feat(youtube): add video metadata and transcript commands#25
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jackwener merged 3 commits intojackwener:mainfrom Mar 17, 2026
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- youtube video: fetch metadata (title, views, description, etc.) from ytInitialPlayerResponse and ytInitialData - youtube transcript: fetch subtitles via Android InnerTube API to bypass PoToken requirement on Web client caption URLs - Two output modes: --mode grouped (sentence merging, speaker detection, chapter headings) and --mode raw (precise sub-second timestamps matching bilibili/subtitle format) - CJK support with 30s time-window fallback for unpunctuated captions - Language selection with --lang and stderr warning on fallback - URL normalization for watch, youtu.be, shorts, embed, live formats
Tests for sentence grouping, CJK punctuation, time-gap flush, speaker detection, chapter insertion, and timestamp formatting.
… transcript-group - Extract shared parseVideoId() into utils.ts to eliminate URL parsing duplication - Modernize page.evaluate code: var→const/let, &&-chains→optional chaining, for→array methods - Move transcript-group.ts and test to src/clis/youtube/ (YouTube-specific logic) - Use replaceAll() and template strings for cleaner entity decoding
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Thanks @AlexZhangji for the great contribution! Squash merged with a small refactoring commit. All tests pass. |
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Summary
youtube video— fetch video metadata (title, channel, views, description, publish date, etc.) fromytInitialPlayerResponseandytInitialDatayoutube transcript— fetch video transcript/subtitles with two output modes via--modeTranscript design
The problem: YouTube's Web client caption URLs now require a PoToken (Proof of Origin Token) generated by BotGuard at runtime. Fetching the
baseUrlfromytInitialPlayerResponsedirectly returns empty responses.The solution: Call the InnerTube
/v1/playerAPI with an Android client context (clientName: ANDROID), which returns caption URLs that work without PoToken. This is the same approach used by youtube-transcript-api and Defuddle.Two output modes via
--mode:grouped(default)>>markers), chapter headings via/v1/nextAPIraw"start": "15.33s"), matchingbilibili/subtitleformatCJK support: Chinese/Japanese auto-captions typically lack punctuation, so sentence-boundary grouping alone produces unbounded paragraphs. Added a 30-second time-window fallback alongside CJK punctuation detection (
。！？).Language selection:
--langspecifies preferred caption language. If unavailable, falls back with a stderr warning showing available tracks.Files changed
src/clis/youtube/video.tssrc/clis/youtube/transcript.tssrc/transcript-group.tssrc/transcript-group.test.tsURL support
Handles all common YouTube URL formats:
watch?v=,youtu.be/,/shorts/,/embed/,/live/,/v/, and bare video IDs. All variants are normalized towatch?v=before navigation.Test plan
youtube video --url <url>returns metadata fieldsyoutube transcript --url <url>returns grouped paragraphs with chaptersyoutube transcript --url <url> --mode rawreturns precise sub-second timestampsyoutube transcript --url <url> --lang zhwarns and falls back for English-only videos