Skill176 repo starsupdated 3d ago

yt-dlp

This Claude Code skill provides a command-line wrapper for yt-dlp, enabling users to download YouTube videos in multiple formats (MP4, audio-only MP3) and extract subtitles or transcripts. Use this when you need to programmatically retrieve video content, audio tracks, or automatically generated captions from YouTube URLs for processing or archival purposes.

View source Repository: safeclaw

Install in Claude Code

Copy

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ykdojo/safeclaw /tmp/yt-dlp && cp -r /tmp/yt-dlp/setup/skills/yt-dlp ~/.claude/skills/yt-dlp

Then start a new Claude Code session; the skill loads automatically.

Definition

SKILL.md

# yt-dlp

Download YouTube videos, audio, and subtitles/transcripts.

## Setup

Check if yt-dlp is installed, and download it if not:

```bash
if ! command -v yt-dlp &>/dev/null && [ ! -f ~/yt-dlp ]; then
  curl -sL https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o ~/yt-dlp && chmod +x ~/yt-dlp
fi
```

Then use `~/yt-dlp` (or just `yt-dlp` if installed globally).

## Examples

Download subtitles/transcript:
```bash
~/yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download -o "/tmp/%(id)s" <url>
```

Download audio only:
```bash
~/yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 -o "/tmp/%(title)s.%(ext)s" <url>
```

Download video:
```bash
~/yt-dlp -o "/tmp/%(title)s.%(ext)s" <url>
```

Get video info (title, duration, description):
```bash
~/yt-dlp --print title --print duration_string --print description --no-download <url>
```

## Notes

- Subtitles are saved as `.vtt` files - read them to get the transcript
- Use `/tmp/` for downloads to avoid cluttering the working directory