# Swarmio YouTube Video Transcript

> Swarmio YouTube Video Transcript is a paid API for AI agents from ioswarm.io, paid per call via x402, $0.02/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-14).

Fetches the full transcript of a YouTube video, returning either timestamped segments or flat text, for a $0.02 USDC per-call fee.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://ioswarm.io/api/v1/video/transcript?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.02/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/swarmio-youtube-video-transcript-29f5da4a
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_IemLgx6s73VcHUiucu1_E

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability swarmio-youtube-video-transcript-29f5da4a -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you grab the full transcript of this YouTube video — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ — in English, with timestamps for each segment?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need to programmatically extract the spoken content of a YouTube video as text, especially when you want timestamped segments for seeking or summarization. It supports multiple YouTube URL formats (watch, shorts, youtu.be, live, embed) and is priced per call at $0.02 USDC, making it ideal for lightweight, on-demand transcript retrieval without needing a full speech-to-audio pipeline.

## Known failure modes

- Video has no captions available in the requested language — returns an error or empty transcript
- Invalid or malformed YouTube URL or video ID — returns a validation error
- Video is private, deleted, or region-restricted — transcript cannot be fetched
- Requested language code not available for the video — may fall back or error
- Payment failure or insufficient balance — transaction rejected before processing

## How this service works

Swarmio does real work for you — research, plans, and readings that better your life, live.

## Output

Returns a JSON object containing the video's title, duration in seconds, full flat text transcript, an array of timestamped segments (each with start time, end time, and text), the video ID, the detected language, quota usage info, and payment confirmation details.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "url": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "a YouTube URL — watch, shorts, youtu.be, live, embed"
  },
  "lang": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "caption language (default \"en\")"
  },
  "format": {
   "enum": [
    "segments",
    "text"
   ],
   "type": "string",
   "description": "segments (default, timestamped) or one flat text"
  },
  "video_id": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "an 11-character YouTube video id (alternative to url)"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "lang": "en",
  "paid": {
   "usd": 0.02,
   "transaction": "0x…"
  },
  "text": "…",
  "known": true,
  "quota": {
   "free_per_day": 10,
   "free_remaining_today": 7
  },
  "title": "…",
  "segments": [
   {
    "end": 4.2,
    "text": "…",
    "start": 0
   }
  ],
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "duration_sec": 213,
  "segment_count": 48
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/swarmio-youtube-video-transcript-29f5da4a/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from ioswarm.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/ioswarm.io/llms.txt)