Build a YouTube Transcript Analysis Workflow

Fetch transcript, caption, video, and comment data, store public segments, summarize videos, and index source-linked audience signals.

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Overview

Fetch transcript, caption, video, and comment data, store public segments, summarize videos, and index source-linked audience signals.

What you will build

Submit video IDs
Fetch video metadata
Fetch transcript or captions
Fetch public comments
Summarize with an LLM or index
Link back to source video

APIs used

Only endpoints that exist in the generated endpoint metadata are linked here. Missing optional endpoints are intentionally omitted.

GETYouTubeapiKey3 credits/request

Retrieve transcript for a YouTube video

/youtube/transcript/{id}

Returns transcript segments for a YouTube video using YouTube's native player captions. Set `format=text`, `format=srt`, or `format=vtt` to receive plain-text output instead of the standard response envelope. Returns `404` when the video currently has no transcript/captions available in any language — this is a normal, non-retryable result, not an error condition. Returns `503` when the request is temporarily blocked or rate-limited; retrying after a short delay may succeed.

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GETYouTubeapiKey3 credits/request

Retrieve video metadata & captions

/youtube/video/{id}

Returns title, description, stats, and captions for a YouTube video ID.

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GETYouTubeapiKey5 credits/request

Retrieve video comments (top-level & replies)

/youtube/comments/{id}

Returns a page of comments for a specific YouTube video.

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Data model

Field	Notes
video_id	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
title	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
channel	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
language	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
segment_text	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
comment_text	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
reply_count	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
start_time	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
duration	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
source_url	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.
checked_at	Workflow field; map to exact endpoint response fields from endpoint docs.

Step-by-step workflow

1.Submit video IDs
2.Fetch video metadata
3.Fetch transcript or captions
4.Fetch public comments
5.Summarize with an LLM or index
6.Link back to source video

Example request

This example uses the real Retrieve transcript for a YouTube video endpoint. Exact request fields come from the endpoint metadata.

Recipe request

Use environment variables for secrets and keep Crawlora API keys server-side.

curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/youtube/transcript/dQw4w9WgXcQ?lang=en&format=json&timestamps=true" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Example response

Use endpoint detail pages for exact response schemas. This recipe does not invent response fields.

Generated example response

{
  "code": 200,
  "msg": "OK",
  "data": {
    "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "language": "English",
    "language_code": "en",
    "segments": [
      {
        "text": "Never gonna give you up",
        "start": 12.34,
        "duration": 2.11
      }
    ],
    "text": "Never gonna give you up"
  }
}

Storage/output suggestion

Keep raw transcript segments, public comment samples, and a derived summary table so downstream analysis can be regenerated.

Error handling

Validate required inputs before calling Crawlora
Retry 429 and temporary 5xx responses with capped backoff
Log endpoint, input, timestamp, and request ID when present
Treat empty results as a state your application can handle
Open /docs/errors for production retry guidance

Rate-limit and credit planning

Estimate usage by multiplying requests by endpoint credit cost. The table below only shows real credit costs available from the billing constants.

Endpoint	Credit cost	Docs
Retrieve transcript for a YouTube video	3 credits/request	/docs/youtube/youtube-transcript
Retrieve video metadata & captions	3 credits/request	/docs/youtube/youtube-video
Retrieve video comments (top-level & replies)	5 credits/request	/docs/youtube/youtube-comments

Production checklist

Keep API keys server-side
Use request timeouts
Back off on rate limits
Store raw responses or source IDs for auditability
Monitor credits and failures
Avoid unnecessary refreshes
Review responsible-use requirements

Responsible public web data workflows

Crawlora is designed for responsible structured public web data workflows. Customers are responsible for using Crawlora in compliance with applicable laws, third-party rights, target-platform rules, and Crawlora terms.

Read Crawlora terms

Related APIs and pages

Retrieve transcript for a YouTube video Retrieve video metadata & captions Retrieve video comments (top-level & replies)/platforms/youtube

Build this workflow with real endpoint docs

Use this recipe for workflow shape, then rely on endpoint reference pages for exact paths, request schemas, response schemas, and credit costs.

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