/watch — YouTube → Knowledge Pipeline
Eyes that see. Ears that listen. Knowledge that stays.
Extract transcripts from YouTube videos using yt-dlp, then optionally pipe through /learn for deep analysis.
Usage
/watch <url> # Extract CC + summarize /watch <url> --raw # Extract CC only, save raw SRT /watch <url> --learn # Extract CC → /learn --deep pipeline /watch <url> --summary # Extract CC → concise summary only
Step 0: Validate & Detect
bashdate "+🕐 %H:%M %Z (%A %d %B %Y)" && ORACLE_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null) if [ -n "$ORACLE_ROOT" ] && [ -f "$ORACLE_ROOT/CLAUDE.md" ] && { [ -d "$ORACLE_ROOT/ψ" ] || [ -L "$ORACLE_ROOT/ψ" ]; }; then PSI="$ORACLE_ROOT/ψ" else ORACLE_ROOT="$(pwd)" PSI="$ORACLE_ROOT/ψ" fi
Check yt-dlp
bashif command -v yt-dlp &>/dev/null; then YTDLP="yt-dlp" elif [ -x /tmp/yt-dlp ]; then YTDLP="/tmp/yt-dlp" else echo "⚠️ yt-dlp not found. Install: pip install yt-dlp OR curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /tmp/yt-dlp && chmod +x /tmp/yt-dlp" exit 1 fi
Validate URL
Extract video ID from URL. Accept:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXhttps://youtu.be/XXXXXhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXX
bashVIDEO_URL="$1" VIDEO_ID=$(echo "$VIDEO_URL" | grep -oP '(?:v=|youtu\.be/)[\w-]{11}' | head -1 | sed 's/v=//') if [ -z "$VIDEO_ID" ]; then echo "❌ Invalid YouTube URL: $VIDEO_URL" exit 1 fi echo "🎬 Video ID: $VIDEO_ID"
Step 1: Extract Video Metadata
bash$YTDLP --print title --print duration_string --print channel --skip-download "$VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null
Save as variables: TITLE, DURATION, CHANNEL.
Step 2: Extract Transcript (CC)
Try auto-generated English CC first, fall back to manual subs:
bashTMPDIR=$(mktemp -d) $YTDLP --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --sub-format srt --skip-download -o "$TMPDIR/%(id)s" "$VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null # Check if SRT was downloaded SRT_FILE="$TMPDIR/${VIDEO_ID}.en.srt" if [ ! -f "$SRT_FILE" ]; then # Try manual subs $YTDLP --write-sub --sub-lang en --sub-format srt --skip-download -o "$TMPDIR/%(id)s" "$VIDEO_URL" 2>/dev/null SRT_FILE=$(ls "$TMPDIR"/*.srt 2>/dev/null | head -1) fi if [ ! -f "$SRT_FILE" ]; then echo "❌ No English subtitles found for this video." echo "💡 Try: $YTDLP --list-subs '$VIDEO_URL' to see available languages." exit 1 fi SUB_COUNT=$(grep -c '^[0-9]\+$' "$SRT_FILE") echo "📝 Extracted $SUB_COUNT subtitle blocks"
Step 3: Clean Transcript
Strip SRT formatting (timestamps, numbers, blank lines) into plain text:
bash# Remove SRT formatting → clean text sed '/^[0-9]*$/d; /^$/d; /-->/d' "$SRT_FILE" | sed 's/<[^>]*>//g' | sort -u > "$TMPDIR/clean.txt"
Read the clean transcript.
Step 4: Save & Process (mode-dependent)
Output Directory
bash# Slugify title SLUG=$(echo "$TITLE" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | sed 's/[^a-z0-9]/-/g; s/--*/-/g; s/^-//; s/-$//' | cut -c1-50) DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) OUT_DIR="$PSI/learn/$SLUG/$DATE" mkdir -p "$OUT_DIR"
Mode: --raw
Save raw SRT + clean text only:
bashcp "$SRT_FILE" "$OUT_DIR/raw-cc.srt" cp "$TMPDIR/clean.txt" "$OUT_DIR/transcript.txt"
Output:
✅ Raw transcript saved 📁 $OUT_DIR/raw-cc.srt (SRT) 📁 $OUT_DIR/transcript.txt (clean) 🎬 $TITLE ($DURATION) by $CHANNEL
Mode: --summary (default)
Read the clean transcript and produce a structured analysis:
markdown# [TITLE] **Source**: [YouTube URL] **Duration**: [DURATION] | **Channel**: [CHANNEL] **Extracted**: [DATE] via yt-dlp CC + Oracle analysis --- ## Thesis [1-2 sentence core argument] ## Timestamped Summary [Key points with timestamps from SRT] ## Key Quotes [5-10 most important quotes] ## Relevance [How this connects to our work — skills, fleet, philosophy]
Save to $OUT_DIR/analysis.md + raw files.
Mode: --learn
Save raw files, then invoke the full /learn pipeline:
💡 Transcript extracted. Piping to /learn --deep...
Create a temporary markdown file with the full transcript content, then use it as input for deep analysis. The /learn pipeline will produce the full 5-document deep study.
Step 5: Cleanup
bashrm -rf "$TMPDIR"
Rules
- Never download video — subtitles only (
--skip-downloadalways) - Oracle root — detect before writing to ψ/
- English first — try
enauto-subs, then manual, then fail with language hint - Clean text — strip SRT formatting before analysis
- Credit source — always include YouTube URL, channel, and extraction date
- No redistribution — transcript stays in local ψ/ vault, never committed to public repos
ARGUMENTS: $ARGUMENTS


