# YouTube Video Summarizer - Summary, Chapters & Blog Post (`seemuapps/youtube-video-summarizer`) Actor

Turn any YouTube video into a written summary, key takeaways, timestamped chapters, key quotes and an optional blog post draft from its transcript - no watching required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/youtube-video-summarizer.md
- **Developed by:** [Andrew](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $60.00 / 1,000 video summarizeds

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?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## YouTube Video Summarizer - Summary, Chapters & Blog Post

Get the substance of any YouTube video without watching it. Paste a link and receive a written summary, 5-8 key takeaways, topic tags, timestamped chapters, verbatim key quotes and, optionally, a complete blog post draft - all generated from the video's transcript. Handles hour-long podcasts, lectures and tutorials in a single pass.

Works on any public video with captions (manual or auto-generated) and outputs one clean row per video for JSON, CSV or Google Sheets.

### What you get

For every video:

- **summary** - short, medium or long, written to be specific (names, numbers, tools, conclusions)
- **keyTakeaways** - 5-8 actionable points
- **topics** - 3-8 tags
- **chapters** - timestamp, start seconds, title and one-line summary for each section, ready to paste into a video description
- **keyQuotes** - 3-6 verbatim, timestamped quotes
- **blogPost** - optional 600-1000 word Markdown article based on the video
- **transcript** - optional plain-text transcript, plus **transcriptLanguage**, **transcriptIsAutoGenerated**, **transcriptWordCount**
- Video metadata: **videoId**, **url**, **title**, **channelTitle**, **channelId**, **uploadDate**, **durationSeconds**, **viewCount**
- **model**, **promptTokens**, **completionTokens**, **status**, **error**

### Use cases

- **Research and learning** - digest lectures, conference talks and interviews in minutes
- **Content repurposing** - turn videos into blog posts, newsletters and social threads
- **Chapter generation** - add timestamps to your own uploads automatically
- **Competitive monitoring** - summarise every new video from rival channels on a schedule
- **Knowledge bases** - index a channel's back catalogue as searchable text
- **Meeting and webinar notes** - summarise recorded sessions published to YouTube

### How to use

1. Enter one or more **Video URLs** (up to 50 per run).
2. Pick a **Summary length** and toggle **Generate chapters**, **Extract key quotes**, **Write a blog post draft** and **Include full transcript**.
3. Optionally set an **Output language** (for example `Spanish`) to translate the summary, and **Transcript languages** if the video is not in English.
4. Choose a **Model** - Gemini 2.5 Flash is the default and handles very long videos.
5. Run the actor - results appear in the **Dataset** tab.

### Output format

```json
{
  "inputUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPQjjsBbIc",
  "videoId": "8jPQjjsBbIc",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPQjjsBbIc",
  "title": "How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure | TED",
  "channelTitle": "TED",
  "channelId": "UCAuUUnT6oDeKwE6v1NGQxug",
  "uploadDate": "2014-06-27",
  "durationSeconds": 597,
  "viewCount": 50123456,
  "transcriptLanguage": "en",
  "transcriptIsAutoGenerated": false,
  "transcriptWordCount": 1560,
  "transcriptTruncated": false,
  "transcript": null,
  "summary": "Julian Treasure argues that most people are not listened to because of seven speaking habits ...",
  "keyTakeaways": ["Avoid the seven deadly sins of speaking: gossip, judging, negativity, complaining, excuses, exaggeration and dogmatism", "..."],
  "topics": ["public speaking", "communication", "voice"],
  "chapters": [
    { "timestamp": "0:00", "startSeconds": 0, "title": "Why nobody is listening", "summary": "The human voice is the most powerful instrument, yet most people are not heard." }
  ],
  "keyQuotes": [
    { "timestamp": "1:42", "startSeconds": 102, "quote": "The human voice: it's the instrument we all play." }
  ],
  "blogPost": null,
  "model": "google/gemini-2.5-flash",
  "promptTokens": 2870,
  "completionTokens": 910,
  "proxyUsed": "none",
  "status": "success",
  "error": null
}
```

### Pricing

Each successfully summarised video is charged a small base fee plus a per-minute fee for the length of the video, so a 5-minute clip costs a fraction of a 3-hour podcast. Videos without a transcript, or that are private or removed, are reported with an error and are not charged.

### Tips

- Very long videos (3+ hours) are summarised from the first ~160,000 characters of transcript; **transcriptTruncated** tells you when that happened.
- Chapters follow the creator's own chapter markers when present and correct them when the content disagrees.
- Choose **Long** summary plus **Write a blog post draft** for full repurposing; choose **Short** for scanning many videos cheaply.
- If transcripts fail with a bot-check message, set **Proxy mode** to Residential.

### FAQ

**Does it work without captions?**
No. The actor reads the video's manual or auto-generated captions. Videos with captions disabled return an error row.

**Can it summarise in another language?**
Yes. Set **Output language** to any language name. The transcript can also be in a non-English language - list it under **Transcript languages**.

**Is the summary accurate?**
The model is instructed to use only what is in the transcript and to be specific. Key quotes are verbatim so you can verify claims at the given timestamp.

# Actor input Schema

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

YouTube video URLs or IDs, one per line. Up to 50 per run.

## `summaryLength` (type: `string`):

How detailed the main summary should be. Key takeaways, chapters and quotes are produced regardless.

## `includeChapters` (type: `boolean`):

Produce timestamped chapters with a title and one-line summary each, ready to paste into a video description.

## `includeKeyQuotes` (type: `boolean`):

Pull 3-6 verbatim, timestamped quotes worth sharing or citing.

## `includeBlogPost` (type: `boolean`):

Also generate a 600-1000 word Markdown blog post based on the video. Slower and uses more model output.

## `includeTranscript` (type: `boolean`):

Add the plain-text transcript to each record.

## `outputLanguage` (type: `string`):

Language to write the summary in, e.g. English, Spanish, German. Leave empty to match the transcript language.

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

Caption languages to try, in order of preference (e.g. en, es, de). Manual captions are preferred over auto-generated ones.

## `model` (type: `string`):

Language model used to write the summary.

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

Proxy strategy for fetching the transcript. Auto escalates only when YouTube blocks the cheaper option.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPQjjsBbIc"
  ],
  "summaryLength": "medium",
  "includeChapters": true,
  "includeKeyQuotes": true,
  "includeBlogPost": false,
  "includeTranscript": false,
  "languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "model": "google/gemini-2.5-flash",
  "proxyMode": "auto"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One record per video: inputUrl, videoId, url, title, channelTitle, channelId, uploadDate, durationSeconds, viewCount, transcriptLanguage, transcriptIsAutoGenerated, transcriptWordCount, transcriptTruncated, transcript, summary, keyTakeaways, topics, chapters (timestamp, startSeconds, title, summary), keyQuotes (timestamp, quote), blogPost, model, promptTokens, completionTokens, proxyUsed, status, 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 = {
    "videoUrls": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPQjjsBbIc"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-video-summarizer").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 = { "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPQjjsBbIc"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-video-summarizer").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 '{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPQjjsBbIc"
  ]
}' |
apify call seemuapps/youtube-video-summarizer --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/37ZLVtJfC8gtAGf5c/builds/GhnLhcwxEkrKuK3Uj/openapi.json