YouTube Transcripts

Setup

Set your SearchAPI key in .env:

SEARCHAPI_API_KEY=your_searchapi_key

Basic Usage

Get the full transcript as a single string:

from SimplerLLM.tools.youtube import get_youtube_transcript

transcript = get_youtube_transcript("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID")
print(transcript)  # "First sentence. Second sentence. Third sentence."

With Timing

Get the transcript with start time and duration for each segment:

from SimplerLLM.tools.youtube import get_youtube_transcript_with_timing

transcript = get_youtube_transcript_with_timing("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID")

for segment in transcript.segments:
    print(f"[{segment.start:.1f}s] {segment.text}")

Functions

Function	Returns	Description
get_youtube_transcript(video_url)	str	Full transcript as a single string with periods added
get_youtube_transcript_with_timing(video_url)	Transcript	Transcript with timing data per segment

Both functions accept the same parameter:

Parameter	Type	Description
video_url	str	YouTube video URL

Response Format

get_youtube_transcript_with_timing() returns a Transcript object:

transcript = get_youtube_transcript_with_timing("https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID")

print(len(transcript.segments))        # Number of segments

segment = transcript.segments[0]
print(segment.text)                    # "Hello and welcome"
print(segment.start)                   # 0.0 (seconds)
print(segment.duration)                # 2.5 (seconds)

Field	Type	Description
Transcript.segments	List[TranscriptSegment]	List of transcript segments
TranscriptSegment.text	str	Segment text content
TranscriptSegment.start	float	Start time in seconds
TranscriptSegment.duration	float	Duration in seconds

Supported URL Formats

Both standard and shortened YouTube URLs work:

# Standard
get_youtube_transcript("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID")

# Shortened
get_youtube_transcript("https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID")