Package Exports
- yt-transcript-kit
Readme
yt-transcript-kit
Lightweight YouTube transcript extraction for apps that want transcript text first, then decide what to do with it.
What it does
- Accepts a YouTube URL or video ID
- Resolves caption tracks
- Fetches transcript text and timestamped segments
- Returns plain data with typed errors
What it does not do
- It does not summarize the page
- It does not answer questions for you
- It does not bundle audio transcription fallback yet
Install
npm install yt-transcript-kitWorks well in
- Node.js CLIs
- React Native apps
- browser extensions
Less reliable in
- regular browser websites without a backend proxy
Direct YouTube requests in normal websites can run into browser CORS restrictions.
Usage
import { fetchYouTubeTranscript } from 'yt-transcript-kit';
const transcript = await fetchYouTubeTranscript('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ');
console.log(transcript.title);
console.log(transcript.fullText);
console.log(transcript.segments[0]);Returned shape
type YouTubeTranscriptResult = {
videoId: string;
title: string | null;
languageCode: string;
languageLabel: string | null;
isGenerated: boolean;
source: 'youtube_caption_track';
fullText: string;
segments: Array<{
text: string;
offset: number;
duration: number;
}>;
}Error handling
import {
fetchYouTubeTranscript,
YouTubeTranscriptError,
} from 'yt-transcript-kit';
try {
const result = await fetchYouTubeTranscript('dQw4w9WgXcQ');
console.log(result.fullText);
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof YouTubeTranscriptError) {
console.error(error.code, error.message);
}
}Local smoke test
npm install
npm run smoke
npx tsx scripts/smoke.ts "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqN_ItMqovA"