YouTube Summary (youtube2md)

Use the official youtube2md CLI behavior from the repository.

Runtime + security prerequisites

• Require Node.js 18+.
• Require preinstalled youtube2md on PATH.
• Recommended pinned install: npm i -g youtube2md@1.0.1
• Require python3 for transcript text preparation (prepare.py) in extract mode.
• Default runner uses local youtube2md executable only.
• Runtime npm execution (npx) is intentionally not supported in this skill.
• The YOUTUBE2MD_BIN environment variable override is rejected by the runner.
• OPENAI_API_KEY enables full summarization mode; transcript/content may be sent to OpenAI through youtube2md’s workflow.
• For sensitive content, omit OPENAI_API_KEY and use extract mode.
• In sensitive environments, audit the upstream youtube2md package and dependencies before installation or version bumps.

See references/security.md before first-time install/enable.

Workflow

1. Validate input

• Accept youtube.com and youtu.be URLs.
• If URLs are missing, ask for one URL per line.

1. Choose mode

• Full mode: generates Markdown.
• Use when OPENAI_API_KEY is available and external API use is acceptable.
• Extract mode (--extract-only): outputs transcript JSON and prepares transcript text (.txt).
• Use when API key is unavailable or when transcript-only output is requested.
• Prefer a no-error path: check key first and run extract directly when key is missing.

1. Run converter

• Preferred runner script:
• scripts/run_youtube2md.sh full [output_md_path] [language] [model]
• If OPENAI_API_KEY is missing, runner auto-falls back to extract mode by default.
• scripts/run_youtube2md.sh extract [output_json_path]
• Optional machine-readable CLI output:
• YOUTUBE2MD_JSON=1 scripts/run_youtube2md.sh full
• YOUTUBE2MD_JSON=1 scripts/run_youtube2md.sh extract
• Runtime controls:
• Use only locally installed youtube2md executable.
• Do not use runtime npm execution (npx) for this skill.
• Direct CLI equivalent:
• youtube2md --url [--out ] [--lang ] [--model ]
• Add --extract-only for transcript-only mode.

1. Verify output

• Full mode: Markdown file exists and is non-empty.
• Extract mode: JSON file exists and is non-empty.
• Extract mode: prepared TXT file exists and is non-empty.
• If using --json, parse ok: true/false and handle error code.

1. Respond to the user

• Follow references/output-format.md as the default response shape.
• Follow references/summarization-behavior.md for source policy and chapter/takeaway density.
• Do not include generated local file path(s) in normal user-facing replies.
• Share file paths only when explicitly requested by the user (e.g., debugging/export workflows).
• Summary source policy:
• Full mode succeeded → use youtube2md Markdown output as the summary source.
• Non-full mode (extract) → use prepared .txt transcript text as the summary source.
• Keep user-facing flow smooth: if key is missing, use extract output and summarize from .txt without surfacing avoidable tool-error noise.

Multi-video requests

• Process URLs sequentially.
• Return per-video summary results (omit local file paths unless requested).
• If any fail, report successful items first, then failures with fixes.

Built-in behavior to trust

• Default output paths:
• Full mode: ./summaries/.md
• Extract mode: ./summaries/.json
• Local runner post-process (extract): ./summaries/.txt via prepare.py

Packaging hygiene

• Do not publish generated outputs (e.g., summaries/.json, summaries/.txt) inside the skill folder.
• Keep only source files (SKILL.md, scripts/, references/, helpers) in release artifacts.

Resources

• CLI runner: scripts/run_youtube2md.sh
• Transcript text prep: prepare.py
• Output guidance: references/output-format.md
• Behavior reference: references/summarization-behavior.md
• Security/install notes: references/security.md
• Troubleshooting and error codes: references/troubleshooting.md