# YouTube Transcript Engine — Subtitles & Captions API (`brick_joey_yto/youtube-transcript-engine`) Actor

Batch YouTube transcripts & subtitles — video URLs, whole channels, keyword search, channel watch. Multi-client fallback + rotating proxy retry for reliability. $0.001/video.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/brick_joey_yto/youtube-transcript-engine.md
- **Developed by:** [William Billings](https://apify.com/brick_joey_yto) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Videos, Developer tools
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Transcript Engine — Subtitles & Captions API

**Transcripts at pipeline scale** — batch video URLs, entire channels, or keyword search → clean timestamped transcript rows. Built for AI workloads: RAG ingestion, LLM fine-tuning, summarization, media monitoring. No API key needed.

### Who it's for

- **AI/LLM builders** — bulk transcript ingestion for RAG, training data, and summarization pipelines
- **Media monitoring** — watch channels, auto-transcript every new upload on a schedule
- **Researchers & analysts** — searchable text of talks, interviews, briefings at scale
- **Content teams** — transcripts for repurposing, SEO, and accessibility

### Why this one

YouTube gates captions per client and the gates move — single-client scrapers break weekly (that's why the biggest incumbents run double-digit failure rates). This engine **fails over across 4 client identities** (Android → TV → iOS → embedded) until captions resolve — and when YouTube bot-gates the datacenter IP itself, it **retries through your proxy config** (optional, residential recommended for heavy pipelines). Direct connections stay free; proxies only kick in when needed.

### Modes

| Mode | What you get |
|---|---|
| **transcript** | Batch list of video URLs → transcript rows (one row per video) |
| **channel** | Latest N videos from a channel → all transcripts |
| **search** | Keyword → top videos + their transcripts |
| **watch** | Channel list → newest videos auto-transcribed — schedule it |

### Output

One row per video: `videoId, url, title, channelName, language, autoGenerated, segmentCount, text (full), segments[] (timestamped), availableLanguages, clientUsed`

```json
{
  "recordType": "transcript", "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
  "language": "en", "autoGenerated": true, "segmentCount": 210,
  "text": "We're no strangers to love ...",
  "segments": [{"startMs": 1360, "durationMs": 1680, "text": "..."}]
}
```

### Example inputs

```json
{ "mode": "transcript", "videoUrls": ["https://youtu.be/abc123...", "dQw4w9WgXcQ"] }
{ "mode": "channel", "channelUrls": ["@TED"], "maxVideos": 20 }
{ "mode": "search", "query": "LLM agents tutorial", "maxVideos": 10 }
{ "mode": "watch", "channelUrls": ["@TED", "@lexfridman"], "language": "en" }
```

### Notes

- Handles manual captions + auto-generated (ASR), all available languages listed per video
- Videos without captions emit `no_transcript` rows with the reason — pipelines stay clean
- Accepts URLs, bare video IDs, `/shorts/` links, `@handles`, and `UC...` channel IDs

### Pricing

$0.001 per video row — no subscription, no key.

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# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

transcript=batch video URLs; channel=latest channel videos; search=keyword -> videos + transcripts; watch=channel list -> newest videos

## `videoUrls` (type: `array`):

transcript: YouTube URLs, video IDs, or /shorts/ links

## `channelUrls` (type: `array`):

channel/watch: channel URLs, @handles, or UC... IDs

## `query` (type: `string`):

search: keyword to find videos for

## `language` (type: `string`):

Preferred caption language (en, es, pt-BR...). Blank = best available

## `maxVideos` (type: `integer`):

channel/search/watch: videos per source

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional — used only when YouTube bot-gates the direct IP (residential group recommended for heavy/batch runs)

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "transcript",
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "channelUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/@TED"
  ],
  "query": "AI news",
  "maxVideos": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("brick_joey_yto/youtube-transcript-engine").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("brick_joey_yto/youtube-transcript-engine").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call brick_joey_yto/youtube-transcript-engine --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,brick_joey_yto/youtube-transcript-engine"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/9gY1L8OvJfwgwW8cb/builds/7MBYzjSuO3SRdP1KT/openapi.json