YouTube Transcript CLI

A command-line application to extract transcripts from YouTube videos using video URLs or video IDs.

Features

• Extract transcripts from YouTube videos
• Support for both YouTube URLs and video IDs
• Optional timestamp formatting
• Standalone executable generation

Installation

bun install

Building the Executable

To create a standalone executable:

# For Windows
bun run build:win

# For other platforms
bun run build

This will create an executable in the bin/ folder.

Usage

Using the TypeScript source directly:

bun src/transcript.ts <youtube-url-or-video-id> [options]

Using the compiled executable:

# Windows
bin/transcript.exe <youtube-url-or-video-id> [options]

# Other platforms
bin/transcript <youtube-url-or-video-id> [options]

Options

• --timestamps, -t: Include timestamps in the output
• --help, -h: Show help message

Examples

# Using video ID
bin/transcript.exe dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Using full YouTube URL
bin/transcript.exe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

# With timestamps
bin/transcript.exe dQw4w9WgXcQ --timestamps

Scripts

• bun run build: Build executable for current platform
• bun run build:win: Build Windows executable (.exe)
• bun run clean: Remove build artifacts

This project was created using bun init in bun v1.2.18. Bun is a fast all-in-one JavaScript runtime.