Agent skill · writing content · jimliu
baoyu-youtube-transcript
Downloads YouTube video transcripts/subtitles and cover images by URL or video ID. Supports multiple languages, translation, chapters, and speaker identification. Caches raw data for fast re-formatting. Use when user asks to "get YouTube transcript", "download subtitles", "get captions", "YouTube字幕", "YouTube封面", "视频封面", "video thumbnail", "video cover image", or provides a YouTube URL and wants the transcript/subtitle text or cover image extracted.
Why this skill is useful
Adds a CLI script for downloading YouTube transcripts and subtitles with multiple options that aren't available in public documentation.
What it needs
Requires bun, npx installed locally. About 5k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-04. 24,677 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
YouTube Transcript Downloads transcripts (subtitles/captions) from YouTube videos. Works with both manually created and auto-generated transcripts. No API key or browser required — uses YouTube's InnerTube API directly and automatically falls back to yt-dlp when YouTube blocks the direct API path. Fetches video metadata and cover image on first run, caches raw data for fast re-formatting. Script Directory Scripts in scripts/ subdirectory. {baseDir} = this SKILL.md's directory path. Resolve ${BUNX} runtime: if bun installed → bun; if npx available → npx -y bun; else suggest installing bun. Replace {baseDir} and ${BUNX} with actual values. Script Purpose -------- --------- scripts/main.ts Transcript download CLI Usage Options Option Description Default -------- ------------- --------- <url-or-id> YouTube URL or video ID (multiple allowed) Required --languages <codes> Language codes, comma-separated, in priority order en --format <fmt> Output format: text, srt text --translate <code> Translate to specified language code --list List available transcripts instead of fetching --timestamps Include [HH:MM:SS → HH:MM:SS] timestamps per paragraph on --no-timestamps Disable timestamps --chapters Chapter segmentation from video description --speakers Raw transcript with metadata for speaker identification --exclude-generated Skip auto-generated transcripts --exclude-manually-created Skip manually created transcripts --refresh Force re-fetch, ignore cached data -o, --output <path> Save to specific file path auto-generated --output-dir <dir> Base output directory youtube-transcript Optional Environment Variables Variable Description ---------- ------------- YOUTUBETRANSCRIPTCOOKIESFROMBROWSER Passed to yt-dlp --cookies-from-browser during fallback, e.g. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills jimliu/baoyu-youtube-transcript