YouTube Summarizer Skill

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

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

Dependencies

Required: MCP YouTube Transcript server must be installed at:

/root/clawd/mcp-server-youtube-transcript

If not present, install it:

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:

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:

📹 **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
Full transcript text
URL reference

6. Platform-Specific Delivery

If channel is Telegram:

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.

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
- 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

Examples

See

examples/

directory for sample outputs.

Quality Guidelines

Be concise: Summary should be scannable in 30 seconds
Be accurate: Don't add information not in the transcript
Be structured: Use consistent formatting for easy reading
Be contextual: Adjust detail level based on video length
- Short videos (<5 min): Brief summary
- Long videos (>30 min): More detailed breakdown

Notes

MCP server uses Android client emulation to bypass YouTube's cloud IP blocking
Works reliably from VPS/cloud environments where yt-dlp often fails
Supports multiple languages with automatic fallback to English
Transcript quality depends on YouTube's auto-generated captions or manual captions

YouTube Summarizer

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