LurkAPI: Video transcripts

Get what is said in YouTube videos and Shorts, TikToks and Instagram reels as text, for one link or a creator's latest or most-viewed videos, then summarize it, pull hooks, claims and quotes, or repurpose it into posts and scripts. Use when the user shares a video link and asks what it says, wants a transcript or summary, or wants to study what a creator says across many videos.

Video transcripts

Turn videos into text, then into something useful: a summary, the hooks and claims, quotes with timestamps, or a script to reuse. One link or a whole channel.

Calling LurkAPI

With MCP (the LurkAPI plugin or connector), call the tools by name, like tiktok_profile; your client may prefix them (mcp__plugin_lurkapi_lurkapi__tiktok_profile). With only find_endpoints and call_endpoint, run a tool as call_endpoint with endpoint set to its name and params to its arguments. Results come trimmed: no nulls, one URL per image or video. A long result comes in parts: its _note gives the offset for the next part, which is free.

Without MCP (Codex, Cursor, scripts), every tool is GET https://api.lurkapi.com plus its path, with the same params as a query string (URL-encoded) and the key from LURKAPI_API_KEY in the x-api-key header:

bash

curl -s "https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/tiktok/profile?handle=nike" -H "x-api-key: $LURKAPI_API_KEY"

If LURKAPI_API_KEY isn't set but LURKAPI_KEY is (the name older docs used), use that. Raw answers are big: pipe them through jq to keep the fields you need. No key yet? Ask the user to create one at https://lurkapi.com/dashboard (100 free credits on sign-up, then a balance below 25 tops back up to 25 every day) and to set LURKAPI_API_KEY in their shell. Never ask for the key in the chat, and never print it.

Credits. Each call costs what the table at the end says, not_found included; failures on our side (5xx) are free. Every answer carries credits_remaining. Before a run of more than 20 calls, check the balance with account_credit_balance (free) and tell the user what the run will cost. If a call answers missing_api_key, insufficient_credits or signup_required, stop and pass on what it says.

One video

Pick the call by the link:

• YouTube (watch, youtu.be, /shorts/, /live/): youtube_transcript(url=<url>). The text is transcript_only_text; the timed version is transcript (each part with startTimeText), which MCP returns instead with timestamps=true. language=es picks a caption track from availableLanguages. isGenerated true means YouTube's auto-captions: expect misheard names.
• TikTok: tiktok_transcript(url=<url>). The text is text. A transcript of null with empty languages means the video has no captions; use_ai_as_fallback=true then transcribes the audio itself (videos up to 2 minutes), which costs more (see the table). Ask before turning it on for many videos. When you also want the video's views and likes, tiktok_video(url=<url>, get_transcript=true) gives stats and captions in one call, as WEBVTT.
• Instagram reels: instagram_media_transcript(url=<url>). Reels have no captions to read, so a new one always goes through speech-to-text at the higher price in the table; one we've transcribed before costs the base price. Up to 120 seconds.
• Anything else (Facebook, X, podcasts): not supported. Say so.

A video with no speech (music only) answers transcript_unavailable, at the base price.

Many videos

List first, then transcribe only the videos that matter.

• YouTube: youtube_channel_videos(handle=<handle>, sort=latest) (about 30 a page; sort=popular for the most viewed), or youtube_channel_shorts(handle=<handle>). Then youtube_transcript on the chosen urls.
• TikTok: tiktok_profile_videos(handle=<handle>): 15 a page, newest first, with stats.playCount. Then tiktok_transcript on the chosen ones.
• Instagram: instagram_user_reels(username=<username>) gives play counts, then instagram_media_transcript(code=<code>) per reel. At the speech-to-text price, ten reels cost more than ten captioned TikToks: say the total first.

To find a creator's best videos rather than their latest, rank the list by views and take the top few, or the ones far above the creator's median.

Budget

A transcript is one call; a listing page is one more. "The last 10 TikToks" is 11 calls; "the top 5 videos on a channel" is 6. Instagram reels and TikTok's audio fallback cost more per video: work it out from the table and say it before a batch.

What to make of it

Unless the user asks for something else, give:

• Summary: what the video argues or shows, in three sentences.
• Hook: the first two sentences, verbatim, and why they work.
• Structure: the beats in order, with timestamps when you have them.
• Claims: each factual claim or number, quoted, so it can be checked.
• Call to action: what the viewer is asked to do.
• Reusable lines: quotes that stand alone.

Across many videos, compare hooks, recurring topics and phrases, video length against views, and how the best performers open.

Pitfalls

• Never quote what isn't in the transcript. Auto-captions mishear names, brands and numbers; flag doubtful ones.
• A transcript is what's said, not what's shown: on-screen text and visuals aren't in it.
• Asking for the same transcript again is charged again, at the base price: keep what you fetched.

Calls and credits

Tool	REST path	Credits
youtube_transcript	/v1/youtube/video/transcript	1 credit
tiktok_transcript	/v1/tiktok/video/transcript	1 credit; 2 if speech-to-text runs
tiktok_video	/v2/tiktok/video	1 credit
instagram_media_transcript	/v2/instagram/media/transcript	1 credit; 2 if speech-to-text runs
youtube_channel_videos	/v1/youtube/channel-videos	1 credit
youtube_channel_shorts	/v1/youtube/channel/shorts	1 credit
tiktok_profile_videos	/v3/tiktok/profile/videos	1 credit
instagram_user_reels	/v1/instagram/user/reels	1 credit

Each tool's link opens its docs as markdown: every param and its values, and a real response.