LaunchKit · 2026
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youtube-summary

Summarize YouTube videos into structured Markdown with youtube2md, including chaptered notes, timestamp links.

1
533 downloads
by @sunghyo

Setup & Installation

openclaw skills install @sunghyo/youtube-summary

Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:

npx clawhub install youtube-summary

Version History

v1.0.3Feb 28, 2026 - Version note by skill developer:

Remove bundled summaries outputs from published skill package; keep only source files (SKILL.md, scripts, references, prepare.py).

What This Skill Does

Converts YouTube videos into structured Markdown using the youtube2md CLI. Outputs chaptered notes, timestamp links, and key takeaways in full mode, or raw transcript JSON and plain text in extract mode. Works without an OpenAI key by falling back to local transcript extraction.

Extract mode pulls structured transcripts locally without sending content to any external API, making it viable in sensitive or air-gapped environments where full summarization is not acceptable.

When to use it

  • Taking study notes from a university lecture video
  • Extracting a transcript without sending content to an external API
  • Summarizing a conference talk in a specific language
  • Batch processing multiple YouTube URLs into separate Markdown files
  • Getting key takeaways from a long podcast-style video

Example Workflow

Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.

INPUT

User asks: Summarize this YouTube video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123

AGENT
  1. 1Validate the URL as a youtube.com or youtu.be link
  2. 2Check whether OPENAI_API_KEY is set to select full or extract mode
  3. 3Run scripts/run_youtube2md.sh with the URL in full mode
  4. 4Verify the output Markdown file exists and is non-empty
  5. 5Return the summary with chapter headings, timestamp links, and key takeaways
OUTPUT

Structured Markdown with chaptered notes, clickable timestamp links, and a key takeaways section

Requirements

Accounts, API keys, or tools you or your AI assistant may need to set up while using this skill.

OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable (optional, required only for full summarization mode)youtube2md CLI installed globally (npm i -g youtube2md@1.0.1)