Youtube Channels

Work with YouTube channels — resolve handles to IDs, browse uploads, get latest videos, search within channels. Use when the user asks about a specific channel, wants to see recent uploads, or says "what has X posted lately", "latest from TED", "show me their channel", "list channel videos", "browse channel uploads".

Security Scan

The skill's requirements and runtime instructions are consistent with a YouTube channel browsing integration that uses TranscriptAPI; it asks for a single API key, requires node to run the included auth helper, and writes only to the declared OpenClaw config path.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description, required env (TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY), and required binary (node) all match a small client for TranscriptAPI.com YouTube endpoints. Declared config path (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json) is used to store the API key so the skill can run — this is coherent for the stated purpose.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md instructs using the provided CLI script for passwordless account setup, and using the TranscriptAPI endpoints via curl. The runtime instructions only reference the declared config path and the API service; they do not ask the agent to read unrelated files or exfiltrate other credentials.

Install Mechanism

No install spec is provided (instruction-only); a single included Node script is present and intended to be executed locally. There are no downloads or archive extracts from untrusted URLs in the skill package itself.

Credentials

Only TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is required and is the primary credential; the skill does not request additional unrelated secrets. The CLI asks for an email/OTP during registration but those are part of the auth flow, not hidden credential requests.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill does not request elevated or cross-skill config changes. The script writes the API key into its own declared OpenClaw config path and backs up the existing file, which is a reasonable self-configuration step for runtime use.

Assessment

This skill appears to do what it says: it uses TranscriptAPI to resolve channels and list videos and requires a single API key. Before installing/run the CLI: (1) review and be comfortable with writing your API key to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (the script backs up the file to .bak), (2) ensure you trust transcriptapi.com and create the API key via their site if you prefer not to run the bundled script, (3) note the script requires node and will reject disposable email addresses during register, and (4) if you prefer manual control, you can set TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY in your shell profile instead of using the save-to-config flow. Overall the package is internally consistent; proceed if you trust the TranscriptAPI service and are okay with the OpenClaw config change.

YouTube channel tools via TranscriptAPI.com.

Setup

If $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY is not set, help the user create an account (100 free credits, no card):

Step 1 — Register: Ask user for their email.

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js register --email USER_EMAIL

→ OTP sent to email. Ask user: "Check your email for a 6-digit verification code."

Step 2 — Verify: Once user provides the OTP:

node ./scripts/tapi-auth.js verify --token TOKEN_FROM_STEP_1 --otp CODE

API key saved to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. See File Writes below for details. Existing file is backed up before modification.

Manual option: transcriptapi.com/signup → Dashboard → API Keys.

File Writes

The verify and save-key commands save the API key to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (sets skills.entries.transcriptapi.apiKey and enabled: true). Existing file is backed up to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak before modification.

To use the API key in terminal/CLI outside the agent, add to your shell profile manually: export TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY=<your-key>

API Reference

Full OpenAPI spec: transcriptapi.com/openapi.json — consult this for the latest parameters and schemas.

All channel endpoints accept flexible input — @handle, channel URL, or UC... channel ID. No need to resolve first.

GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve — FREE

Convert @handle, URL, or UC... ID to canonical channel ID.

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/resolve?input=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Param	Required	Validation
input	yes	1-200 chars — @handle, URL, or UC... ID

Response:

{ "channel_id": "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q", "resolved_from": "@TED" }

If input is already UC[a-zA-Z0-9_-]{22}, returns immediately.

GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/latest — FREE

Latest 15 videos via RSS with exact stats.

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Param	Required	Validation
channel	yes	@handle, channel URL, or UC... ID

Response:

{
  "channel": {
    "channelId": "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q",
    "title": "TED",
    "author": "TED",
    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q",
    "published": "2006-04-17T00:00:00Z"
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "videoId": "abc123xyz00",
      "title": "Latest Video Title",
      "channelId": "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q",
      "author": "TED",
      "published": "2026-01-30T16:00:00Z",
      "updated": "2026-01-31T02:00:00Z",
      "link": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123xyz00",
      "description": "Full video description...",
      "thumbnail": { "url": "https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/.../hqdefault.jpg" },
      "viewCount": "2287630",
      "starRating": {
        "average": "4.92",
        "count": "15000",
        "min": "1",
        "max": "5"
      }
    }
  ],
  "result_count": 15
}

Great for monitoring channels — free and gives exact view counts + ISO timestamps.

GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/videos — 1 credit/page

Paginated list of ALL channel uploads (100 per page).

# First page
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@NASA" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

# Next pages
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/videos?continuation=TOKEN" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Param	Required	Validation
channel	conditional	@handle, channel URL, or UC... ID
continuation	conditional	non-empty (next pages)

Provide exactly one of channel or continuation, not both.

Response:

{
  "results": [{
    "videoId": "abc123xyz00",
    "title": "Video Title",
    "channelId": "UCsT0YIqwnpJCM-mx7-gSA4Q",
    "channelTitle": "TED",
    "channelHandle": "@TED",
    "lengthText": "15:22",
    "viewCountText": "3.2M views",
    "thumbnails": [...],
    "index": "0"
  }],
  "playlist_info": {"title": "Uploads from TED", "numVideos": "5000", "ownerName": "TED"},
  "continuation_token": "4qmFsgKlARIYVVV1...",
  "has_more": true
}

Keep calling with continuation until has_more: false.

GET /api/v2/youtube/channel/search — 1 credit

Search within a specific channel.

curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/search\
?channel=@TED&q=climate+change&limit=30" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Param	Required	Validation
channel	yes	@handle, channel URL, or UC... ID
q	yes	1-200 chars
limit	no	1-50 (default 30)

Typical workflow

# 1. Check latest uploads (free — pass @handle directly)
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@TED" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

# 2. Get transcript of recent video
curl -s "https://transcriptapi.com/api/v2/youtube/transcript\
?video_url=VIDEO_ID&format=text&include_timestamp=true&send_metadata=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRANSCRIPT_API_KEY"

Errors

Code	Action
400	Invalid param combination (both or neither channel/continuation)
402	No credits — transcriptapi.com/billing
404	Channel not found
408	Timeout — retry once
422	Invalid channel identifier

Free tier: 100 credits, 300 req/min. Free endpoints (resolve, latest) require auth but don't consume credits.