YouTube Skills for AI Agents 🎬

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), Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and any agent that supports the Agent Skills format.

Free tier · No credit card · 100 credits on signup

TranscriptAPI.com · MCP Server · Docs

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Install

Most users want youtube-full — it covers transcripts, search, channels, and playlists in one skill.

🦞 OpenClaw (ClawdBot/Moltbot):

npx clawhub@latest install youtube-full

Claude Code / Cursor / Windsurf / 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, Claude, ChatGPT, or any AI agent:

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.

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What You Can Do

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'"

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Setup — API Key

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:

1. The agent runs the registration script and asks you for your email address
2. You'll receive an OTP code in your email — the agent will ask you to enter it
3. Once verified, the agent saves the API key to your shell and agent config automatically

That's it. 100 free credits, no credit card required.

<details> <summary><strong>Manual setup (if you prefer to do it yourself)</strong></summary>

# 1. Register (sends OTP to your email)
node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js register --email you@example.com --password yourpassword

# 2. Check email for OTP, then verify (returns your API key)
node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js verify --email you@example.com --password yourpassword --otp 123456

# 3. Key is saved automatically to your shell and agent config

Or sign up at transcriptapi.com and set the key manually:

export TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY="sk_your_key_here"

</details>

<details> <summary><strong>Where does the key get saved?</strong></summary>

The auth script writes your API key to:

Location	File
OpenClaw/Moltbot	~/.openclaw/openclaw.json or ~/.clawdbot/moltbot.json
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.

</details>

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Skills

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

<details> <summary><strong>All 12 skills</strong></summary>

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

</details>

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Pricing

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.

View pricing →

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Supported Agents

Works with any AI agent that supports the Agent Skills format:

Agent	Install Command
🦞 OpenClaw (ClawdBot/Moltbot)	npx clawhub@latest install youtube-full
Claude Code	npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills
Cursor	npx skills add ZeroPointRepo/youtube-skills
Windsurf	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...

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FAQ

How do I get a YouTube transcript?

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.

How do I search YouTube from my agent?

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.

How do I get all videos from a YouTube channel?

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.

Can I bulk download YouTube transcripts?

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.

Do I need a Google YouTube Data API key?

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.

Do I need an API key?

Yes, but signup is free and instant — 100 credits, no credit card required. Your agent handles the setup automatically on first run.

Which skill should I install?

• Want everything? → youtube-full (recommended)
• Just transcripts? → transcript
• Just search? → youtube-search
• Just channel data? → youtube-channels
• Just playlists? → youtube-playlist

What is TranscriptAPI?

TranscriptAPI.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).

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Powered by TranscriptAPI

TranscriptAPI.com — 6M+ transcripts/month, 99.9% uptime.

Also available: MCP Server for direct LLM integration with Claude and ChatGPT.

Full API docs: transcriptapi.com/docs

Contributing

PRs welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT © TranscriptAPI