/video-transcript

name: video-transcript
description: "Use when video content needs to be extracted as text: pasted YouTube links or IDs, requests to transcribe, summarize, quote, translate, convert video to text, or extract information from video content. Also use when a user shares a video URL without explanation and wants to know what it says. Not for uploads or account management."
version: "1.5.0"
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","captions","text-extraction","summarization"],"category":"media"}}

Video Transcript

Extract transcripts from videos via [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com).

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.

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript

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 | Values | | ------------------- | -------- | ------- | -------------------------------------- | | `video_url` | yes | — | YouTube URL or 11-char video ID | | `format` | no | `json` | `json` (structured), `text` (readable) | | `include_timestamp` | no | `true` | `true`, `false` | | `send_metadata` | no | `false` | `true`, `false` |

Accepted URL formats:

• `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID`
• `https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID`
• `https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID`
• Bare video ID: `dQw4w9WgXcQ`

**Response** (`format=text&send_metadata=true`):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": "[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love\n[00:00:21] You know the rules...",
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "author_name": "Rick Astley",
    "author_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley",
    "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"
  }
}

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

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 },
    { "text": "You know the rules and so do I", "start": 21.5, "duration": 2.8 }
  ]
}

Tips

• Summarize long transcripts into key points first, offer full text on request.
• Use `format=json` when you need precise timestamps for quoting specific moments.
• Use `send_metadata=true` to get video title and channel for context.
• Works with YouTube Shorts too.

Errors

| Code | Meaning | Action | | -------- | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | 401 | Bad API key | Check key or re-setup | | 402 | No credits | Top up at transcriptapi.com/billing | | 403/1010 | Cloudflare block | Add or fix User-Agent header | | 404 | No transcript | Video may not have captions enabled | | 408 | Timeout | Retry once after 2s |

1 credit per successful request. Errors don't consume credits. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.

Copy-paste examples

Every request in this file as a ready-to-run one-liner: [references/curl-examples.md](references/curl-examples.md)