YouTube AI Digest

Browse subscribed YouTube channels for AI-related videos, extract transcripts, and generate structured Markdown reports.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• yt-dlp (pip install yt-dlp)

Quick Start

1. Fetch Recent Videos

python scripts/fetch_videos.py --days 7 --keyword AI

Output: data/videos.json with filtered video list.

2. Get Transcript

python scripts/get_transcript.py --video-id VIDEO_ID

Output: data/transcript_{VIDEO_ID}.txt and .json.

3. Generate Report

python scripts/generate_report.py --video-id VIDEO_ID --summary "Your summary here"

Output: data/output/{VIDEO_ID}/report.md with thumbnail.

Configuration

Edit data/channels.json to manage subscribed channels:

{
  "channels": [
    {"name": "Two Minute Papers", "id": "UCbfYPyITQ-7l4upoX8nvctg"},
    {"name": "AI Explained", "id": "UCNJ1Ymd5yFuUPtn21xtRbbw"}
  ]
}

Find channel IDs from YouTube channel URLs: youtube.com/channel/{CHANNEL_ID}.

Workflow

Copy this checklist to track progress:

Task Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Fetch recent videos from channels
- [ ] Step 2: Review video list and select target
- [ ] Step 3: Get transcript for selected video
- [ ] Step 4: Analyze transcript and create summary
- [ ] Step 5: Generate Markdown report

Step 1: Fetch recent videos

Run python scripts/fetch_videos.py --days 7 to get videos from the past week.

Step 2: Review and select

Check data/videos.json for available videos. Select one for analysis.

Step 3: Get transcript

Run python scripts/get_transcript.py --video-id {ID} to download subtitles.

Step 4: Analyze and summarize

Read the transcript file and create a concise summary covering:

• Main topics discussed
• Key insights and takeaways
• Notable timestamps

Step 5: Generate report

Run python scripts/generate_report.py --video-id {ID} --summary "..." to create the final Markdown report.

Output Format

# [Video Title]

![Thumbnail](thumbnail.webp)

## Video Info
- Channel: [Name]
- Published: [Date]
- Duration: [Length]
- Link: [URL]

## Summary
[AI-generated summary of content]

## Transcript
[Timestamped transcript excerpt]

Scripts Reference

| Script | Purpose | Output | |--------|---------|--------| | fetch_videos.py | Fetch channel videos | data/videos.json | | get_transcript.py | Download subtitles | data/transcript_*.txt/json | | generate_report.py | Create Markdown report | data/output/*/report.md |

Error Handling

No transcript available: Some videos lack subtitles. Check if auto-generated captions exist.

Rate limiting: Add delays between requests if fetching many channels.

Network issues: Retry with --days 1 for fewer results.