Setup & Installation
Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:
Version History
ClawHub variant: minimal tapi-auth.js v3.0.0, only writes to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
What This Skill Does
Extracts closed captions and subtitles from YouTube videos using TranscriptAPI.com. Returns timestamped JSON or plain text transcripts. Supports both auto-generated and manually created CC tracks.
Returns structured JSON with per-caption start times and durations, making it usable for accessibility tools and timing-sensitive workflows, not just reading.
When to use it
- Pulling a transcript from a lecture video to take notes
- Finding the exact timestamp of a spoken quote in a video
- Reviewing video content without watching it
- Creating accessible text versions of YouTube content
- Extracting dialogue for translation or subtitling
Example Workflow
Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.
User asks: Get the transcript for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
- 1Check that TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is set
- 2Call TranscriptAPI with the video URL, format=json, and include_timestamp=true
- 3Parse the transcript array from the response
- 4Format each entry as [MM:SS] text and return to user
[00:00:18] We're no strangers to love [00:00:21] You know the rules and so do I...
Requirements
Accounts, API keys, or tools you or your AI assistant may need to set up while using this skill.