youtube-search
Search YouTube for videos and channels, search within specific channels, then fetch transcripts. Use when the user asks to "find videos about X", "search YouTube for", "look up a channel", "who makes videos about", "find on youtube", or wants to discover YouTube content on a topic.
Why use this skill?
Integrate YouTube search and transcript fetching into your OpenClaw agent. Easily find videos, discover channels, and analyze transcript data with this skill.
Install via CLI (Recommended)
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/therohitdas/youtube-searchWhat This Skill Does
The youtube-search skill empowers your OpenClaw agent to interact directly with the YouTube platform. It enables the agent to perform granular searches for specific videos or entire channels using the TranscriptAPI service. Beyond simple discovery, the primary value of this skill is its ability to fetch transcripts, allowing the agent to "read" the content of a video, summarize its findings, and answer questions based on the spoken audio. This transforms your agent from a simple search tool into a powerful research assistant capable of processing multimedia information.
Installation
To integrate this skill, run the following command in your terminal: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/therohitdas/youtube-search. Upon installation, the skill requires an active TranscriptAPI key. If you do not have one, the agent will guide you through a registration flow via the ./scripts/tapi-auth.js helper. The agent will ask for your email to send a verification code. Once verified, the API key is securely saved to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json, with a backup created at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak to ensure system integrity. For users preferring manual configuration, you may generate an API key at transcriptapi.com and manually set the TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY environment variable in your shell profile.
Use Cases
This skill is ideal for content creators, researchers, and students. Use it to quickly find tutorials, keep up with niche content creators, or extract information from long-form video content without having to watch the entire clip. It is particularly useful for identifying channels that cover specific subjects and generating summaries from transcript data retrieved via the integrated API.
Example Prompts
- "Find videos about quantum computing for beginners on YouTube and summarize the first one."
- "Search for the channel 'Veritasium' and tell me what their latest video is about."
- "Who makes videos about open-source artificial intelligence? List the top channels."
Tips & Limitations
- The skill consumes 1 credit per search request through the TranscriptAPI. Keep an eye on your credit usage if performing bulk operations.
- Ensure your
~/.openclaw/openclaw.jsonfile is correctly formatted if you are modifying it manually. - The search accuracy depends on the query specificity; for better results, include channel names or keywords in your prompts.
- Be aware that not all videos have transcripts available; if a video lacks closed captions, the fetch process may fail. Use this skill primarily for content where transcripts are enabled.
Metadata
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Find the right skillPaste this into your clawhub.json to enable this plugin.
{
"plugins": {
"official-therohitdas-youtube-search": {
"enabled": true,
"auto_update": true
}
}
}Tags(AI)
Flags: network-access, file-write, external-api
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