SKILL: Transcript Extraction

This skill governs the extraction and cleaning of transcripts from video sources to support the Endogenous-First axiom (MANIFESTO.md § 1) by ensuring all source signals—even non-textual ones—are distilled into searchable, readable Markdown/text artifacts. It operates under the global constraints of AGENTS.md regarding file-writing and local compute.

Beliefs & Context

1. Information Density: Video sources often contain unique practitioner insights (demos, conference talks) not found in written docs. Distilling them into text allows for local semantic search and cross-referencing.
2. LCF Adherence: By caching transcripts in .cache/transcripts/, we avoid repeated network hits and high-token external model reads of video URLs.
3. Artifact Integrity: Transcripts must be cleaned of redundant timestamps and repetitive filler to preserve context window space.

Workflow & Intentions

1. Identify Video Source

Extract the Video ID from the URL (e.g., J5KTpq7hVn4 from https://youtu.be/J5KTpq7hVn4).

2. Verify Cache First

Check if the transcript already exists in the local cache before attempting extraction.

ls .cache/transcripts/video_<VIDEO_ID>.txt

3. Extraction Protocol

Use the designated internal script to pull the transcript. Prefer manually created English transcripts over auto-generated versions when available.

uv run python scripts/pull_yt_transcript.py <VIDEO_ID> .cache/transcripts/video_<VIDEO_ID>.txt

4. Verification Check

Confirm the file is non-empty and contains readable text.

test -s .cache/transcripts/video_<VIDEO_ID>.txt && head -n 5 .cache/transcripts/video_<VIDEO_ID>.txt

Constraints

• UTF-8 Only: All extracted transcripts must be stored as UTF-8 encoded plain text.
• Privacy: Only pull transcripts for public videos.
• Minimal Metadata: Focus on the spoke word; omit frame data or visual descriptions unless critical to the research question.
• Pathing: Always store the output in .cache/transcripts/ to ensure it is gitignored but available for the current session.

Output Examples

Successful Extraction Log

## Transcript Extraction — video_J5KTpq7hVn4
- **Source**: https://youtu.be/J5KTpq7hVn4
- **Status**: Captured to `.cache/transcripts/video_J5KTpq7hVn4.txt`
- **Signal**: Clean text, English (manual)