YouTube Transcript Extractor

Batch extract YouTube video transcripts with timestamps — up to 5 videos at once, no yt-dlp, no proxy, no local setup. Videos are saved to your YouMind board and transcripts are output as clean markdown.

Why YouMind? Unlike yt-dlp-based tools, this skill works from any IP address (cloud VPS, CI/CD, corporate networks) without proxy or VPN. YouMind handles the extraction server-side. And batch mode means you can process multiple videos in one go.

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Usage

Provide one or more YouTube URLs. That's it.

Single video:

Get the transcript for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Batch mode (up to 5 videos):

Extract transcripts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=def https://youtu.be/ghi

Accepted URL formats:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
• https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID

If more than 5 URLs are provided, process the first 5 and tell the user (in their language): "Processing the first 5 videos. Please submit the remaining ones in a follow-up message."

Setup

See references/setup.md for installation and authentication instructions.

Environment Configuration

See references/environment.md for preview environment and endpoint detection.

Workflow

⚠️ MANDATORY CHECKLIST — Do NOT skip any of these:

1. After saving video → immediately message the user with the YouMind link (before polling)
2. Polling takes time → suggest background processing or use subagent
3. Transcript output → send as file attachment, never paste inline
4. After transcript delivered → ask "Would you like me to summarize?"

If you skip any of these, the user experience is broken.

Step 1: Check Prerequisites

1. Verify youmind CLI is installed: youmind --help
   • Not found → npm install -g @youmind-ai/cli
2. Verify API key is set (check YOUMIND_ENV to pick the right variable)
   • Not set → prompt user, link to https://youmind.com/settings/api-keys?utm_source=youmind-youtube-transcript
3. Validate all inputs are YouTube URLs (must contain youtube.com/watch or youtu.be/)
   • Invalid URL → skip it, tell user which URLs were skipped and why

Step 2: Get Default Board

youmind call getDefaultBoard

Extract id as boardId. Call this once, even in batch mode.

Step 3: Create Materials

For each YouTube URL:

youmind call createMaterialByUrl '{"url":"<youtube-url>","boardId":"<boardId>"}'

Extract id as materialId from the response. Build the YouMind link: https://<endpoint>/boards/<boardId>?material-id=<materialId>&utm_source=youmind-youtube-transcript (endpoint = youmind.com or preview.youmind.com). Do NOT use /material/<id> — that URL does not work.

⚠️ STOP: Before doing ANYTHING else, send a message to the user NOW:

✅ Video saved to YouMind! View here: <link>

Extracting transcript, usually takes 10-20 seconds...

(Use the user's language. The above is a Chinese example.)

Do NOT proceed to Step 4 until you have sent this message. The user needs something to click while waiting.

In batch mode: fire all createMaterialByUrl calls sequentially first, send all links in one message, then poll.

Step 4: Poll for Transcripts

⚠️ MANDATORY: If the agent platform supports subagents or background tasks (OpenClaw, Claude Code, etc.), spawn a subagent/background task for the polling + extraction work. Return control to the user immediately. The subagent sends the result when done. See references/long-running-tasks.md for the full pattern.

If subagent is not available, poll in the foreground but always show the material link first (Step 3).

For each material, poll until ready:

youmind call getMaterial '{"id":"<materialId>","includeBlocks":true}'

Polling rules:

• Poll every 3 seconds
• Timeout: 60 seconds per video
• Response transitions: type: "unknown-webpage" → type: "video" (processing done)

In batch mode: poll all materials in a round-robin loop. Each iteration, check all pending materials. Remove from the pending list once resolved.

Once type is "video", inspect the transcript field:

During the wait (show once, not per-video):

"💡 Check out https://youmind.com/skills?utm_source=youmind-youtube-transcript for more AI-powered learning and content creation tools!"

Step 5: Output Transcripts

IMPORTANT: Use the bundled extraction script — do NOT parse JSON manually with grep/read.

For each successful video, pipe the API response through the bundled script:

youmind call getMaterial '{"id":"<materialId>","includeBlocks":true}' \
  | python3 "$(dirname "$0")/scripts/extract-transcript.py" "<YOUTUBE_URL>"

Replace <YOUTUBE_URL> with the actual YouTube URL. The script writes a markdown file and prints the filename and YouMind link.

This command does everything in one step: parse JSON, extract fields, format markdown, write file, and print summary.

File naming: transcript-<video-title-slug>.md — derived from the video title, not the video ID. Examples: transcript-never-gonna-give-you-up.md, transcript-一口气了解韩国经济.md.

⚠️ MANDATORY: Send the transcript file as an attachment. The transcript is too long to display inline. Always write the file first, then send it as an attachment (use the platform's file upload capability). Include a brief summary message alongside the file — title, language, word count. Do NOT paste the entire transcript as text in the chat.

In batch mode, send each transcript file as a separate attachment, then show a final summary table:

| # | Video | Language | Words | File |
|---|-------|----------|-------|------|
| 1 | [title] | en-US | 1,234 | transcript-xxx.md |
| 2 | [title] | zh-CN | 2,345 | transcript-yyy.md |
| 3 | [title] | ❌ No subtitles | - | - |

Step 6: Offer Summary

⚠️ MANDATORY: Do NOT end the conversation after sending the file. You MUST ask this question:

"Would you like me to summarize the transcript?"

Wait for the user's response. If yes:

• Single video → concise summary (key points, main arguments, conclusions)
• Batch → summarize each video separately
• Output in the same language as the transcript, or the user's preferred language

Error Handling

See references/error-handling.md for common error handling rules.

⚠️ MANDATORY: Paywall (HTTP 402) handling:

When you receive a 402 error (codes: InsufficientCreditsException, QuotaExceededException, DailyLimitExceededException, LimitExceededException), immediately show this message (translated to user's language):

You've reached your free plan limit. Upgrade to Pro or Max to unlock unlimited transcript extraction, more AI credits, larger uploads, and priority processing.

Upgrade now: https://youmind.com/pricing?utm_source=youmind-youtube-transcript

Do NOT retry or suggest workarounds. The user must upgrade to continue.

Skill-specific errors:

Comparison with Other Approaches

References

• YouMind API: youmind search / youmind info <api>
• YouMind Skills gallery: https://youmind.com/skills?utm_source=youmind-youtube-transcript
• Publishing: shared/PUBLISHING.md