Documentation

Complete API documentation

Request examples, response formats, authentication headers, parameters, and common error responses for transcript-powered applications.

Authentication

API authentication

Protected endpoints require authentication. Use x-api-key for direct API access, or RapidAPI headers when calling through the RapidAPI marketplace.

Direct API access

Base URL: https://youtube-transcript-api-production-0221.up.railway.app
x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY

RapidAPI marketplace access

Base URL: https://youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com
x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY
x-rapidapi-host: youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com

Endpoints

Available API routes

Health Check

Checks whether the API deployment is reachable.

GET/api/health

Sample response

{
  "status": "ok"
}

Get Transcript

Returns transcript segments for a YouTube video.

GET/api/transcript?id=VIDEO_ID&lang=en

Parameters

Name	Required	Description
`id`	Yes	11-character YouTube video ID.
`lang`	No	Transcript language code. Defaults to en.

Sample response

{
  "success": true,
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "transcript": [
    {
      "text": "Hello everyone",
      "offset": 1200,
      "duration": 800
    }
  ]
}

Get Metadata

Returns public title, description, thumbnail, and channel details.

GET/api/metadata?id=VIDEO_ID

Parameters

Name	Required	Description
`id`	Yes	11-character YouTube video ID.

Sample response

{
  "title": "Example Video Title",
  "description": "Example description",
  "thumbnail": "https://...",
  "channel": "Example Channel"
}

Get Languages

Checks common transcript language availability.

GET/api/languages?id=VIDEO_ID

Parameters

Name	Required	Description
`id`	Yes	11-character YouTube video ID.

Sample response

{
  "success": true,
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "languages": [
    {
      "code": "en",
      "name": "English",
      "available": true
    }
  ]
}

Batch Transcripts

Processes multiple YouTube video IDs in one request.

POST/api/batch

Sample response

{
  "success": true,
  "count": 2,
  "results": []
}

Request examples

Copy-ready examples

GET /api/transcript

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript-api-production-0221.up.railway.app/api/transcript?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=en' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'

GET /api/metadata

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript-api-production-0221.up.railway.app/api/metadata?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'

GET /api/languages

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript-api-production-0221.up.railway.app/api/languages?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'

POST /api/batch

curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript-api-production-0221.up.railway.app/api/batch' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --data '{"videos":["dQw4w9WgXcQ","JbhBdOfMEPs"],"lang":"en"}'

RapidAPI GET /api/transcript

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com/api/transcript?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=en' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-host: youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY'

RapidAPI GET /api/metadata

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com/api/metadata?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-host: youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY'

RapidAPI GET /api/languages

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com/api/languages?id=dQw4w9WgXcQ' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-host: youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY'

RapidAPI POST /api/batch

curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com/api/batch' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-host: youtube-transcript27.p.rapidapi.com' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY' \
  --data '{"videos":["dQw4w9WgXcQ","JbhBdOfMEPs"],"lang":"en"}'

Errors

Error codes

missing_api_key

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "missing_api_key",
    "message": "Missing API key"
  },
  "requestId": "..."
}

invalid_api_key

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_api_key",
    "message": "Invalid API key"
  },
  "requestId": "..."
}

invalid_request

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_request",
    "message": "Invalid request parameters"
  },
  "requestId": "..."
}

transcript_not_found

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "transcript_not_found",
    "message": "Transcript is not available for this video"
  },
  "requestId": "..."
}

rate_limit_exceeded

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "rate_limit_exceeded",
    "message": "Rate limit exceeded"
  },
  "requestId": "..."
}

redis_unavailable

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "redis_unavailable",
    "message": "Redis is not configured correctly"
  },
  "requestId": "..."
}

Loading YouTube Transcript API...

Name

Required

Description

id

Yes

11-character YouTube video ID.

lang

Transcript language code. Defaults to en.

Name

Required

Description

id

Yes

11-character YouTube video ID.

Name

Required

Description

id

Yes

11-character YouTube video ID.