/transcriptapi

name: transcriptapi
description: "Use when YouTube is or could be relevant — even if not mentioned: pasted video/channel/playlist links, video IDs, @handles, creator lookups, video summaries, quotes, translations, topic research, tutorials, talks, lectures, expert discussions, product reviews, how-to guides, new product announcements, or anything where video content is fresher or richer than text search. Covers transcripts, video/channel search, channel browsing, playlists, and within-channel search. Not for uploads, account management, or written-source-only research."
version: "1.5.4"
user-invocable: true
compatibility: Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.
required_environment_variables:
  - name: TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
    prompt: Your TranscriptAPI key (starts with sk_)
    help: Free account at https://transcriptapi.com — 100 credits, no card required. Or let the agent create one for you.
    required_for: all API requests
metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"▶️","requires":{"env":["TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"]},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","homepage":"https://transcriptapi.com"},"hermes":{"tags":["youtube","transcripts","video","search","channels","playlists","captions"],"category":"media"}}

TranscriptAPI

Full YouTube data toolkit via [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com). Transcripts, search, channels, playlists — one API key.

Setup

If `$TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY` is not set, read [references/auth-setup.md](references/auth-setup.md) and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.

Required Headers

Every request needs two headers:

• **Authorization:** `Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY`
• **User-Agent:** your agent's name and version if known (e.g. `HermesAgent/0.11.0`, `ClaudeCode/1.0`). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.

API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: [transcriptapi.com/openapi.json](https://transcriptapi.com/openapi.json) — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

Auth

All requests: `-H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"`

Endpoints

Channel endpoints accept `channel` — an `@handle`, channel URL, or `UC...` ID. No need to resolve first. Playlist endpoints accept `playlist` — a playlist URL or ID.

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript — 1 credit

GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

| Param | Required | Default | Validation | | ------------------- | -------- | ------- | ------------------------------- | | `video_url` | yes | — | YouTube URL or 11-char video ID | | `format` | no | `json` | `json` or `text` | | `include_timestamp` | no | `true` | `true` or `false` | | `send_metadata` | no | `false` | `true` or `false` |

Accepts: `https://youtube.com/watch?v=ID`, `https://youtu.be/ID`, `youtube.com/shorts/ID`, or bare `ID`.

**Response** (`format=json`):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers...", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 }
  ],
  "metadata": { "title": "...", "author_name": "...", "author_url": "..." }
}

GET /api/v2/youtube/search — 1 credit

GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=video&limit=20
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

| Param | Required | Default | Validation | | ------- | -------- | ------- | --------------------- | | `q` | yes | — | 1-200 chars (trimmed) | | `type` | no | `video` | `video` or `channel` | | `limit` | no | `20` | 1-50 |

**Response** (`type=video`):

{
  "results": [
    {
      "type": "video",
      "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
      "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
      "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
      "channelTitle": "Rick Astley",
      "channelHandle": "@RickAstley",
      "channelVerified": true,
      "lengthText": "3:33",
      "viewCountText": "1.5B views",
      "publishedTimeText": "14 years ago",
      "hasCaptions": true,
      "thumbnails": [{ "url": "...", "width": 120, "height": 90 }]
    }
  ],
  "result_count": 20
}

**Response** (`type=channel`):

{
  "results": [
    {
      "type": "channel",
      "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
      "title": "Rick Astley",
      "handle": "@RickAstley",
      "subscriberCount": "4.2M subscribers",
      "verified": true,
      "rssUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC..."
    }
  ],
  "result_count": 5
}

GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve — FREE (0 credits)

GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

| Param | Required | Validation | | ------- | -------- | --------------------------------------- | | `input` | yes | 1-200 chars — @handle, URL, or UC... ID |

**Response:**

{ "channel_id": "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q", "resolved_from": "@TED" }

If input is already a valid `UC[a-zA-Z0-9_-]{22}` ID, returns immediately without lookup.

GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/videos — 1 credit/page

# First page (100 videos)
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

# Most-viewed first (channel Videos tab, ~30 videos)
GET https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA&sort=popular
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0

# Next pages (repeat the sa