

    JSON format (includes timestamps)

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --json

    Both: JSON to file

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --json --output transcript.json

    Specify language preference

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --lang de

    Output Formats

    Text (default):

    Hello and welcome to this video.
    Today we're going to talk about...
    

    JSON (--json):

    {
      "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
      "title": "Video Title",
      "transcript": [
        {"start": 0.0, "duration": 2.5, "text": "Hello and welcome"},
        {"start": 2.5, "duration": 3.0, "text": "to this video"}
      ],
      "full_text": "Hello and welcome to this video..."
    }
    

    Error Handling

    The script handles common errors:

  • Invalid YouTube URL
  • Video has no transcript
  • API quota exceeded
  • Network errors
  • Metadata

    metadata:
      clawdbot:
        emoji: "πŸ“Ή"
        requires:
          env: ["APIFY_API_TOKEN"]
          bins: ["python3"]
    

    πŸ’‘ Examples

    Basic Usage

    # Get transcript as text
    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

    Short URL also works

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID"

    Options

    # Output to file
    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --output transcript.txt

    JSON format (includes timestamps)

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --json

    Both: JSON to file

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --json --output transcript.json

    Specify language preference

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --lang de

    Output Formats

    Text (default):

    Hello and welcome to this video.
    Today we're going to talk about...
    

    JSON (--json):

    {
      "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
      "title": "Video Title",
      "transcript": [
        {"start": 0.0, "duration": 2.5, "text": "Hello and welcome"},
        {"start": 2.5, "duration": 3.0, "text": "to this video"}
      ],
      "full_text": "Hello and welcome to this video..."
    }
    

    βš™οΈ Configuration

    # Output to file
    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --output transcript.txt

    JSON format (includes timestamps)

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --json

    Both: JSON to file

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --json --output transcript.json

    Specify language preference

    python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --lang de

    Output Formats

    Text (default):

    Hello and welcome to this video.
    Today we're going to talk about...
    

    JSON (--json):

    {
      "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
      "title": "Video Title",
      "transcript": [
        {"start": 0.0, "duration": 2.5, "text": "Hello and welcome"},
        {"start": 2.5, "duration": 3.0, "text": "to this video"}
      ],
      "full_text": "Hello and welcome to this video..."
    }