ytcap

CLI for fetching YouTube video metadata and transcripts.

Install

npm install
python3 -m pip install --user yt-dlp youtube-transcript-api
npm run build

On Windows, use py instead of python3 if needed:

npm install
py -m pip install --user yt-dlp youtube-transcript-api
npm run build

Usage

Check local runtime:

node dist/src/index.js doctor --format json

Fetch a video's metadata and transcript:

node dist/src/index.js fetch --url "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" --lang en --format json

Global install from npm:

npm install -g @illidian/ytcap --registry https://registry.npmjs.org/

The command writes output under youtube-output/<video-id>/:

• metadata.json
• transcript.json
• transcript.txt

Proxy

If your machine reaches YouTube through a local proxy, set standard proxy environment variables before running the CLI:

export HTTP_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:7890
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:7890

PowerShell:

$env:HTTP_PROXY='http://127.0.0.1:7890'
$env:HTTPS_PROXY='http://127.0.0.1:7890'

Commands

ytcap doctor [--format json|table|yaml]
ytcap fetch --url <youtube-url> [--lang <language>] [--output <directory>] [--format json|table|yaml]