YouTube Playlist

Browse playlists and fetch transcripts via TranscriptAPI.com.

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 ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. See File Writes below for details. Existing file is backed up before modification.

Manual option: transcriptapi.com/signup → Dashboard → API Keys.

File Writes

The verify and save-key commands save the API key to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (sets skills.entries.transcriptapi.apiKey and enabled: true). Existing file is backed up to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak before modification.

To use the API key in terminal/CLI outside the agent, add to your shell profile manually:

export TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY=

API Reference

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

GET /api/v2/youtube/playlist/videos — 1 credit/page

Paginated playlist video listing (100 per page). Accepts playlist — a YouTube playlist URL or playlist ID.

# 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 |

Provide exactly one of playlist or continuation, not both.

Accepted playlist ID prefixes:

• PL — user-created playlists
• UU — channel uploads playlist
• LL — liked videos
• FL — favorites
• OL — other system playlists

Response:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "videoId": "abc123xyz00",
      "title": "Playlist Video Title",
      "channelId": "UCuAXFkgsw1L7xaCfnd5JJOw",
      "channelTitle": "Channel Name",
      "channelHandle": "@handle",
      "lengthText": "10:05",
      "viewCountText": "1.5M views",
      "thumbnails": [{ "url": "...", "width": 120, "height": 90 }],
      "index": "0"
    }
  ],
  "playlist_info": {
    "title": "Best Science Talks",
    "numVideos": "47",
    "description": "Top science presentations",
    "ownerName": "TED",
    "viewCount": "5000000"
  },
  "continuation_token": "4qmFsgKlARIYVVV1...",
  "has_more": true
}

Pagination flow:

1. First request: ?playlist=PLxxx — returns first 100 videos + continuation_token
2. Next request: ?continuation=TOKEN — returns next 100 + new token
3. Repeat until has_more: false or continuation_token: null

Workflow: Playlist → Transcripts

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

# 2. Get transcript from a video in the playlist
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_ID&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Extract playlist ID from URL

From https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf, the playlist ID is PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf. You can also pass the full URL directly to the playlist parameter.

Errors

| Code | Meaning | Action |

| ---- | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |

| 400 | Both or neither params | Provide exactly one of playlist or continuation |

| 402 | No credits | transcriptapi.com/billing |

| 404 | Playlist not found | Check if playlist is public |

| 408 | Timeout | Retry once |

| 422 | Invalid playlist format | Must be a valid playlist URL or ID |

1 credit per page. Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min.