KIH YouTube Transcript

Fetch transcripts from YouTube videos
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Overview

The "KIH YouTube Transcript" node fetches the transcript of a specified YouTube video. It is useful for extracting subtitles or spoken content from videos, enabling further processing such as text analysis, translation, or content summarization. For example, users can input a YouTube URL to retrieve the full transcript with timestamps, just the plain text, or a formatted version with timestamps for easier reading.

Properties

Name Meaning
YouTube URL The URL of the YouTube video to fetch the transcript from.
Options Collection of additional options:
- Output Format Choose the format of the transcript output:
• Full Data: transcript with timestamps and metadata
• Text Only: combined text without timestamps
• Formatted: formatted text with timestamps
- Language Optional language code (e.g., "en", "de", "fr") to specify the transcript language if available.

Output

The node outputs an array of JSON objects, each corresponding to an input item. The structure depends on the selected output format:

  • Full Data (default): 

    {
  "transcript": [ { "start": number, "text": string, ... }, ... ],
  "fullText": "string",
  "videoId": "string",
  "url": "string",
  "totalItems": number
}

    Contains the full transcript array with timestamps and metadata, the complete text, video ID, original URL, and total transcript items count.

  • Text Only: 

    {
  "text": "string",
  "videoId": "string",
  "url": "string"
}

    Returns only the combined transcript text without any timestamps.

  • Formatted: 

    {
  "formattedText": "[mm:ss] text\n[mm:ss] text\n...",
  "videoId": "string",
  "url": "string"
}

    Provides a human-readable formatted string where each line starts with a timestamp in [minutes:seconds] format followed by the text.

No binary data output is produced by this node.

Dependencies

  • This node relies on an external API endpoint at https://api.ki-h.net/api/youtube-transcript to fetch the transcript data.
  • No internal API keys or credentials are required within the node itself, but internet access is necessary.
  • No special n8n environment variables or configurations are needed beyond standard HTTP request capabilities.

Troubleshooting

  • Common Issues:

    • Invalid or malformed YouTube URL may cause the API to fail fetching the transcript.
    • If the requested language is not available, the transcript might be missing or incomplete.
    • Network connectivity issues can prevent successful API calls.

  • Error Messages:

    • "Failed to fetch transcript: <error message>": Indicates the external API returned an error or was unreachable. Verify the URL and network connection.
    • Unknown errors will be reported with their message; enabling "Continue On Fail" allows processing subsequent items despite failures.

Links and References

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