SubDownload Skill

Fetch YouTube transcripts, search videos, browse channels and playlists — instant YouTube data inside any AI agent.

Agent Skill that teaches AI agents when and how to use the SubDownload MCP server. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, and 40+ agents.

---

⚡ Install in one command

Skills CLI (recommended)

npx skills add SubDownload/Skills

Supports Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, and 40+ agents.

npx skills add SubDownload/Skills -g   # global (user-wide)
npx skills add SubDownload/Skills      # project-level

npx (Claude Code / Cursor / Windsurf / Codex / Gemini CLI)

npx @subdown/skill@latest            # install skill + sign in + configure MCP (one-shot)

npx @subdown/skill@latest --project  # install to current project instead of global
npx @subdown/skill@latest login      # re-auth or switch account
npx @subdown/skill@latest --skip-auth  # install skill only, configure later

Claude.ai (web) / Claude Desktop

1. Download: subdownload-skill.zip
2. Claude.ai → Settings → Capabilities → Skills → + Create skill → upload the zip
3. New chat — the skill activates whenever you mention YouTube

---

🔌 Add the MCP server (one-time, required)

If you used npx @subdown/skill@latest, the MCP server is already configured — skip this section.

The skill calls tools from our hosted MCP. Pick your client:

Client	How
Claude.ai / Claude Desktop	Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste https://api.subdownload.com/mcp → sign in with Google
Claude Code / Cursor	Add to .mcp.json — see below
Gemini CLI	gemini extensions install https://github.com/SubDownload/Skills (coming soon) or add mcpServers entry manually
ChatGPT (Developer Mode)	Settings → Developer Mode → Add MCP server → https://api.subdownload.com/mcp

.mcp.json (Bearer token)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "subdownload": {
      "url": "https://api.subdownload.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer sk_live_xxx" }
    }
  }
}

Get a key at subdownload.com/account — 1,000 free credits, no card required.

---

🎯 What you can ask

• "Summarize this video: https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
• "What are @mkbhd's latest iPhone review videos?"
• "Search YouTube for Rust async tutorials, top 10"
• "Translate this transcript to Chinese: "
• "List all videos from the @veritasium channel"

🛠 Tools in this skill

Tool	Purpose	Cost
fetch_transcript	Transcript / captions in any language	1 credit
search_youtube	Global search (videos, channels, playlists)	1 credit
resolve_channel	@handle / URL → channel info	Free
get_channel_latest_videos	Newest uploads from a channel	Free
list_channel_videos	Paginated channel video list	1 / page
search_channel_videos	Search within one channel	1 credit
list_playlist_videos	Paginated playlist contents	1 / page

Errors never consume credits — only HTTP 200 is charged.

---

💰 Pricing

• Free: 1,000 credits (Google sign-in, no card)
• Pro: 10,000 credits
• 2 endpoints always free (resolve_channel, get_channel_latest_videos)
• 200 req/min per key

🔗 Links

• Website — subdownload.com
• Dashboard & API keys — subdownload.com/account
• API docs — api.subdownload.com/docs
• OpenAPI spec — api.subdownload.com/openapi.yaml
• LLM-friendly docs — api.subdownload.com/docs/llms-full.txt
• MCP server — api.subdownload.com/mcp