video-fetch-and-summarize

Video Fetch & Summarize

Downloads videos from URLs and generates a Markdown summary per video via Gemini. Fully self-contained — no other skills required.

Output Structure

<output_dir>/
  <Video_Title>/
      <uploader>_<id>.mp4
      summary.md

Prerequisites

• GEMINI_API_KEY env var set
• yt-dlp and google-genai — auto-installed on first run if missing
• Python available as py (Windows) or python3

Script

scripts/fetch_and_summarize.py

Usage

# Direct URLs — default summary
py scripts/fetch_and_summarize.py "https://..." "https://..." -o ./output

# File containing URLs (TXT, Markdown, or any text file)
py scripts/fetch_and_summarize.py links.txt -o ./output

# Custom prompt (inline) — replaces default summary format
py scripts/fetch_and_summarize.py "https://..." --prompt "Extract all mentioned tools and prices"

# Custom prompt (from file) — replaces default summary format
py scripts/fetch_and_summarize.py links.txt --prompt-file my-prompt.txt

# With browser cookies (for private/login-required content)
py scripts/fetch_and_summarize.py links.txt --cookies-from-browser chrome

How Claude should handle user arguments

When the user invokes this skill:

1. If the user specifies a custom prompt or extraction goal (e.g., "extract all tools mentioned", "summarize focusing on pricing", "list action items"), pass it via --prompt "...".
2. If the user provides a prompt file path, pass it via --prompt-file path/to/file.txt.
3. If the user gives no specific instructions, run without --prompt to use the default format.
4. A custom prompt completely replaces the default — it does not add to it.

Workflow

1. Extract all URLs from provided arguments and/or files (regex-based, works with any text format)
2. For each URL: a. Fetch video metadata via yt-dlp --dump-json to get the title for the folder name b. Download the video as best-quality MP4 into <output>/<Title>/ c. Upload MP4 to the Gemini Files API, wait for ACTIVE state d. Generate Markdown summary (using custom or default prompt), delete file from Gemini storage e. Save summary as <output>/<Title>/summary.md
3. Skip videos where both MP4 and summary.md already exist (idempotent re-runs)

Download Details (yt-dlp)

• Format: bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best — best quality, always MP4
• Filename pattern: {uploader}_{video_id}.mp4 — e.g. DesignMotion_DUf3nehjIg7.mp4
• --no-playlist is set by default (single videos only)
• Supported platforms: YouTube, Instagram (posts/reels), TikTok, Twitter/X, Facebook, Vimeo, Reddit, and 1000+ more

Authentication for private/login-required content

py scripts/fetch_and_summarize.py links.txt --cookies-from-browser chrome
# also works with: firefox, edge, safari

The user must be logged in to the platform in the specified browser.

Summarization Details (Gemini)

• Model: gemini-3-flash-preview
• Upload via Gemini Files API (supports large video files)
• Uploaded files are auto-deleted from Gemini storage after generation (48h max limit anyway)
• Summary language matches the language spoken/shown in the video

Default output format (when no custom prompt is given)

# [Video Title]

## Summary
[2-3 sentence description of the video and its main topic]

## Key Points
- key point 1
- key point 2
- ...

## Core Content & Takeaways
[Central message and most important insight, 2-4 sentences]

---
*Auto-generated with Gemini API*

Notes

• Output directory defaults to the current working directory
• Folder names are sanitized from the video title (max 80 chars, special chars replaced)
• Already-processed videos are skipped on re-runs
• If the Gemini API returns 503 (overloaded), re-run the script — already-done videos are skipped automatically