YouTube Transcript Tool

What is it?

The YouTube Transcript Tool lets you retrieve the full text transcript (subtitles) of any YouTube video directly inside Yukkai. It works with both manually created captions and YouTube's auto-generated subtitles — and it doesn't require an API key, so it's always available.

This is perfect for summarizing long videos, quoting specific moments, translating foreign-language content, or making videos accessible in text form.

How it works

When you ask Yukkai to fetch a transcript, the tool:

1. Takes a YouTube video URL (standard watch?v= links or short youtu.be links).
2. Looks up available subtitle tracks for that video.
3. Retrieves the transcript text — either manually authored or auto-generated by YouTube.
4. Returns the full transcript as plain text, optionally with timestamps.

No authentication or API key is needed. The tool reads the subtitle data that YouTube already makes publicly available.

How to use it

Just give Yukkai a YouTube URL and ask for the transcript. You can also specify a language and whether you want timestamps.

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
url	Yes	Full YouTube video URL (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... or https://youtu.be/...)
language	No	Subtitle language code (e.g. en, fr, es). If omitted, the default subtitle track is used.
include_timestamps	No	Set to true to include timestamps in the output. Defaults to false.

Supported URL formats

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID

Examples

Basic transcript

"Get me the transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

Yukkai will return the full text of the video's subtitles as plain text.

Transcript with timestamps

"Can you get the transcript for https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ with timestamps?"

Each line of the transcript will include its start time, e.g.:

[00:05] Never gonna give you up
[00:09] Never gonna let you down
[00:13] Never gonna run around and desert you

Transcript in a specific language

"Get the French transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"

Yukkai will look for French subtitles. If a French track isn't available, it falls back to the default track.

Summarize a video

"Fetch the transcript of https://youtu.be/abc123 and give me a 5-bullet-point summary"

Yukkai retrieves the transcript and then processes it to produce a concise summary — great for long podcasts, lectures, or talks.

Tips & best practices

• Check availability first. Not every video has subtitles. If a video has no captions (manual or auto-generated), the tool won't be able to return a transcript.
• Use timestamps for precision. When you need to reference or quote a specific moment, set include_timestamps to true so each line is anchored to a timecode.
• Language codes are short. Use ISO codes like en, fr, es, de, ja — not full language names.
• Auto-generated captions may have errors. YouTube's auto-generated subtitles are decent but not perfect. Expect occasional mistranscriptions, especially with heavy accents or technical jargon.
• Long videos produce long transcripts. A 2-hour video can generate a very large text block. Ask Yukkai to summarize or extract key points if you don't need every word.
• Pair with the YouTube Info Tool. Use the YouTube Info Tool to get metadata (title, duration, views) alongside the transcript for full context.
• Transcripts are read-only. The tool only retrieves subtitle text — it cannot edit, upload, or create new subtitles on YouTube.