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

YouTube Summarizer

by @abe238

Automatically fetch YouTube video transcripts, generate structured summaries, and send full transcripts to messaging platforms. Detects YouTube URLs and provides metadata, key insights, and downloadable transcripts.

Versionv1.0.0
Downloads8,035
Installs73
Stars⭐ 6
#clawhub
TERMINAL
clawhub install youtube-summarizer

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: youtube-summarizer description: Automatically fetch YouTube video transcripts, generate structured summaries, and send full transcripts to messaging platforms. Detects YouTube URLs and provides metadata, key insights, and downloadable transcripts. version: 1.0.0 author: abe238 tags: [youtube, transcription, summarization, video, telegram]

YouTube Summarizer Skill

Automatically fetch transcripts from YouTube videos, generate structured summaries, and deliver full transcripts to messaging platforms.

When to Use

Activate this skill when:

  • User shares a YouTube URL (youtube.com/watch, youtu.be, youtube.com/shorts)
  • User asks to summarize or transcribe a YouTube video
  • User requests information about a YouTube video's content

    • Dependencies

    Required: MCP YouTube Transcript server must be installed at: /root/clawd/mcp-server-youtube-transcript

    If not present, install it: 

    cd /root/clawd
git clone https://github.com/kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript.git
cd mcp-server-youtube-transcript
npm install && npm run build

    Workflow

    1. Detect YouTube URL

    Extract video ID from these patterns:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
  • https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
  • https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
  • Direct video ID: VIDEO_ID (11 characters)

    • 2. Fetch Transcript

    Run this command to get the transcript: 
    cd /root/clawd/mcp-server-youtube-transcript && node --input-type=module -e "
import { getSubtitles } from './dist/youtube-fetcher.js';
const result = await getSubtitles({ videoID: 'VIDEO_ID', lang: 'en' });
console.log(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2));
" > /tmp/yt-transcript.json

    Replace VIDEO_ID with the extracted ID. Read the output from /tmp/yt-transcript.json.

    3. Process the Data

    Parse the JSON to extract:

  • result.metadata.title - Video title
  • result.metadata.author - Channel name
  • result.metadata.viewCount - Formatted view count
  • result.metadata.publishDate - Publication date
  • result.actualLang - Language used
  • result.lines - Array of transcript segments

    • Full text: result.lines.map(l => l.text).join(' ')

    4. Generate Summary

    Create a structured summary using this template:

    πŸ“Ή Video: [title]
πŸ‘€ Channel: [author] | πŸ‘οΈ Views: [views] | πŸ“… Published: [date]
    🎯 Main Thesis:
[1-2 sentence core argument/message]
    πŸ’‘ Key Insights:

  • [insight 1]
    • 

  • [insight 2]
    • 

  • [insight 3]
    • 

  • [insight 4]
    • 

  • [insight 5]
    • πŸ“ Notable Points:

  • [additional point 1]
    • 

  • [additional point 2]
    • πŸ”‘ Takeaway:
[Practical application or conclusion]

    Aim for:

  • Main thesis: 1-2 sentences maximum
  • Key insights: 3-5 bullets, each 1-2 sentences
  • Notable points: 2-4 supporting details
  • Takeaway: Actionable conclusion

    • 5. Save Full Transcript

    Save the complete transcript to a timestamped file: 

    /root/clawd/transcripts/YYYY-MM-DD_VIDEO_ID.txt

    Include in the file:

  • Video metadata header
  • Full transcript text
  • URL reference

    • 6. Platform-Specific Delivery

    If channel is Telegram: 

    message --action send --channel telegram --target CHAT_ID \
  --filePath /root/clawd/transcripts/YYYY-MM-DD_VIDEO_ID.txt \
  --caption "πŸ“„ YouTube Transcript: [title]"

    If channel is other/webchat: Just reply with the summary (no file attachment).

    7. Reply with Summary

    Send the structured summary as your response to the user.

    Error Handling

    If transcript fetch fails:

  • Check if video has captions enabled
  • Try with lang: 'en' fallback if requested language unavailable
  • Inform user that transcript is not available and suggest alternatives:
    • - Manual YouTube transcript feature - Video may not have captions - Try a different video

    If MCP server not installed:

  • Provide installation instructions
  • Offer to install it automatically if in appropriate context

    • If video ID extraction fails:

  • Ask user to provide the full YouTube URL or video ID

    • Examples

    See examples/ directory for sample outputs.

    Quality Guidelines

  • Be concise: Summary should be scannable in 30 seconds
  • Be accurate: Don't add information not in the transcript
  • Be structured: Use consistent formatting for easy reading
  • Be contextual: Adjust detail level based on video length
    • - Short videos (<5 min): Brief summary - Long videos (>30 min): More detailed breakdown

    Notes

  • MCP server uses Android client emulation to bypass YouTube's cloud IP blocking
  • Works reliably from VPS/cloud environments where yt-dlp often fails
  • Supports multiple languages with automatic fallback to English
  • Transcript quality depends on YouTube's auto-generated captions or manual captions

    • ⚑ When to Use

    TriggerAction
    - User shares a YouTube URL (youtube.com/watch, youtu.be, youtube.com/shorts)
    - User asks to summarize or transcribe a YouTube video
    - User requests information about a YouTube video's content

    πŸ’‘ Examples

    See examples/ directory for sample outputs.

    πŸ“‹ Tips & Best Practices

  • MCP server uses Android client emulation to bypass YouTube's cloud IP blocking
  • Works reliably from VPS/cloud environments where yt-dlp often fails
  • Supports multiple languages with automatic fallback to English
  • Transcript quality depends on YouTube's auto-generated captions or manual captions