n8n-nodes-youtube-transcript

This is an n8n community node that fetches transcripts (captions) from YouTube videos.

n8n is a fair-code licensed workflow automation platform.

Features

• Fetch transcripts from any YouTube video that has captions
• Support for multiple languages
• Output as full text or timed segments
• Automatic video ID extraction from URLs
• Graceful error handling

Installation

Community Node Installation (Recommended)

1. Go to Settings > Community Nodes in your n8n instance
2. Select Install
3. Enter n8n-nodes-youtube-transcript
4. Click Install

Manual Installation

cd ~/.n8n/custom
npm install n8n-nodes-youtube-transcript

Then restart n8n.

Operations

Get Transcript

Fetches the transcript/captions from a YouTube video.

Parameters:

• Video ID or URL: The YouTube video ID (e.g., dQw4w9WgXcQ) or full URL
• Language: Language code for the transcript (default: en)
• Output Format:
  • Full Text - Returns transcript as a single text string
  • Segments - Returns array of timed segments with start time and duration

Output:

{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "hasTranscript": true,
  "transcript": "The full transcript text...",
  "wordCount": 1234,
  "segmentCount": 156
}

Supported URL Formats

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
• https://youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID
• Plain video ID: VIDEO_ID

Error Handling

If a video doesn't have a transcript available, the node returns:

{
  "videoId": "...",
  "hasTranscript": false,
  "error": "No transcript available for this video",
  "transcript": "",
  "wordCount": 0
}

Enable "Continue On Fail" in the node settings to process multiple videos even if some fail.

Limitations

• This node uses YouTube's unofficial transcript API
• Only works with videos that have captions enabled
• Auto-generated captions may have accuracy issues
• Rate limiting may apply for high-volume usage

License

MIT

Resources

• n8n Community Nodes Documentation
• youtube-transcript npm package