Agent skill

youtube-tools

Free YouTube video downloading, transcript extraction, and metadata retrieval using yt-dlp. Use this skill for downloading YouTube videos (single or bulk), extracting transcripts/subtitles, getting video metadata, or downloading audio-only. This is FREE (no API keys) unlike Apify. Triggers on YouTube download requests, transcript extraction, video metadata, or bulk video downloads.

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
Stars 163
Forks 31

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/other/other/youtube-tools

SKILL.md

YouTube Tools (yt-dlp)

Overview

Free, local YouTube operations using yt-dlp. No API keys required, no per-video costs. Works offline after installation.

When to Use This vs Apify

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DECISION: YouTube Tools (yt-dlp) vs Apify                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│ Use youtube-tools (FREE) when:                                  │
│ ├── Downloading videos to local storage                         │
│ ├── Extracting transcripts/subtitles                            │
│ ├── Getting video metadata (title, duration, views, etc.)       │
│ ├── Bulk downloading playlists or channels                      │
│ ├── Converting to audio-only (MP3)                              │
│ └── You want zero API costs                                     │
│                                                                 │
│ Use apify-scrapers when:                                        │
│ ├── Scraping YouTube SEARCH results                             │
│ ├── Getting comments at scale                                   │
│ ├── Channel analytics and statistics                            │
│ ├── Trending video discovery                                    │
│ └── You need cloud-based processing                             │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Decision Tree

What do you need?
│
├── Download video(s)
│   ├── Single video → scripts/download_video.py URL
│   ├── Multiple videos → scripts/download_video.py --urls-file list.txt
│   ├── Playlist → scripts/download_video.py "playlist_url"
│   ├── Audio only → scripts/download_video.py URL --audio-only
│   └── Specific quality → scripts/download_video.py URL --quality 720p
│
├── Get transcript/subtitles
│   ├── Auto-generated captions → scripts/get_transcript.py URL
│   ├── Manual subtitles → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --manual-only
│   ├── Specific language → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --lang es
│   └── All available → scripts/get_transcript.py URL --all-langs
│
├── Get video metadata
│   ├── Single video → scripts/get_video_info.py URL
│   ├── Multiple videos → scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file list.txt
│   └── Playlist info → scripts/get_video_info.py "playlist_url"
│
└── Advanced
    ├── Age-restricted → scripts/download_video.py URL --cookies-from-browser chrome
    ├── Private videos → Requires authentication (see references/yt-dlp-guide.md)
    └── Live streams → scripts/download_video.py URL --live-from-start

Environment Setup

bash
# Install yt-dlp (required)
pip install yt-dlp

# Optional: Install ffmpeg for format conversion
# macOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# Windows
winget install ffmpeg

No API keys required! This is completely free.

Common Usage

Download Single Video

bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Download with Specific Quality

bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --quality 1080p

Download Audio Only (MP3)

bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --audio-only

Download Entire Playlist

bash
python scripts/download_video.py "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" --output-dir ./videos

Bulk Download from File

bash
# Create urls.txt with one URL per line
python scripts/download_video.py --urls-file urls.txt --output-dir ./downloads

Get Transcript

bash
python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Get Transcript in Specific Language

bash
python scripts/get_transcript.py "https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID" --lang es

Get Video Metadata

bash
python scripts/get_video_info.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Get Metadata for Multiple Videos

bash
python scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file videos.txt --output metadata.json

Output Location

All outputs save to .tmp/youtube/ by default:

  • Videos: .tmp/youtube/videos/
  • Audio: .tmp/youtube/audio/
  • Transcripts: .tmp/youtube/transcripts/
  • Metadata: .tmp/youtube/metadata/

Cost

FREE - No API keys, no per-video costs, no subscriptions.

Security Notes

Safe by Design

  • URL validation: Only accepts YouTube URLs (youtube.com, youtu.be)
  • Filename sanitization: Removes dangerous characters
  • Output restriction: Only writes to .tmp/ directory
  • No shell injection: Uses subprocess with argument lists, not string concatenation
  • No stored credentials: Cookies only used when explicitly requested

Copyright Warning

  • Only download content you have rights to access
  • Respect YouTube's Terms of Service
  • Do not redistribute copyrighted content
  • Use for personal/educational purposes

Rate Limiting

  • yt-dlp has built-in rate limiting
  • For bulk downloads, use --sleep-interval 5 to avoid throttling
  • YouTube may temporarily block IPs with excessive requests

Troubleshooting

Issue: "Video unavailable"

Cause: Video is private, age-restricted, or region-locked Solution: Use --cookies-from-browser chrome for age-restricted content

Issue: "Unable to extract video data"

Cause: YouTube changed their page structure Solution: Update yt-dlp: pip install -U yt-dlp

Issue: No subtitles found

Cause: Video has no captions (auto or manual) Solution: Use --list-subs to see available subtitles first

Issue: Slow downloads

Cause: YouTube throttling or network issues Solution: Try --concurrent-fragments 4 for faster downloads

Issue: Format conversion failed

Cause: ffmpeg not installed Solution: Install ffmpeg (see Environment Setup)

Integration Patterns

Download + Transcribe + Summarize

bash
# 1. Download video
python scripts/download_video.py "URL" --output-dir .tmp/video

# 2. Get transcript
python scripts/get_transcript.py "URL" --output .tmp/transcript.txt

# 3. Use content-generation to summarize
# (transcript file is now ready for summarization)

Bulk Research Workflow

bash
# 1. Get metadata for research videos
python scripts/get_video_info.py --urls-file research_videos.txt --output .tmp/metadata.json

# 2. Download transcripts for text analysis
python scripts/get_transcript.py --urls-file research_videos.txt --output-dir .tmp/transcripts

# 3. Use parallel-research to analyze content

Course Content Download

bash
# Download entire playlist as course modules
python scripts/download_video.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --output-dir .tmp/course --quality 720p

# Get all transcripts for notes
python scripts/get_transcript.py "PLAYLIST_URL" --output-dir .tmp/course/transcripts

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