--- name: youtube-full description: Complete YouTube toolkit — transcripts, search, channels, playlists, and metadata all in one skill. Use when you need comprehensive YouTube access, want to search and then get transcripts, browse channel content, work with playlists, or need the full suite of YouTube data endpoints. The all-in-one YouTube skill for agents. 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"}} ---

YouTube Full

Complete YouTube toolkit via TranscriptAPI.com. Everything in one skill.

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=

API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: transcriptapi.com/openapi.json — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

Transcript — 1 credit

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

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

Response (format=json):

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [{ "text": "...", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 }],
  "metadata": { "title": "...", "author_name": "...", "author_url": "..." }
}

Search — 1 credit

# Videos
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=video&limit=20" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

# Channels
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=channel&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

| Param | Required | Default | Validation | | ------- | -------- | ------- | ------------------ | | q | yes | — | 1-200 chars | | type | no | video | video, channel | | limit | no | 20 | 1-50 |

Channels

All channel endpoints accept channel — an @handle, channel URL, or UC... channel ID. No need to resolve first.

Resolve handle — FREE

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Response: {"channel_id": "UC...", "resolved_from": "@TED"}

Latest 15 videos — FREE

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Returns exact viewCount and ISO published timestamps.

All channel videos — 1 credit/page

# First page (100 videos)
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

# Next pages
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?continuation=TOKEN" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Provide exactly one of channel or continuation. Response includes continuation_token and has_more.

Search within channel — 1 credit

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/search\
?channel=@TED&q=QUERY&limit=30" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Playlists — 1 credit/page

Accepts playlist — a YouTube playlist URL or playlist ID.

# First page
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos?playlist=PL_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

# Next pages
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos?continuation=TOKEN" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Valid ID prefixes: PL, UU, LL, FL, OL. Response includes playlist_info, results, continuation_token, has_more.

Credit Costs

| Endpoint | Cost | | --------------- | -------- | | transcript | 1 | | search | 1 | | channel/resolve | free | | channel/latest | free | | channel/videos | 1/page | | channel/search | 1 | | playlist/videos | 1/page |

Validation Rules

| Field | Rule | | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | channel | @handle, channel URL, or UC... ID | | playlist | Playlist URL or ID (PL/UU/LL/FL/OL prefix) | | q | 1-200 chars | | limit | 1-50 |

Errors

| Code | Meaning | Action | | ---- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------- | | 401 | Bad API key | Check key | | 402 | No credits | transcriptapi.com/billing | | 404 | Not found | Resource doesn't exist or no captions | | 408 | Timeout | Retry once after 2s | | 422 | Validation error | Check param format | | 429 | Rate limited | Wait, respect Retry-After |

Typical Workflows

Research workflow: search → pick videos → fetch transcripts

# 1. Search
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search\
?q=machine+learning+explained&limit=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"
# 2. Transcript
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_ID&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Channel monitoring: latest (free) → transcript

# 1. Latest uploads (free — pass @handle directly)
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"
# 2. Transcript of latest
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_ID&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min. Starter ($5/mo): 1,000 credits.