youtube-data
Access YouTube video data — transcripts, metadata, channel info, search, and playlists. A lightweight alternative to Google's YouTube Data API with no quota limits. Use when the user needs structured data from YouTube videos, channels, or playlists without dealing with Google API setup, OAuth, or daily quotas.
Why use this skill?
Access YouTube video transcripts, search results, and channel metadata effortlessly with the youtube-data skill for OpenClaw. No API quotas.
Install via CLI (Recommended)
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/therohitdas/youtube-dataWhat This Skill Does
The youtube-data skill provides a powerful, quota-free gateway to YouTube's vast information ecosystem. By leveraging TranscriptAPI.com, this tool allows OpenClaw users to extract video transcripts, rich metadata, channel statistics, and perform targeted searches directly from their terminal or agent interface. Unlike the official Google YouTube Data API, which is often hindered by complex OAuth requirements, project setup, and strict daily request limits, this skill offers a streamlined, developer-friendly experience. It is designed for researchers, content creators, and developers who need programmatic access to video content and metadata without the overhead of enterprise-level authentication.
Installation
To integrate this skill into your OpenClaw environment, execute the following command in your terminal:
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/therohitdas/youtube-data
Once installed, if you do not have an existing API key, the agent will guide you through a simple two-step registration process. You will provide your email address to receive a verification token, which you then submit to finalize your account creation. Your API credentials will be securely stored in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json for persistent access, with an automatic backup created to ensure configuration safety.
Use Cases
- Educational Research: Automatically generate summaries from long-form lecture videos by pulling full transcripts.
- Content Monitoring: Track channel growth, video release frequency, and engagement metrics for specific creators.
- Content Discovery: Build automated workflows to search for trending topics or specific video tutorials across the platform.
- Data Archiving: Collect metadata and transcript data for building datasets or AI training corpora.
Example Prompts
- "Get the transcript for the video at [URL] and summarize the key technical points in bullet points."
- "Search for the latest 10 videos about 'Quantum Computing' from the 'TED' channel and list their titles and views."
- "Look up the channel handle '@veritasium' and give me a summary of their recent activity and total subscriber count."
Tips & Limitations
- Efficiency: Basic operations like resolving channel handles are free. Transcript and detailed metadata lookups consume a single credit, making it an extremely cost-effective choice.
- Safety: Always verify the
~/.openclaw/openclaw.jsonfile if you modify your environment variables manually. - Rate Limits: While this API avoids Google's restrictive quotas, ensure your usage aligns with the terms of service provided by TranscriptAPI.com.
- Connectivity: This skill requires an active internet connection to interact with the external API endpoints.
Metadata
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Find the right skillPaste this into your clawhub.json to enable this plugin.
{
"plugins": {
"official-therohitdas-youtube-data": {
"enabled": true,
"auto_update": true
}
}
}Tags(AI)
Flags: network-access, file-write, file-read, external-api
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