Youtube Transcript

YouTube Transcript

Overview

Extract YouTube video transcripts, metadata, and chapters using yt-dlp. Output formatted as Markdown with YAML frontmatter, saved to ~/Brains/brain/ (Obsidian vault).

Quick Start

To extract a transcript from a YouTube video:

python scripts/extract_transcript.py <youtube_url>

Optional: Specify custom output filename:

python scripts/extract_transcript.py <youtube_url> custom_filename.md

Output Format

YAML Frontmatter

The generated Markdown includes comprehensive metadata:

• title - Video title
• channel - Channel name
• url - YouTube URL
• upload_date - Upload date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• duration - Video duration (HH:MM:SS)
• description - Video description (truncated to 500 chars)
• tags - Array of video tags
• view_count - View count
• like_count - Like count

Body Structure

Transcript organized by video chapters (if available):

## Chapter Title

**00:05:23** Transcript text for this segment.

**00:05:45** Next segment text.

If no chapters exist, all content appears under "## Transcript" heading.

Timestamps formatted as HH:MM:SS for consistency.

Workflow