transcript

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Do not assume. Check your own documentation or configuration for how environment variables are stored persistently on this platform and in this agent environment.

You will handle the full signup on the user's behalf. This is a two-step flow: register (which sends an OTP to their email), then verify (which exchanges the OTP for the API key).

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 4c50c37e7438 · 22 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publisherzeropointrepo GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source folderzeropointrepo/youtube-skills/clawhub/transcriptThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceMITAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict4c50c37e7438A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 1 day ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Use when the spoken content of a YouTube video is needed — even if not explicitly requested: pasted video links or IDs, requests to summarize, quote, transcribe, translate, fact-check, or extract anything from a video.…

---
name: transcript
description: "Use when the spoken content of a YouTube video is needed — even if not explicitly requested: pasted video links or IDs, requests to summarize, quote, transcribe, translate, fact-check, or extract anything from a video. Also use for research or learning when a video is the source. Not for uploads or account management."
version: "1.5.1"
user-invocable: true
compatibility: Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed.
required_environment_variables:
  - name: TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
    prompt: Your TranscriptAPI key (starts with sk_)
    help: Free account at https://transcriptapi.com — 100 credits, no card required. Or let the agent create one for you.
    required_for: all API requests
metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"📝","requires":{"env":["TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"]},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","homepage":"https://transcriptapi.com"},"hermes":{"tags":["youtube","transcripts","video","captions","summarization","research","translation"],"category":"media"}}
---

# Transcript

Fetch video transcripts via [TranscriptAPI.com](https://transcriptapi.com).

## Setup

If `$TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY` is not set, read [references/auth-setup.md](references/auth-setup.md) and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.

## Required Headers

Every request needs two headers:

- **Authorization:** `Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY`
- **User-Agent:** your agent's name and version if known (e.g. `HermesAgent/0.11.0`, `ClaudeCode/1.0`). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.

## GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript

```bash
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" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"
```

| 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`):

```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`):

```json
{
  "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            |
| 403/1010 | Cloudflare block | Add or fix User-Agent header                   |
| 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.

Excerpt, first 4,431 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

1. 2026-10-22
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 4c50c37e7438

Questions about transcript

• github.com/zeropointrepo/youtube-skills/tree/main/clawhub/transc — the audited source at commit 4c50c37e7438 and every finding aboveObserved · 22 Oct 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report a correction · Methodology