Transcript

Extract transcripts from YouTube videos in multiple formats.

POSThttps://api.crawly.bikal.co/v1/transcript

The Transcript endpoint extracts captions and subtitles from YouTube videos. It supports automatic language detection, translation, and multiple output formats including plain text, timed segments, SRT, and VTT.

Each request costs 1 credit ($0.001). Failed requests are automatically refunded. The endpoint accepts standard YouTube URLs, short URLs, and embed URLs.

Request Body

urlstringREQUIRED

YouTube video URL. Supports standard, short, and embed URL formats.

formatstringDefault: "text"

Output format for the transcript. One of: text, segments, srt, vtt.

languagestringDefault: "en"

Language code for the transcript. If the video does not have captions in this language, auto-translation is attempted.

Output Formats

Format	Description	Use Case
`text`	Plain text transcript, all segments joined	AI processing, search indexing
`segments`	JSON array with text, start time, and duration per segment	Subtitles, timestamped search
`srt`	SubRip subtitle format	Video players, subtitle editors
`vtt`	WebVTT subtitle format	HTML5 video, web players

Examples

curl -X POST https://api.crawly.bikal.co/v1/transcript \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "format": "text"}'

Response

Success `200` - text format

json

{
  "success": true,
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "transcript": "We're no strangers to love, you know the rules and so do I...",
  "language": "en",
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "duration": "3:33"
  }
}

Success `200` - segments format

json

{
  "success": true,
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "transcript": [
    { "text": "We're no strangers to love", "start": 0.0, "duration": 3.5 },
    { "text": "You know the rules and so do I", "start": 3.5, "duration": 3.2 }
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "duration": "3:33"
  }
}

Response Fields

successboolean

Whether the transcript was extracted successfully.

urlstring

The YouTube video URL.

transcriptstring | array

The transcript content. String for text/srt/vtt, array of objects for segments.

languagestring

The language of the returned transcript.

metadataobject

Video metadata including title and duration.

Errors

Status	Type	Description
`400`	`VALIDATION_ERROR`	Missing url or invalid format parameter
`401`	`AUTH_ERROR`	Missing or invalid API key
`402`	`CREDITS_EXHAUSTED`	Insufficient credits
`422`	`TRANSCRIPT_UNAVAILABLE`	Transcript is not available for this video
`422`	`VIDEO_UNAVAILABLE`	Video is unavailable or private
`429`	`RATE_LIMITED`	Rate limit exceeded (120 requests per minute)

Pricing

1credit per request ($0.001)

Credits are deducted upfront. Failed requests are automatically refunded to your balance.

Notes

Transcript extraction is fast and reliable, with smart fallback logic for multi-language support.
Supports standard URLs (youtube.com/watch?v=), short URLs (youtu.be/), and embed URLs.
If the requested language is not available, the API attempts auto-translation from available captions.
Videos with disabled captions will return a TRANSCRIPT_UNAVAILABLE error.
The segments format returns an array of objects with text, start, and duration fields.

Next:MCP Server Guide →