YouTube Playlist
Browse playlists and fetch transcripts via TranscriptOut.com.
Setup
If $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY is not set, read references/auth-setup.md and follow the instructions there to get and store the key.
Required Header
Every request carries these headers:
- Authorization:
Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY - X-Client:
youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist, so TranscriptOut knows the call came from this skill
Every response is one JSON envelope. Success: {"ok": true, "request_id": "...", "data": {...}}. Error: {"ok": false, "code": "...", "detail": "...", "request_id": "..."}. Branch on the machine-readable code, not on the human text. The remaining credit balance rides in the X-Credits-Remaining response header.
API Reference
Base URL: https://api.transcriptout.com/v1. Full reference with the latest parameters and schemas: transcriptout.com/docs.
GET /v1/playlist/videos · 1 credit/page
Every video of a playlist, in playlist order.
bash# First page (100 videos) curl -s "https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/playlist/videos?id=PL_ID_OR_URL" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY" \ -H "X-Client: youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist" # Next pages curl -s "https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/playlist/videos?next_page_token=TOKEN" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY" \ -H "X-Client: youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist" # IDs only, 500 per page (feed these into the bulk job) curl -s "https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/playlist/videos?id=PL_ID_OR_URL&ids_only=true" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY" \ -H "X-Client: youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist"
id accepts a PL... playlist ID or any URL with list=. limit goes up to 100, or up to 500 with ids_only=true. The response carries playlist, title, count, videos[] (or video_ids[]), next_page_token and has_more.
GET /v1/playlist/search · 1 credit
Find videos inside a playlist by a substring of the title (case-insensitive). YouTube has no native playlist search, so this scans up to 500 playlist items.
bashcurl -s "https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/playlist/search?id=PL_ID_OR_URL&q=QUERY&limit=30" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY" \ -H "X-Client: youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist"
truncated: true in the response means the scan window ended before the playlist did, so there may be more matches.
Workflow: Playlist → Transcripts
For a whole course or series, do not loop single transcript calls: collect the IDs and submit ONE asynchronous job (1 credit per video, up to 4,000).
bash# 1. Collect the playlist's IDs curl -s "https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/playlist/videos?id=PL_ID&ids_only=true" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY" \ -H "X-Client: youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist" # 2. One bulk job for every video curl -s -X POST "https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/transcripts" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY" \ -H "X-Client: youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"videos":["ID1","ID2","..."],"format":"text"}' # 3. Progress and results curl -s "https://api.transcriptout.com/v1/transcripts/JOB_ID" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPTOUT_API_KEY" \ -H "X-Client: youtube-skills-clawhub/youtube-playlist"
Extract a playlist reference from a URL
No extraction needed: id accepts the full URL as pasted (youtube.com/playlist?list=PL..., or a watch URL with list=). A bare PL... ID works too.
Errors
| Code | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 400/422 | Bad parameter | Fix the request. Credit refunded automatically |
| 401 | Bad or missing API key | Check the key. It must start with sk_ |
| 402 | Out of credits | transcriptout.com/billing |
| 404 | No captions on that language/track, or bad ID | Definitive answer, do not retry. Try another lang or kind=auto. Billed |
| 410 | Video removed | Do not retry |
| 451 | Age-restricted or members-only | Do not retry |
| 429 | Rate limit (200 req/min per key) | Wait, respect Retry-After. Refunded |
| 502 | Failed on YouTube's side | One retry is reasonable. Billed |
| 503 | Service at capacity | Retry after Retry-After. Refunded |
Every error body carries a machine-readable code and a request_id. Include the request_id when contacting support.


