Get YouTube transcripts, search videos, browse channels, and extract playlists, from any AI agent. YouTube Skills gives your AI agent instant access to YouTube transcripts, video search, channel data, and playlist extraction.
Claude Code
$ npx -y skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --agent claude-code
Codex
$ npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills -a codex
Cursor
$ npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills -a cursor
Gemini CLI
$ npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills -a gemini-cli
GitHub Copilot
$ npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills -a github-copilot
OpenCode
$ npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills -a opencode
Windsurf
$ npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills -a windsurf
Get YouTube transcripts, search videos, browse channels, and extract playlists — from any AI agent.
YouTube Skills gives your AI agent instant access to YouTube transcripts, video search, channel data, and playlist extraction. No yt-dlp (YouTube blocks all major cloud IPs), no headless browsers, no binaries — just a fast API call that works everywhere. Powered by TranscriptAPI, the same backend behind YouTubeToTranscript.com.
Works with 🦞 OpenClaw (ClawdBot/Moltbot), 
Hermes Agent, Claude Code, Cursor, Antigravity, and any agent that supports the Agent Skills format.
Free tier · No credit card · 100 credits on signup
TranscriptAPI.com · MCP Server · Docs
Most users want youtube-full — it covers transcripts, search, channels, and playlists in one skill.
🦞 OpenClaw (ClawdBot/Moltbot):
npx clawhub@latest install youtube-full
Hermes Agent:
hermes skills install skills-sh/ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills/skills/youtube-full
Claude Code / Cursor / Antigravity / Cline / Codex:
npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill youtube-full
All 12 skills at once:
npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills
Manual (git clone):
git clone https://github.com/ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills.git
cp -r youtube-skills/skills/youtube-full ~/.claude/skills/
Not a developer? Just paste this prompt into 🦞 OpenClaw,
Install the youtube skills from this GitHub repo: https://github.com/ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills I want to be able to get YouTube transcripts, search YouTube, and browse channel videos from my agent. Set everything up for me.The agent will handle the rest.
Just install and ask. No config, no code — talk to your agent in plain English.
| Task | Example Prompt |
|---|---|
| Get a YouTube transcript | "Summarize this video: [URL]" |
| Search YouTube | "Find videos about machine learning" |
| Browse a channel | "What has TED posted this week?" |
| Get playlist contents | "List all videos in this playlist" |
| Extract video captions | "Get captions from this video in Spanish" |
| Bulk transcripts | "Get transcripts for every video in this channel" |
| Research a topic | "Find and summarize the top 5 videos about quantum computing" |
| Get latest uploads | "Show me NASA's recent videos" |
| Search within a channel | "Search the TED channel for 'artificial intelligence'" |
When you install a skill and run your agent for the first time, the agent will set up your free API key automatically. Here's what happens:
That's it. 100 free credits, no credit card required.
Manual setup (if you prefer to do it yourself)
Sign up at transcriptapi.com — free, no credit card required
Copy your API key from the dashboard (starts with sk_)
Ask your agent to store it for you:
"My TranscriptAPI key is
sk_...— store it so it persists across sessions."
Or set it yourself as an environment variable:
export TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY="sk_your_key_here"
Where does the key get saved?
Your agent stores the API key here (depends on the runtime):
| Location | File |
|---|---|
| OpenClaw/Moltbot | ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json or ~/.clawdbot/moltbot.json |
| Hermes Agent | Hermes secret store (TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY declared via required_environment_variables in skill frontmatter) |
| macOS shell | ~/.zshenv, ~/.zprofile |
| Linux shell | ~/.profile, ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshenv |
| Fish shell | ~/.config/fish/config.fish |
| Fallback | ~/.transcriptapi (mode 600) |
Your agent picks it up automatically after saving.
youtube-full is the recommended skill for most users. It includes everything: transcripts, search, channels, playlists.
If you prefer smaller, focused skills (smaller context = better agent performance for specific tasks), pick what you need:
| Skill | What It Does | Install |
|---|---|---|
| youtube-full | Everything — transcripts, search, channels, playlists | --skill youtube-full |
| transcript | Get video transcripts with timestamps | --skill transcript |
| youtube-search | Search YouTube for videos and channels | --skill youtube-search |
| youtube-channels | Browse uploads, get latest videos, resolve @handles | --skill youtube-channels |
| youtube-playlist | Extract all videos from a playlist | --skill youtube-playlist |
# Install a specific skill
npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill transcript
# Install multiple specific skills
npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills --skill transcript --skill youtube-search
All 12 skills
We ship 12 skills total. Many are narrower variants or aliases of the core 5 above — so your agent can find the right skill regardless of how you phrase your request.
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| youtube-full | Complete YouTube toolkit — transcripts + search + channels + playlists |
| transcript | Extract transcript from any YouTube video with timestamps |
| captions | Get closed captions / CC from YouTube videos |
| subtitles | Extract subtitles from YouTube videos |
| youtube-search | Search YouTube for videos and channels |
| youtube-channels | Browse channel uploads, get latest videos, resolve @handles |
| youtube-playlist | Fetch all videos from a YouTube playlist |
| youtube-data | Get YouTube video and channel data (lightweight alternative to Google's API) |
| youtube-api | YouTube API access for AI agents — no Google quota hassle |
| transcriptapi | Full TranscriptAPI access with all endpoints |
| video-transcript | Convert YouTube videos to text transcripts |
| yt | Quick YouTube utility for fast lookups |
| Plan | Price | Credits | Rate Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 credits on signup | 300 req/min |
| Starter | $5/month | 1,000 credits/month | 300 req/min |
| Starter Annual | $54/year ($4.50/mo) | 1,000 credits/month | 300 req/min |
Most operations cost 1 credit. Channel resolve and latest are free. No credit card required for the free tier.
Works with any AI agent that supports the Agent Skills format:
| Agent | Install Command |
|---|---|
| 🦞 OpenClaw (ClawdBot/Moltbot) | npx clawhub@latest install youtube-full |
| Hermes Agent | hermes skills install skills-sh/ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills/skills/youtube-full |
| Claude Code | npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills |
| Cursor | npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills |
| Antigravity | npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills |
| Cline | npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills |
| Codex | npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills |
| Others | Goose, AMP, Kiro, Roo, OpenCode, Gemini, GitHub Copilot... |
Install youtube-full (or transcript) and ask your agent:
"Get the transcript for this video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
The agent fetches the full transcript with timestamps. You can then ask it to summarize, translate, quote, or analyze the content.
Install youtube-full (or youtube-search) and ask:
"Find videos about machine learning"
Returns up to 50 results with titles, thumbnails, view counts, and publish dates.
Install youtube-full (or youtube-channels) and ask:
"List all videos from the TED channel"
The agent resolves the @handle, fetches uploads (paginated, 100/page), and can then get transcripts for any or all of them.
Yes. Install youtube-full and ask:
"Get transcripts for all videos in this playlist: [URL]"
The agent fetches the playlist, iterates through videos, and extracts each transcript.
No. TranscriptAPI replaces the Google YouTube Data API for transcript extraction, search, and channel/playlist operations. No Google Cloud project, no quota limits, no OAuth setup.
Yes, but signup is free and instant — 100 credits, no credit card required. Your agent handles the setup automatically on first run.
youtube-full (recommended)transcriptyoutube-searchyoutube-channelsyoutube-playlistTranscriptAPI.com is a REST API and MCP server for YouTube data. It provides transcript extraction, video search, channel browsing, and playlist operations — built for developers and AI agents. Also available as an MCP Server for direct LLM integration (Claude, ChatGPT).
Quick fixes for the issues users actually hit. Error codes come from the API itself, so your agent will usually report them verbatim.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
401 Unauthorized | API key missing, mistyped, or not loaded into the environment | Confirm TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is set in the shell your agent runs in and that the key starts with sk_ |
402 Payment Required | The account is out of credits | Check your balance at transcriptapi.com/billing |
403 with Cloudflare code 1010 | Request sent without a User-Agent header | Send your agent's name as the User-Agent, for example HermesAgent/0.11.0 |
404 Not Found | The video has no captions, is not public, or the ID is wrong | Verify the URL opens in a browser and the player shows captions there |
408 Request Timeout | Temporary upstream pressure on the video | Transient by nature: retry once after a couple of seconds |
422 Validation Error | A parameter is malformed, such as a bad channel or playlist reference | Channels accept @handle, a channel URL, or a UC ID; playlists accept PL, UU, LL, FL, and OL prefixes |
429 Too Many Requests | Rate limit reached | Wait and respect the Retry-After header |
Three more cases worth knowing:
Stars on GitHub
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