youtube-summarizer

What this skill does

# YouTube Summarizer Skill

Automatically fetch transcripts from YouTube videos, generate structured summaries, and deliver full transcripts to messaging platforms.

## Mode

Detect from context or ask: *"Quick TL;DR, full summary, or full summary with content angles?"*

| Mode | What you get | Best for |
|------|-------------|----------|
| `quick` | 3-bullet TL;DR + single key takeaway | Fast consumption, sharing a clip |
| `standard` | Full structured summary: thesis, insights, takeaway | Learning, note-taking, research |
| `deep` | Full summary + chapter breakdown + content repurposing opportunities | Turning a video into a content asset |

**Default: `standard`** — use `quick` if they just want the gist. Use `deep` if they want to extract the video into usable content.

---

## Why This vs ChatGPT?

**Problem with ChatGPT:** It can't access YouTube transcripts directly. You have to manually copy/paste captions or use a third-party tool first, then feed the text to ChatGPT. Multi-step, clunky, loses video metadata.

**This skill provides:**
1. **One-step transcript extraction** - Drop a YouTube URL, get the full transcript automatically
2. **Structured summarization** - Consistent format (thesis → insights → takeaway) every time, not random bullet points
3. **Video metadata included** - Title, channel, views, publish date embedded in summary
4. **Full transcript delivery** - Saves timestamped transcript to file and sends to Telegram/chat platforms
5. **Works from VPS/cloud** - Uses Android client emulation to bypass YouTube's cloud IP blocking (where yt-dlp fails)
6. **Multi-language support** - Auto-fetches in requested language with English fallback

**You can replicate this** by manually enabling captions, copying text, pasting to ChatGPT, reformatting the output, saving to a file, and uploading. Takes 5-10 minutes. This skill does it in 15-20 seconds.

## When to Use

Activate this skill when:
- User shares a YouTube URL (youtube.com/watch, youtu.be, youtube.com/shorts)
- User asks to summarize or transcribe a YouTube video
- User requests information about a YouTube video's content
- You need to analyze video content for research or content creation

## Dependencies

**Required:** MCP YouTube Transcript server must be installed at:
`/root/clawd/mcp-server-youtube-transcript`

If not present, install it:
```bash
cd /root/clawd
git clone https://github.com/kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript.git
cd mcp-server-youtube-transcript
npm install && npm run build
```

## Workflow

### 1. Detect YouTube URL
Extract video ID from these patterns:
- `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID`
- `https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID`
- `https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID`
- Direct video ID: `VIDEO_ID` (11 characters)

### 2. Fetch Transcript
Run this command to get the transcript:
```bash
cd /root/clawd/mcp-server-youtube-transcript && node --input-type=module -e "
import { getSubtitles } from './dist/youtube-fetcher.js';
const result = await getSubtitles({ videoID: 'VIDEO_ID', lang: 'en' });
console.log(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2));
" > /tmp/yt-transcript.json
```

Replace `VIDEO_ID` with the extracted ID. Read the output from `/tmp/yt-transcript.json`.

### 3. Process the Data

Parse the JSON to extract:
- `result.metadata.title` - Video title
- `result.metadata.author` - Channel name
- `result.metadata.viewCount` - Formatted view count
- `result.metadata.publishDate` - Publication date
- `result.actualLang` - Language used
- `result.lines` - Array of transcript segments

Full text: `result.lines.map(l => l.text).join(' ')`

### 4. Generate Summary

Create a structured summary using this template:

```markdown
📹 **Video:** [title]
👤 **Channel:** [author] | 👁️ **Views:** [views] | 📅 **Published:** [date]

**🎯 Main Thesis:**
[1-2 sentence core argument/message]

**💡 Key Insights:**
- [insight 1]
- [insight 2]
- [insight 3]
- [insight 4]
- [insight 5]

**📝 Notable Points:**
- [additional point 1]
- [additional point 2]

**🔑 Takeaway:**
[Practical application or conclusion]
```

Aim for:
- Main thesis: 1-2 sentences maximum
- Key insights: 3-5 bullets, each 1-2 sentences
- Notable points: 2-4 supporting details
- Takeaway: Actionable conclusion

### 5. Save Full Transcript

Save the complete transcript to a timestamped file:
```
/root/clawd/transcripts/YYYY-MM-DD_VIDEO_ID.txt
```

Include in the file:
- Video metadata header (title, channel, URL, date)
- Full transcript text
- URL reference for easy lookup

### 6. Platform-Specific Delivery

**If channel is Telegram:**
```bash
message --action send --channel telegram --target CHAT_ID \
  --filePath /root/clawd/transcripts/YYYY-MM-DD_VIDEO_ID.txt \
  --caption "📄 YouTube Transcript: [title]"
```

**If channel is other/webchat:**
Just reply with the summary (no file attachment).

### 7. Reply with Summary

Send the structured summary as your response to the user.

## Real Case Study

**User:** Content creator researching competitor YouTube strategies

**Challenge:** Needed to analyze 20+ competitor videos per week to identify trending topics, messaging patterns, and content gaps. Manual process: watch video, take notes, transcribe key quotes. Time: 30-45 min per video.

**Solution with youtube-summarizer:**
1. Drop YouTube URL in chat
2. Get structured summary in 20 seconds
3. Full transcript saved for reference
4. Copy key insights for content planning doc

**Workflow example:**
```
User: Analyze this video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123
[20 seconds later]

📹 Video: "10 AI Tools That Will Replace Your Job in 2026"
👤 Channel: TechFuturist | 👁️ Views: 847K | 📅 Published: Jan 12, 2026

🎯 Main Thesis:
AI tools are automating creative and knowledge work faster than expected, but the real opportunity is in augmentation, not replacement.

💡 Key Insights:
- ChatGPT usage among marketers jumped from 12% to 67% in one year
- Video editing time reduced by 80% using AI tools like Descript
- The biggest wins come from combining tools (Notion + Claude + Zapier)
- Companies hiring "AI workflow designers" to optimize human-AI collaboration
- Workers using AI secretly outperform peers by 40% (BCG study)

📝 Notable Points:
- Shows examples of 3 small businesses that 10× output with AI
- Warns against over-automation: "AI can write, but can't think strategically"

🔑 Takeaway:
Don't ask "Will AI replace me?" Ask "How can I use AI to become 10× more valuable?"
```

**Results after 8 weeks:**
- **Time saved:** 25 hours/week (from 600 min to 60 min for 20 videos)
- **Content output:** 3 videos/week (up from 1/week)
- **Better insights:** Full transcripts searchable, found patterns missed when just watching
- **Competitive intel:** Built database of 160+ competitor video summaries with key quotes
- **ROI quote:** "This skill turned competitor research from a chore into an assembly line."

## Why This Beats Manual Methods

| Method | Time | Gets Metadata | Structured Output | Searchable Archive | Cloud-Friendly |
|--------|------|---------------|-------------------|-------------------|----------------|
| Watch + take notes | 30-45 min | No | No | Manual only | N/A |
| YouTube transcript feature | 5 min | No | No | No | Yes |
| yt-dlp | 2-5 min | Yes | No | Yes | ❌ Blocked on VPS |
| Copy to ChatGPT | 10 min | No | Sometimes | No | Yes |
| **This skill** | **20 sec** | **Yes** | **Yes** | **Yes** | **✅ Works on VPS** |

## Error Handling

**If transcript fetch fails:**
- Check if video has captions enabled
- Try with `lang: 'en'` fallback if requested language unavailable
- Inform user that transcript is not available and suggest alternatives:
  - Manual YouTube transcript feature (Settings → Show transcript)
  - Video may not have captions
  - Try a different video

**If MCP server not installed:**
- Provide installation instructions
- Offer to install it automatically if in appropriate context

**If video ID extraction fails:**
- Ask user to provide the full YouTube URL or video ID

**If video is age-res