# YouTube Channel Transcripts Scraper — Bulk Captions (`seemuapps/youtube-channel-transcripts`) Actor

Get transcripts for every video on a YouTube channel or playlist in one run — full text, timestamps, title, views and upload date. Latest, popular or Shorts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/youtube-channel-transcripts.md
- **Developed by:** [Seemu Scraping](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 transcript extracteds

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 Channel Transcripts Scraper — Bulk Captions

Get the transcript of every video on a YouTube channel or playlist in one run. Paste a channel handle or playlist link, choose how many videos you want, and get full text plus timestamped captions for each one — with the title, views, likes and upload date alongside.

Built for feeding AI knowledge bases, RAG pipelines, content research and SEO. No API key, no YouTube login.

### What you get

For every video:

- **transcript** — the full caption text, one line per caption
- **segments** — every caption line with `startMs`, `durationMs` and `text`, for timestamps and clip-finding
- **wordCount**, **language**, **isAutoGenerated** (creator-written vs YouTube auto-captions)
- **availableLanguages** — the caption languages the video offers
- **videoId**, **url**, **title**, **channelName**, **channelId**
- **uploadDate**, **durationSeconds**, **viewCount**, **likeCount**
- **source** and **sourceType** — which channel, playlist or video the row came from
- **status** — `success`, `no_captions` (the video has no captions in your languages) or `error`

### Use cases

- **AI knowledge bases & RAG** — load a creator's or company's whole back catalogue into your chatbot or vector database
- **Content research** — search what a channel has said about a topic across hundreds of videos
- **Repurposing** — turn a channel's videos into blog posts, newsletters or social threads
- **Competitor analysis** — see which topics, products and talking points a competitor covers
- **Education & training** — build searchable notes from course or lecture playlists
- **Podcast & interview mining** — pull quotes and timestamps from long-form interview channels

### How to use

1. Add one or more **Channels, playlists or videos**, one per line:
   - `@veritasium` or `https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium`
   - `https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA`
   - `https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL…`
   - Single video or Shorts URLs
2. Set **Max videos per channel / playlist** (default 20; `0` = every video).
3. Pick the **Channel content** tab — **Videos**, **Shorts** or **Live streams** — and a **Sort** order: **Latest**, **Most popular** or **Oldest**.
4. Set **Transcript languages** in order of preference (default `en`).
5. Run the actor. Transcripts stream into the **Dataset** tab; export them as JSON, CSV, Excel or straight to Google Sheets.

Videos that appear in more than one source are processed once.

### Output format

```json
{
  "source": "@veritasium",
  "sourceType": "channel",
  "videoId": "4Wrc4fHSCpw",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wrc4fHSCpw",
  "title": "These are the asteroids to worry about",
  "channelName": "Veritasium",
  "channelId": "UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
  "uploadDate": "2020-11-30",
  "publishedText": "5 years ago",
  "durationSeconds": 1206,
  "viewCount": 80977954,
  "likeCount": 657952,
  "language": "en",
  "isAutoGenerated": false,
  "transcript": "- This video was sponsored by KiwiCo.\nMore about them at the end of the show.\nOn February 15th, 2013, over Chelyabinsk Russia, ...",
  "wordCount": 3252,
  "segments": [
    { "startMs": 8520, "durationMs": 2360, "text": "- This video was sponsored by KiwiCo." },
    { "startMs": 10880, "durationMs": 2153, "text": "More about them at the end of the show." }
  ],
  "availableLanguages": ["en", "zh-CN"],
  "status": "success",
  "error": null
}
```

### Pricing

You pay per transcript delivered. Videos without captions in your languages, and videos that fail, are listed in the dataset with their status but never charged.

### Tips

- For a whole channel, set **Max videos** to `0`. Big channels take longer; if a run hits its time limit, it stops cleanly with everything fetched so far saved.
- Turn off **Include timestamped segments** when you only need the plain text — exports get much smaller.
- Shorts usually only have auto-generated captions; keep **Prefer human-written captions** on and they are still returned.

### Related actors

- **YouTube Transcript Scraper** — transcripts for a short list of specific videos
- **YouTube Video Summarizer** — turn a video into a summary, chapters and a blog draft
- **YouTube Channel Videos Scraper** — list a channel's videos without transcripts

# Actor input Schema

## `sources` (type: `array`):

One per line. Channels: @handle, youtube.com/@handle, /channel/UC…, /c/name or /user/name. Playlists: youtube.com/playlist?list=… or a playlist ID. Single videos or Shorts URLs work too.

## `maxVideosPerSource` (type: `integer`):

How many videos to take from each channel or playlist. 0 = every video (up to 5,000 per source).

## `contentType` (type: `string`):

Which channel tab to read videos from. Ignored for playlists and single videos.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Order in which channel videos are picked before the per-source limit is applied. Popular and Oldest are available on the Videos tab.

## `languages` (type: `array`):

Language codes in order of preference, e.g. en, es, de. The first language with captions is used for each video.

## `preferManualCaptions` (type: `boolean`):

When a video has both creator-uploaded and auto-generated captions, use the creator's. Turn off to always take auto-generated ones.

## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`):

Add a segments array with start time, duration and text for every caption line. Turn off for smaller exports when you only need the full text.

## `proxyMode` (type: `string`):

Auto tries a direct connection first, then a free tunnel, and only switches to residential proxy once YouTube blocks those. Leave on Auto unless you have a reason to change it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sources": [
    "@veritasium"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 5,
  "contentType": "videos",
  "sortBy": "latest",
  "languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "preferManualCaptions": true,
  "includeSegments": true,
  "proxyMode": "auto"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One record per video: source, videoId, url, title, channelName, channelId, uploadDate, durationSeconds, viewCount, likeCount, language, isAutoGenerated, transcript, wordCount, segments, availableLanguages, status (success / no\_captions / error), error.

# 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 = {
    "sources": [
        "@veritasium"
    ],
    "maxVideosPerSource": 5
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-channel-transcripts").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 = {
    "sources": ["@veritasium"],
    "maxVideosPerSource": 5,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-channel-transcripts").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 '{
  "sources": [
    "@veritasium"
  ],
  "maxVideosPerSource": 5
}' |
apify call seemuapps/youtube-channel-transcripts --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/3ZEJ6buzV5EswvoU0/builds/qPd1lUiv1eFhDXmMv/openapi.json