Smithery is now a part of Arcade.dev! Read more in our announcement here
Reach for this when YouTube data is needed and Google's Data API is the obstacle: no quota units, no OAuth consent screens, one Bearer key...
YouTube API access via TranscriptOut.com: no Google quota needed.
If $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY is not set, read references/auth-setup.md and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.
Every request carries these headers:
Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEYyoutube-skills/youtube-api, so TranscriptOut knows the call came from this skillEvery response is one JSON envelope. Success: {"ok": true, "request_id": "...", "data": {...}}. Error: {"ok": false, "code": "...", "detail": "...", "request_id": "..."}. Branch on the machine-readable code, not on the human text. The remaining credit balance rides in the X-Credits-Remaining response header.
Base URL: https://api.transcriptout.com/v1. Full reference with the latest parameters and schemas: transcriptout.com/docs.
| Endpoint | What it returns | Cost |
|---|---|---|
GET /v1/transcript |
transcript of one video (json/text/srt/vtt/srv3) |
1 |
GET /v1/video |
title, channel, duration, views + available caption languages | 1 |
GET /v1/search |
YouTube search, videos or channels | 1/page |
GET /v1/channel/latest |
~15 newest uploads of a channel | 1 |
GET /v1/channel/videos |
full upload history, paginated | 1/page |
GET /v1/channel/search |
native relevance search inside a channel | 1/page |
GET /v1/playlist/videos |
playlist contents, paginated | 1/page |
GET /v1/playlist/search |
title-substring search inside a playlist | 1 |
POST /v1/transcripts |
asynchronous bulk job, up to 4,000 videos | 1 per video |
GET /v1/transcripts/{id} + /results |
job progress and results | free |
# A transcript with metadata
GET https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/transcript?video=dQw4w9WgXcQ&format=text&video_metadata=true
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY
X-Client: youtube-skills/youtube-api
# Search
GET https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/search?q=rust+lifetimes&limit=10
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY
X-Client: youtube-skills/youtube-api
# A channel's uploads
GET https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/channel/videos?name=@3blue1brown
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY
X-Client: youtube-skills/youtube-api
# A playlist
GET https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/playlist/videos?id=PLAYLIST_URL
Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY
X-Client: youtube-skills/youtube-api
| Code | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 400/422 | Bad parameter | Fix the request. Credit refunded automatically |
| 401 | Bad or missing API key | Check the key. It must start with sk_ |
| 402 | Out of credits | transcriptout.com/billing |
| 404 | No captions on that language/track, or bad ID | Definitive answer, do not retry. Try another lang or kind=auto. Billed |
| 410 | Video removed | Do not retry |
| 451 | Age-restricted or members-only | Do not retry |
| 429 | Rate limit (200 req/min per key) | Wait, respect Retry-After. Refunded |
| 502 | Failed on YouTube's side | One retry is reasonable. Billed |
| 503 | Service at capacity | Retry after Retry-After. Refunded |
Every error body carries a machine-readable code and a request_id. Include the request_id when contacting support.
Every request in this file as a ready-to-run one-liner: references/curl-examples.md
