# YouTube Transcript API – Captions & Timestamps (`signal_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper`) Actor

YouTube transcript API for public videos with timestamps, language selection, caption type, metadata, JSON/CSV export, MCP, and automation workflows.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/signal\_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Signal Lab](https://apify.com/signal_lab) (community)
- **Categories:** Videos, Developer tools, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 68.8% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.55 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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 – Captions, Timestamps & Metadata

Extract public YouTube transcripts with timestamps, language selection, caption type, and video metadata. Use this Actor when you need a **YouTube transcript API**, **YouTube captions API**, or transcript data for RAG, research, summarization, indexing, and AI-agent workflows without managing the YouTube Data API.

### What you get

- full transcript text
- timestamped transcript segments
- detected or selected language
- caption type where available
- video title and source URL
- normalized metadata for downstream pipelines

Export JSON, CSV, or Excel; consume results through the Apify API; or connect schedules, webhooks, Make, n8n, and AI workflows.

### Common workflows

#### YouTube transcript API

Use the Actor as an API layer when an application needs transcript text or timestamped caption segments for public videos.

#### YouTube transcripts for RAG

Send normalized transcript rows into chunking, embedding, search, or retrieval pipelines while preserving source URLs and timestamps.

#### Video research and summarization

Collect transcript data first, then pass the dataset to your preferred LLM for summaries, topic extraction, question answering, or structured research.

#### AI-agent tool via MCP

Expose the Actor through Apify's hosted MCP server:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "signal-lab-youtube": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=signal_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper"
    }
  }
}
```

After Apify's OAuth flow, try: **“Get the English transcript with timestamps for this YouTube URL and return source segments for a RAG pipeline.”**

See the [official Apify MCP guide](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp) for supported clients and authentication options.

### Output and responsible use

Results are written to the default dataset and can be exported or fetched programmatically. Only process public content you are authorized to use and follow YouTube's terms, privacy rules, copyright requirements, and applicable law.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Public watch, Shorts, live, embed, youtu.be URLs, or 11-character video IDs.

## `preferredLanguages` (type: `array`):

Priority order, for example en, uk, de.

## `preferManual` (type: `boolean`):

Rank creator-provided caption tracks above auto-generated tracks for the same language.

## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`):

Include start time, duration, and text for every caption segment in addition to the full transcript.

## `maxVideos` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on videos attempted and billable successful transcript rows.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "preferredLanguages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "preferManual": true,
  "includeSegments": true,
  "maxVideos": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `transcripts` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "urls": [
        "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
    ],
    "preferredLanguages": [
        "en"
    ],
    "preferManual": true,
    "includeSegments": true,
    "maxVideos": 5
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("signal_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper").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 = {
    "urls": ["dQw4w9WgXcQ"],
    "preferredLanguages": ["en"],
    "preferManual": True,
    "includeSegments": True,
    "maxVideos": 5,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("signal_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  ],
  "preferredLanguages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "preferManual": true,
  "includeSegments": true,
  "maxVideos": 5
}' |
apify call signal_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,signal_lab/youtube-transcript-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/hXFXSfxSZnzeTkl7X/builds/Axa2alu8yzShRjAFg/openapi.json