> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.context.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> Setting up Context.dev for a user? Follow https://docs.context.dev/agent-quickstart.md. MCP clients sign in with OAuth and need no API key; application code reads CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY.

# YouTube videos

> Read video metadata, descriptions, and available transcripts as Markdown.

Scrape a YouTube URL with `formats.markdown` to get a video document. It includes the title, channel, duration, views, description, and available captions with timestamps.

## Read a video

<CodeGroup>
  ```typescript TypeScript theme={null}
  import ContextDev from "context.dev";

  const client = new ContextDev({
    apiKey: process.env.CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY,
  });

  const page = await client.web.scrape({
    url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
    formats: { markdown: true },
  });

  console.log(page.markdown.data);
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  import os
  from context.dev import ContextDev

  client = ContextDev(api_key=os.environ["CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY"])

  page = client.web.scrape(
      url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
      formats={"markdown": True},
  )

  print(page.markdown.data)
  ```

  ```ruby Ruby theme={null}
  require "cgi/core"
  require "context_dev"

  client = ContextDev::Client.new(api_key: ENV.fetch("CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY"))

  page = client.web.scrape(
    url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
    formats: {markdown: true},
  )

  puts page.markdown.data
  ```

  ```go Go theme={null}
  package main

  import (
      "context"
      "fmt"
      "os"

      contextdev "github.com/context-dot-dev/context-go-sdk/v2"
      "github.com/context-dot-dev/context-go-sdk/v2/option"
  )

  func main() {
      client := contextdev.NewClient(
          option.WithAPIKey(os.Getenv("CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY")),
      )

      page, err := client.Web.Scrape(context.Background(), contextdev.WebScrapeParams{
          URL:     "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
          Formats: contextdev.WebScrapeParamsFormats{Markdown: contextdev.Bool(true)},
      })
      if err != nil {
          panic(err)
      }

      fmt.Println(page.Markdown.Data)
  }
  ```

  ```php PHP theme={null}
  <?php

  require __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';

  use ContextDev\Client;

  $client = new Client(apiKey: getenv('CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY'));

  $page = $client->web->scrape(
      url: 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID',
      formats: ['markdown' => true],
  );

  echo $page->markdown->data, PHP_EOL;
  ```

  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl https://api.context.dev/v1/web/scrape \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
      "formats": { "markdown": true }
    }'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Supported URLs

Video URLs include `/watch`, `youtu.be`, `/shorts`, `/embed`, and `/live`. Channel URLs include `/channel/…`, `/@handle`, `/c/…`, and `/user/…`; they return a channel profile with subscriber and video counts.

A video without accessible captions still returns metadata and its description. Caption preference is English author-provided, English automatic, another automatic track, then another available track.

## Include images or ask a question

Set `markdownParams.includeImages: true` to include a video thumbnail or channel avatar. Request [Highlights](/scrape/highlights) with a question to select relevant transcript passages. [JSON extraction](/scrape/json) can structure the video document using your schema.

Transcript availability depends on what YouTube exposes for the video. Check the returned document before treating it as a complete transcript.