Transcript

Fetch video transcripts 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 your shell profile and agent config. Ready to use.

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

GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript

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

Accepts: full URLs (youtube.com/watch?v=ID), short URLs (youtu.be/ID), shorts (youtube.com/shorts/ID), or bare video IDs.

Default: Always use format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true unless user specifies otherwise.

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 }
  ],
  "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=text):

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

Errors

Code	Meaning	Action
401	Bad API key	Check key or re-setup
402	No credits	Top up at transcriptapi.com/billing
404	No transcript	Video may not have captions enabled
408	Timeout	Retry once after 2s
429	Rate limited	Wait and retry

Tips

• For long videos, summarize key points first, offer full transcript on request.
• Use format=json when you need precise timestamps for quoting specific moments.
• Use include_timestamp=false for clean text suitable for translation or analysis.
• 1 credit per successful request. Errors don't cost credits.
• Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.