--- name: captions description: Extract closed captions and subtitles from YouTube videos. Use when the user asks for captions, closed captions, CC, accessibility text, or wants to read what was said in a video. Supports timestamps and multiple languages. Great for deaf/HoH accessibility, content review, quoting, and translation. homepage: https://transcriptapi.com user-invocable: true metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"💬","requires":{"env":["TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"],"bins":["node"],"config":["~/.openclaw/openclaw.json"]},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"}} ---

Captions

Extract closed captions from YouTube videos via TranscriptAPI.com.

Setup

If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, help the user create an account (100 free credits, no card):

Step 1 — Register: Ask user for their email.

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js register --email USER_EMAIL

→ OTP sent to email. Ask user: _"Check your email for a 6-digit verification code."_

Step 2 — Verify: Once user provides the OTP:

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js verify --token TOKEN_FROM_STEP_1 --otp CODE

> API key saved to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. See File Writes below for details. Existing file is backed up before modification.

Manual option: transcriptapi.com/signup → Dashboard → API Keys.

File Writes

The verify and save-key commands save the API key to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (sets skills.entries.transcriptapi.apiKey and enabled: true). Existing file is backed up to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak before modification.

To use the API key in terminal/CLI outside the agent, add to your shell profile manually: export TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY=

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=json&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

| Param | Required | Default | Values | | ------------------- | -------- | ------- | ----------------------------------- | | video_url | yes | — | YouTube URL or video ID | | format | no | json | json (structured), text (plain) | | include_timestamp | no | true | true, false | | send_metadata | no | false | true, false |

Response (format=json — best for accessibility/timing):

{
  "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 }
  ],
  "metadata": { "title": "...", "author_name": "...", "thumbnail_url": "..." }
}

• start: seconds from video start
• duration: how long caption is displayed

Response (format=text — readable):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": "[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love\n[00:00:21] You know the rules..."
}

Tips

• Use format=json for sync'd captions (accessibility tools, timing analysis).
• Use format=text with include_timestamp=false for clean reading.
• Auto-generated captions are available for most videos; manual CC is higher quality.

Errors

| Code | Meaning | Action | | ---- | ----------- | ----------------------------- | | 402 | No credits | transcriptapi.com/billing | | 404 | No captions | Video doesn't have CC enabled | | 408 | Timeout | Retry once after 2s |

1 credit per request. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.