name: youtube-data description: "Use when structured YouTube data is needed: pasted video/channel/playlist links, transcripts for analysis, video metadata, channel upload history, search results, or playlist contents — without Google API quotas or OAuth. Triggers on YouTube URLs, creator names, topic research, or any request needing YouTube content, even if not mentioned explicitly. Not for uploads, account management, or written-source-only research." version: "1.5.0" user-invocable: true compatibility: Requires internet access to reach transcriptapi.com. No additional runtimes or dependencies needed. required_environment_variables:

• name: TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY prompt: Your TranscriptAPI key (starts with sk_) help: Free account at https://transcriptapi.com — 100 credits, no card required. Or let the agent create one for you. required_for: all API requests metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"▶️","requires":{"env":["TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"]},"primaryEnv":"TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY","homepage":"https://transcriptapi.com"},"hermes":{"tags":["youtube","transcripts","video","search","channels","playlists","data","metadata"],"category":"media"}}

YouTube Data

YouTube data access via TranscriptAPI.com — lightweight alternative to Google's YouTube Data API.

Setup

If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, read references/auth-setup.md and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.

Required Headers

Every request needs two headers:

• Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY
• User-Agent: your agent's name and version if known (e.g. HermesAgent/0.11.0, ClaudeCode/1.0). Version is optional — agent name alone is fine. Do not omit this header or send a bare default — Cloudflare will return a 403 (error code 1010) and block the request.

API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: transcriptapi.com/openapi.json — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

Video Data (transcript + metadata) — 1 credit

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=json&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Response:

{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 18.0, "duration": 3.5 }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "author_name": "Rick Astley",
    "author_url": "https://www.youtube.com/@RickAstley",
    "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dQw4w9WgXcQ/maxresdefault.jpg"
  }
}

Search Data — 1 credit

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=video&limit=20" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Video result fields: videoId, title, channelId, channelTitle, channelHandle, channelVerified, lengthText, viewCountText, publishedTimeText, hasCaptions, thumbnails

Channel result fields (type=channel): channelId, title, handle, url, description, subscriberCount, verified, rssUrl, thumbnails

Channel Data

Channel endpoints accept channel — an @handle, channel URL, or UC... ID. No need to resolve first.

Resolve handle to ID (free):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Returns: {"channel_id": "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q", "resolved_from": "@TED"}

Latest 15 videos with exact stats (free):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Returns: channel info, results array with videoId, title, published (ISO), viewCount (exact number), description, thumbnail

All channel videos (paginated, 1 credit/page):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Returns 100 videos per page + continuation_token for pagination.

Search within channel (1 credit):

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/search\
?channel=@TED&q=QUERY&limit=30" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Playlist Data — 1 credit/page

Accepts playlist — a YouTube playlist URL or playlist ID.

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos?playlist=PL_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" \
  -H "User-Agent: YourAgent/1.0"

Returns: results (videos), playlist_info (title, numVideos, ownerName, viewCount), continuation_token, has_more

Credit Costs

Errors

Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.