---

name: youtube-transcribe-skill description: Extract subtitles or a transcript from a YouTube URL and save normalized timestamped text locally. Use when the user wants the spoken content of a YouTube video as text.

YouTube Transcript Extraction

Use the bundled scripts/transcribe_youtube.py wrapper for the primary workflow. It downloads subtitles with yt-dlp, selects the preferred language, converts WebVTT cues into timestamped plain text, and reports the output path and line count.

Requirements

1. Install yt-dlp and confirm yt-dlp --version succeeds.
2. Resolve the absolute directory containing this SKILL.md; refer to it as <skill-dir>.
3. Keep the output in the user's current working directory unless they request another location.

The Python wrapper itself uses only the standard library. It can display --help without yt-dlp being installed.

Primary workflow

Run without browser cookies first:

python3 "<skill-dir>/scripts/transcribe_youtube.py" \
  "<youtube-url>" \
  --output-dir "$PWD"

The default language preference is Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, other Chinese variants, then English. Override it when the user requests another language:

python3 "<skill-dir>/scripts/transcribe_youtube.py" \
  "<youtube-url>" \
  --languages "ja.*,en.*" \
  --output-dir "$PWD"

The wrapper supports normal watch URLs plus youtu.be, Shorts, live, and embed URLs. A successful run writes one .txt file whose non-empty lines use this shape:

00:03 Subtitle text
00:08 Next subtitle text

Cookie retry

Do not read browser cookies by default. If the initial command fails specifically because the video requires sign-in, age verification, membership, or another authenticated session:

1. Explain that the retry will let yt-dlp read YouTube cookies from a local browser profile.
2. Ask the user which browser profile they approve using.
3. Retry only after approval:

python3 "<skill-dir>/scripts/transcribe_youtube.py" \
  "<youtube-url>" \
  --cookies-from-browser chrome \
  --output-dir "$PWD"

Never print, copy, or persist browser cookies in the transcript or logs.

Browser fallback

Use browser automation only when yt-dlp is unavailable or cannot obtain subtitles and an appropriate browser-control capability is available.

1. Inspect the tools available in the current session; do not assume fixed MCP server or tool names.
2. Open the video, reveal the transcript panel, and extract visible timestamp/text pairs.
3. Save the result as <sanitized-video-title>.txt in the requested directory.
4. Close pages or sessions opened solely for this task.

If neither CLI extraction nor browser automation is available, report the missing capability instead of claiming success.

Completion report

Return:

1. Absolute transcript path
2. Selected subtitle language
3. Number of transcript lines
4. Whether browser cookies or browser automation were used