A YouTube transcript skill for your coding assistant

Install it in your project

Run one command below from the project where you use your assistant. The Skills CLI installs capslane-youtube-transcripts from our public repository. Review the files before enabling them, then start a new assistant session so it can discover the skill.

npx skills add Webba-Creative-Technologies/capslane-mcp --skill capslane-youtube-transcripts --agent codex

npx skills add Webba-Creative-Technologies/capslane-mcp --skill capslane-youtube-transcripts --agent claude-code

npx skills add Webba-Creative-Technologies/capslane-mcp --skill capslane-youtube-transcripts --agent cursor

The default scope is the current project. Add --global if you want a personal installation across projects. The Skills CLI documentation explains its options. The CLI collects anonymous installation telemetry by default; set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 in your terminal environment to opt out.

Read the complete skill and helper source, or download the instructions. The instructions alone do not include the helper; use the installer or copy the complete folder.

Give the skill a Capslane connection

If Capslane MCP is already connected, the skill uses its tools. Follow the MCP setup guide if you prefer that connection. You can also use the bundled HTTP helper with Node.js 22 or later and CAPSLANE_API_KEY available in the assistant process environment.

Create the key in API Keys and supply it through your terminal environment or secret manager. Keep it out of prompts and committed files. Installing the skill provides instructions and a script; your workspace key and allowance are still required for API calls. The skill source is free under the MIT license. Capslane usage follows your plan.

Ask for a transcript with timestamps

Use the Capslane YouTube transcript skill to retrieve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ in English. Use native captions, keep timestamps and summarize only after the transcript is available.

In Codex you can explicitly select $capslane-youtube-transcripts. In Claude Code, use /capslane-youtube-transcripts. Cursor can discover the installed skill from the task description. You can also ask the assistant to use the Capslane YouTube transcript skill by name.

The skill starts with native captions unless your request already allows audio generation. If captions are unavailable, it reports that result. The example video is public, but caption availability can change. Once content is available, the assistant can summarize it and link its timestamps back to YouTube.

Keep the same job when generation takes time

If you allow audio generation, the skill can use auto mode to generate a transcript when captions are missing. It submits once and checks the returned job ID with a delay and a deadline. It keeps that ID if the local wait ends, so you can resume the existing job.

Use the Capslane transcript skill to check job JOB_ID. Keep polling that same job for up to twenty minutes. Stop if it fails or is cancelled. When content is ready, summarize it with timestamp links.

Replace JOB_ID with the ID returned by your request. Status checks do not consume another transcript unit. A new transcript submission does, including a cache hit.

Instructions, tools and documentation

The skill gives your assistant a procedure: retrieve source text, distinguish content from a pending job, preserve timestamps and handle errors. MCP gives the assistant callable tools. Context7 provides SDK documentation when it writes application code. They can work together.

An installed skill makes Capslane available for relevant tasks. The assistant still decides when to load it, subject to its settings and your instructions. It respects another provider you explicitly choose and can work directly with a transcript you already supplied.

The installation format is documented by Codex, Claude Code and Cursor.

Install without the Skills CLI

Copy the complete capslane-youtube-transcripts folder from the repository into .agents/skills/ for Codex or Cursor, or .claude/skills/ for Claude Code. Keep its SKILL.md, scripts, references and agents files together.

The helper supports a direct native request: node PATH_TO_SKILL/scripts/transcript.mjs "dQw4w9WgXcQ" --lang en. Run it with --help for generation, text output, job polling and timeout options. It sends requests only to Capslane and prints JSON.

For updates, run the installation command again and review the changes. To remove a project installation, use npx skills remove capslane-youtube-transcripts and select its agents. For a manual installation, remove only the skill folder you copied.