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Manually add individual YouTube URLs to a custom collection CSV. Use when adding one-off videos to folders like library-of-minds or random, not from a channel extraction.
Why? Curated collections contain videos from multiple sources—manually editing CSVs causes formatting bugs and duplicates. This skill uses the CLI to add videos safely.
ytscriber add "<youtube-url>" --folder <collection>
[!IMPORTANT] Always quote URLs to prevent shell interpretation of
?and&characters.
| Collection | Description |
|---|---|
| library-of-minds | Thought leaders, interviews, educational content |
| random | Miscellaneous, one-off interesting content |
| (custom) | Any folder name you specify |
Determine which collection the video belongs to:
| If the video is... | Use collection |
|---|---|
| Thought leader, interview, educational | library-of-minds |
| Miscellaneous, one-off interesting content | random |
| User specifies a collection | Use that collection |
ytscriber add "<youtube-url>" --folder <collection>
[!CAUTION] NEVER manually edit CSV files to add videos. Always use
ytscriber addto ensure proper formatting and duplicate detection.
Examples:
# Add to library-of-minds
ytscriber add "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" --folder library-of-minds
# Add to random collection
ytscriber add "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" --folder random
# Verbose output for debugging
ytscriber add "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0" --folder random -v
| Output | Meaning |
|---|---|
Added video XXX to ... |
Success — video was added |
Video XXX already exists in ... |
Duplicate — no action needed |
| Error message | See Troubleshooting below |
After adding, ask the user if they want to download the transcript:
ytscriber download --folder <collection>
| Problem | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
command not found: ytscriber |
CLI not installed | Run pip install -e . from project root |
Invalid YouTube URL |
Malformed URL | Use full URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID |
Permission denied |
File permissions | Check write access to data directory |
| Video not appearing in CSV | Silent failure | Run with -v flag to see debug output |
? as glob. Always wrap URLs in double quotes.youtu.be/XXX works, but full youtube.com/watch?v=XXX is preferred.ytscriber download separately.What the CLI handles automatically:
Metadata populated during transcript download:
