n8n-nodes-getyoutubetranscript

An n8n community node for the GetYouTubeTranscript API — pull YouTube transcripts, search videos and channels, resolve channel handles, and browse channels and playlists, directly inside your n8n workflows.

What this is

This package adds one node — GetYouTubeTranscript — with eight operations mapped to the GetYouTubeTranscript API:

Failed and rate-limited requests are never charged. Full API reference: getyoutubetranscript.com/docs.

Install

n8n Cloud / self-hosted UI (community node install)

1. Go to Settings → Community Nodes.
2. Click Install a community node.
3. Enter n8n-nodes-getyoutubetranscript and confirm.

Self-hosted, via npm

npm install n8n-nodes-getyoutubetranscript

Then restart your n8n instance so it picks up the new node. See n8n's community node docs for environment-specific instructions (Docker, npm, etc.).

Credentials

The node authenticates with a GetYouTubeTranscript API credential — a single API key field.

Get a key from the dashboard

1. Sign up for free at getyoutubetranscript.com — 100 free credits, no card required.
2. Grab your key from the dashboard. Keys look like sk_live_....
3. In n8n, create a new GetYouTubeTranscript API credential and paste the key in.

The credential's "Test" button calls the free /resolve endpoint, so validating a key never spends a credit.

Self-serve signup (no dashboard visit)

For automated setups you can mint a key with two API calls, no browser required:

curl -X POST https://getyoutubetranscript.com/api/v1/signup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"you@example.com"}'
# -> emails a 6-digit code, valid for 10 minutes

curl -X POST https://getyoutubetranscript.com/api/v1/signup/verify \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"you@example.com","otp":"123456"}'
# -> {"success":true,"api_key":"sk_live_..."}  (shown once - store it)

Example workflow

A simple "summarize a channel's latest video" flow:

1. Manual Trigger (or a Schedule/Webhook trigger with a channel handle in the payload).
2. GetYouTubeTranscript node, operation Get Channel Latest Videos, Channel = @mkbhd — returns the channel's metadata and most recent uploads.
3. A Set node (or expression) to pull the top video's ID out of the response.
4. A second GetYouTubeTranscript node, operation Get Transcript, Video = {{$json.videos[0].id}} — returns the full transcript.
5. Feed the transcript into an AI/LLM node (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) to summarize it.

Pagination endpoints (Search YouTube, Search Channel Videos, List Channel Videos, List Playlist Videos) return an opaque continuation_token / next_page_token in their response — wire that into a Loop Over Items or a manual loop, feeding it back into the Continuation / Page Token field to walk subsequent pages.

Development

npm install
npm run build      # compiles TypeScript to dist/
npm run dev         # n8n + this node with hot reload, http://localhost:5678
npm run lint

Live request test

test/live-test.ts is a standalone script (no n8n runtime needed) that hits the real API to confirm request construction and response parsing for a few operations:

GYT_API_KEY=sk_live_... npm run test:live

It calls three free endpoints (/resolve, /channel/latest, /credits) and one paid endpoint (/transcript, 1 credit) once each.

Docs

Full API reference, error codes, and rate limits: getyoutubetranscript.com/docs.

License

MIT