TranscriptAPI Full YouTube data toolkit via TranscriptAPI.com . Transcripts, search, channels, playlists — one API key. Setup If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, help the user create an account (100 free credits, no card): Step 1 — Register: Ask user for their email. node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js register --email USER_EMAIL → OTP sent to email. Ask user: "Check your email for a 6-digit verification code." Step 2 — Verify: Once user provides the OTP: node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js verify --token TOKEN_FROM_STEP_1 --otp CODE API key saved to your shell profile and agent config. Ready to use. Manual option: transcriptapi.com/signup → Dashboard → API Keys. API Reference Full OpenAPI spec: transcriptapi.com/openapi.json — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas. Auth All requests: -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY" Endpoints Channel endpoints accept channel — an @handle , channel URL, or UC... ID. No need to resolve first. Playlist endpoints accept playlist — a playlist URL or ID. GET /api/v2/youtube/transcript — 1 credit curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\ ?video_url=VIDEO_URL&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY " Param Required Default Validation video_url yes — YouTube URL or 11-char video ID format no json json or text include_timestamp no true true or false send_metadata no false true or false Accepts: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ID , https://youtu.be/ID , youtube.com/shorts/ID , or bare ID . Response ( format=json ): { "video_id" : "dQw4w9WgXcQ" , "language" : "en" , "transcript" : [ { "text" : "We're no strangers..." , "start" : 18.0 , "duration" : 3.5 } ] , "metadata" : { "title" : "..." , "author_name" : "..." , "author_url" : "..." } } GET /api/v2/youtube/search — 1 credit curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/search?q=QUERY&type=video&limit=20" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY " Param Required Default Validation q yes — 1-200 chars (trimmed) type no video video or channel limit no 20 1-50 Response ( type=video ): { "results" : [ { "type" : "video" , "videoId" : "dQw4w9WgXcQ" , "title" : "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up" , "channelId" : "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw" , "channelTitle" : "Rick Astley" , "channelHandle" : "@RickAstley" , "channelVerified" : true , "lengthText" : "3:33" , "viewCountText" : "1.5B views" , "publishedTimeText" : "14 years ago" , "hasCaptions" : true , "thumbnails" : [ { "url" : "..." , "width" : 120 , "height" : 90 } ] } ] , "result_count" : 20 } Response ( type=channel ): { "results" : [ { "type" : "channel" , "channelId" : "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw" , "title" : "Rick Astley" , "handle" : "@RickAstley" , "subscriberCount" : "4.2M subscribers" , "verified" : true , "rssUrl" : "https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC..." } ] , "result_count" : 5 } GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve — FREE (0 credits) curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY " Param Required Validation input yes 1-200 chars — @handle, URL, or UC... ID Response: { "channel_id" : "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q" , "resolved_from" : "@TED" } If input is already a valid UC[a-zA-Z0-9_-]{22} ID, returns immediately without lookup. GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/videos — 1 credit/page

First page (100 videos)

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

Next pages

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?continuation=TOKEN" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY " Param Required Validation channel conditional @handle , channel URL, or UC... ID continuation conditional non-empty string (next pages) Provide exactly one of channel or continuation . Response: { "results" : [ { "videoId" : "abc123xyz00" , "title" : "Latest Video" , "channelId" : "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q" , "channelTitle" : "TED" , "channelHandle" : "@TED" , "lengthText" : "15:22" , "viewCountText" : "3.2M views" , "thumbnails" : [ ... ] , "index" : "0" } ] , "playlist_info" : { "title" : "Uploads from TED" , "numVideos" : "5000" } , "continuation_token" : "4qmFsgKlARIYVVV1..." , "has_more" : true } GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/latest — FREE (0 credits) curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY " Param Required Validation channel yes @handle , channel URL, or UC... ID Returns last 15 videos via RSS with exact view counts and ISO timestamps. Response: { "channel" : { "channelId" : "..." , "title" : "TED" , "author" : "TED" , "url" : "..." } , "results" : [ { "videoId" : "abc123xyz00" , "title" : "Latest Video" , "published" : "2026-01-30T16:00:00Z" , "viewCount" : "2287630" , "description" : "Full description..." , "thumbnail" : { "url" : "..." , "width" : "480" , "height" : "360" } } ] , "result_count" : 15 } GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/search — 1 credit curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/search\ ?channel=@TED&q=climate+change&limit=30" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY " Param Required Validation channel yes @handle , channel URL, or UC... ID q yes 1-200 chars limit no 1-50 (default 30) GET /api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos — 1 credit/page

First page

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos?playlist=PL_PLAYLIST_ID" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY "

Next pages

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos?continuation=TOKEN" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY " Param Required Validation playlist conditional Playlist URL or ID ( PL / UU / LL / FL / OL prefix) continuation conditional non-empty string Credit Costs Endpoint Cost transcript 1 search 1 channel/resolve free channel/search 1 channel/videos 1/page channel/latest free playlist/videos 1/page Errors Code Meaning Action 401 Bad API key Check key, re-run setup 402 No credits Top up at transcriptapi.com/billing 404 Not found Video/channel/playlist doesn't exist or no captions 408 Timeout/retryable Retry once after 2s 422 Validation error Check param format 429 Rate limited Wait, respect Retry-After Tips When user shares YouTube URL with no instruction, fetch transcript and summarize key points. Use channel/latest (free) to check for new uploads before fetching transcripts — pass @handle directly. For research: search → pick videos → fetch transcripts. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min. Starter ($5/mo): 1,000 credits, 300 req/min.