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BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί Youtube Apify Transcript
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

Youtube Apify Transcript

by @robbyczgw-cla

Fetch YouTube transcripts via APIFY API. Works from cloud IPs (Hetzner, AWS, etc.) by bypassing YouTube's bot detection. Features local caching (FREE repeat...

Versionv1.3.3
Downloads4,446
Stars⭐ 5
#devops#writing#video#legal#communication
TERMINAL
clawhub install youtube-apify-transcript

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: youtube-apify-transcript version: 1.3.3 description: Fetch YouTube transcripts via APIFY API. Works from cloud IPs (Hetzner, AWS, etc.) by bypassing YouTube's bot detection. Features local caching (FREE repeat requests!) and batch mode. Requires APIFY_API_TOKEN and Python requests. No credit card required for the free tier. tags: [youtube, transcript, apify, video, subtitles, captions, cloud-ip, free-tier, web-scraping, caching, batch] metadata: {"openclaw":{"requires":{"bins":["python3"],"env":{"APIFY_API_TOKEN":"required","YT_TRANSCRIPT_CACHE_DIR":"optional - defaults to .cache/ in skill dir"}},"install":[{"id":"pip-requests","kind":"pip","package":"requests","bins":["python3"],"label":"Install Python requests"}]}}

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"
    Install Python dependency
    
pip install requests
    Or use .env file (never commit this!)
    
echo 'APIFY_API_TOKEN=apify_api_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE' >> .env

    Usage

    Basic Usage

    # Get transcript as text (uses cache by default)
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

    Caching (saves money!)

    Transcripts are cached locally by default. Repeat requests for the same video cost $0.

    # First request: fetches from APIFY ($0.007)
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL"
    Second request: uses cache (FREE!)
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL"

    Output: [cached] Transcript for: VIDEO_ID
    Bypass cache (force fresh fetch)
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --no-cache
    View cache stats
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --cache-stats
    Clear all cached transcripts
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --clear-cache

    Cache location: .cache/ in skill directory (override with YT_TRANSCRIPT_CACHE_DIR env var)

    Batch Mode

    Process multiple videos at once:

    # Create a file with URLs (one per line)
cat > urls.txt << EOF
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO1
https://youtu.be/VIDEO2
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO3
EOF
    Process all URLs
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --batch urls.txt
    Output: 
    

    [1/3] Fetching VIDEO1...
    

    [2/3] [cached] VIDEO2
    

    [3/3] Fetching VIDEO3...
    

    Batch complete: 2 fetched, 1 cached, 0 failed
    

    [Cost: ~$0.014 for 2 API call(s)]
    Batch with JSON output to file
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --batch urls.txt --json --output all_transcripts.json

    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..."
}

    Agent Instructions

    When the user asks to summarize a YouTube video, first fetch the transcript using the script, then summarize the transcript text directly using your own model capabilities. Do NOT use --summarize flag.

    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"]
      python:
        packages: ["requests"]

    πŸ’‘ Examples

    Basic Usage

    # Get transcript as text (uses cache by default)
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

    Caching (saves money!)

    Transcripts are cached locally by default. Repeat requests for the same video cost $0.

    # First request: fetches from APIFY ($0.007)
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL"
    Second request: uses cache (FREE!)
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL"

    Output: [cached] Transcript for: VIDEO_ID
    Bypass cache (force fresh fetch)
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --no-cache
    View cache stats
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --cache-stats
    Clear all cached transcripts
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --clear-cache

    Cache location: .cache/ in skill directory (override with YT_TRANSCRIPT_CACHE_DIR env var)

    Batch Mode

    Process multiple videos at once:

    # Create a file with URLs (one per line)
cat > urls.txt << EOF
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO1
https://youtu.be/VIDEO2
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO3
EOF
    Process all URLs
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --batch urls.txt
    Output: 
    

    [1/3] Fetching VIDEO1...
    

    [2/3] [cached] VIDEO2
    

    [3/3] Fetching VIDEO3...
    

    Batch complete: 2 fetched, 1 cached, 0 failed
    

    [Cost: ~$0.014 for 2 API call(s)]
    Batch with JSON output to file
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --batch urls.txt --json --output all_transcripts.json

    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

    Caching (saves money!)

    Transcripts are cached locally by default. Repeat requests for the same video cost $0.

    # First request: fetches from APIFY ($0.007)
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL"
    Second request: uses cache (FREE!)
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL"

    Output: [cached] Transcript for: VIDEO_ID
    Bypass cache (force fresh fetch)
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py "URL" --no-cache
    View cache stats
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --cache-stats
    Clear all cached transcripts
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --clear-cache

    Cache location: .cache/ in skill directory (override with YT_TRANSCRIPT_CACHE_DIR env var)

    Batch Mode

    Process multiple videos at once:

    # Create a file with URLs (one per line)
cat > urls.txt << EOF
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO1
https://youtu.be/VIDEO2
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO3
EOF
    Process all URLs
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --batch urls.txt
    Output: 
    

    [1/3] Fetching VIDEO1...
    

    [2/3] [cached] VIDEO2
    

    [3/3] Fetching VIDEO3...
    

    Batch complete: 2 fetched, 1 cached, 0 failed
    

    [Cost: ~$0.014 for 2 API call(s)]
    Batch with JSON output to file
    
python3 scripts/fetch_transcript.py --batch urls.txt --json --output all_transcripts.json

    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..."
}