# YouTube Transcript API for Agents (pay per success) (`outspoken_sitkaspruce/transcriptd`) Actor

YouTube transcripts for AI agents: JSON/text/SRT with timestamps. Charged ONLY on delivered transcript - no captions or dead video = no charge. Residential proxy built in; reliable at 1,000+ videos/run.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/outspoken\_sitkaspruce/transcriptd.md
- **Developed by:** [Omar Kurbanov](https://apify.com/outspoken_sitkaspruce) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 youtube transcript api — extract video transcripts to jsons

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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 Transcript API for Agents — pay per successful transcript

Get YouTube video transcripts with timestamps in **JSON, plain text, or SRT** — priced
for AI agents and automation fleets: **you are charged only when a transcript is
actually delivered.** No captions, private/deleted video, or any failure on our side =
an error record and **no charge**.

### Why this one

- **Pay per success, not per attempt.** Most transcript tools charge for the run
  regardless of result. Here the `transcript` event fires only on a delivered transcript.
- **Built for volume.** Residential proxy routing is on by default — no
  "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" failures that break datacenter scrapers.
  Reliable at 1,000+ videos per run.
- **Always-fresh extractor.** The YouTube backend churns constantly; this actor
  auto-updates its extraction engine on every run, so it doesn't silently rot.
- **Timestamps included.** Segment-level `start`/`dur` in JSON mode, proper SRT
  subtitle output, or clean plain text for LLM ingestion.

### Input

```json
{
  "videos": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw", "dQw4w9WgXcQ"],
  "format": "json",
  "lang": "en"
}
```

- `videos` — YouTube URLs or 11-character video IDs, any mix
- `format` — `json` (segments + timestamps), `text` (plain transcript), `srt` (subtitles)
- `lang` — caption language; manual captions preferred, auto-generated fallback

### Output (dataset, one item per video)

```json
{
  "video": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "ok": true, "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en", "source": "manual",
  "segments": [{"start": 18.8, "dur": 3.6, "text": "We're no strangers to love"}],
  "transcript": "We're no strangers to love ..."
}
```

Failed videos come back with `"ok": false` and an `error` string — **uncharged**.

### Use cases

RAG pipelines and LLM knowledge bases · content research and summarization at scale ·
podcast/interview mining · compliance and brand monitoring · dataset building ·
any agent workflow that needs "what was said in this video" as cheap structured data.

### Also available over x402

The same engine runs as a pay-per-call HTTP API for x402-native agents
(USDC on Base, no account needed): `https://transcriptd.fly.dev` — same
pay-only-on-delivery guarantee.

# Actor input Schema

## `videos` (type: `array`):

YouTube URLs or 11-char video IDs

## `format` (type: `string`):

json = segments with timestamps; text = plain transcript; srt = subtitle file

## `lang` (type: `string`):

Caption language (manual preferred, auto fallback)

## `useResidentialProxy` (type: `boolean`):

Avoids YouTube bot-checks on datacenter IPs. Recommended.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ],
  "format": "json",
  "lang": "en",
  "useResidentialProxy": true
}
```

# 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 = {
    "videos": [
        "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("outspoken_sitkaspruce/transcriptd").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 = { "videos": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("outspoken_sitkaspruce/transcriptd").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "videos": [
    "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
  ]
}' |
apify call outspoken_sitkaspruce/transcriptd --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=outspoken_sitkaspruce/transcriptd",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YnQKpQ75UjvgwQOHM/builds/mDVTWAvW3Z3RPCd1Q/openapi.json