youtube-full

---
name: youtube-full
category: data-ai
description: Use when YouTube is or could be relevant — video/channel/playlist links, video IDs, @handles, creator lookups, summaries, quotes, topic research, tutorials, talks, product reviews, or anywhere video content is fresher or richer than text search. Covers transcripts, video/channel search, channel browsing, playlists, and in-channel search.
---

# YouTube Full

Complete YouTube toolkit via [TranscriptAPI](https://transcriptapi.com). Transcripts, search, channels, and playlists in one skill — no `yt-dlp`, no headless browser, no binary to keep patched.

## When to Use This Skill

- Someone pastes a YouTube link, video ID, or @handle and wants the content, not just the URL
- You need a transcript to summarize, quote, translate, or search within
- You're researching a topic where a talk, tutorial, or expert walkthrough will answer it better than a blog post
- You're tracking a channel for new uploads

## What This Skill Does

1. **Transcripts** — full text with timestamps, one API call, 1 credit
2. **Search** — video or channel search across YouTube, 1 credit/page
3. **Channel data** — videos, in-channel search, latest uploads (the last one is free)
4. **Playlists** — bulk video extraction for courses and lecture series

## How to Use

### Basic Usage

```
Get the transcript for https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID and summarize it in 3 bullets.
```

### Advanced Usage

```
Search TED for talks about complexity theory from the last two years, then pull transcripts for the top 3 and compare their arguments.
```

## Example

**User**: "Has @NASA posted anything new this week?"

**Output**: Calls the free `channel/latest` endpoint, returns new uploads with title, publish date, and view count — no credits spent.

## Setup

First run prompts for a `TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY` (or Claude can provision one automatically). Free tier: 100 credits, no card required.

## Tips

- `channel/latest` and `channel/resolve` are free — use them for polling and handle lookups before spending a credit on anything else
- Failed or rate-limited calls don't cost credits
- Works the same on a laptop or a cloud server — TranscriptAPI handles the infrastructure YouTube blocks for direct scraping

## Common Use Cases

- Daily digest of new uploads across tracked channels
- Turning a lecture playlist into study notes
- Competitive research across a channel's back catalog
- Content repurposing — video into blog post, thread, or newsletter