YouTube Transcript Downloader

Community

Download YouTube transcripts, with AI fallback.

Authorashleytower
Version1.0.0
Installs0

System Documentation

What problem does it solve?

Accessing the text content of YouTube videos can be challenging, especially when official subtitles aren't available. This skill automates the process of downloading existing transcripts or generating new ones using advanced AI, saving you the effort of manual transcription.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Intelligent Transcript Retrieval: Prioritizes official subtitles, falls back to auto-generated, and uses Whisper AI for transcription if none exist.
  • Multi-format Output: Provides transcripts in both VTT (for video players) and clean plain text (for reading/analysis).
  • Automated Installation & Cleanup: Handles yt-dlp and Whisper installation, and cleans up temporary audio files.
  • Use Case: Provide a YouTube URL and instantly get a clean, plain-text transcript of the video, perfect for content analysis, note-taking, or repurposing content.

Quick Start

Provide a YouTube URL:

VIDEO_URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

Ask Claude to download the transcript:

Download the transcript from this YouTube video: $VIDEO_URL

Dependency Matrix

Required Modules

yt-dlpopenai-whisper

Components

Standard package

💻 Claude Code Installation

Recommended: Let Claude install automatically. Simply copy and paste the text below to Claude Code.

Please help me install this Skill:
Name: YouTube Transcript Downloader
Download link: https://github.com/ashleytower/claude-skills-collection/archive/main.zip#youtube-transcript-downloader

Please download this .zip file, extract it, and install it in the .claude/skills/ directory.
View Source Repository