Youtube timestamp looker

on March 10, 2025

Have you ever watched a video and later struggled to remember when a key point was mentioned? Or perhaps you wanted to revisit an interesting moment but couldn’t recall the exact timestamp? Whether you're conducting research, creating content, or simply trying to bookmark notable moments, finding specific timestamps in long YouTube videos can be a challenge.

In this article, we explore how to create an efficient workflow using Uniflow to interactively retrieve timestamped information from YouTube videos. This dedicated workflow Youtube timestamp looker leverages environment variables, custom prompts, and integrates API tools to provide a seamless experience for users seeking detailed insights from YouTube transcripts.

Workflow Overview

Here are the following key components used to build the workflow

  • Environment Variables:
    Securely store sensitive data such as API keys and configuration settings.

  • Custom Prompt:
    Allow the user to write a question or a specific request regarding the video content.

  • Interactive Step Prompt:
    Prompt the user to provide the YouTube Video ID for the video they wish to analyze.

  • Code Block Execution:
    This is the core of the workflow, where multiple processes occur:

    ChatGPT Tool Integration

    • Utilize ChatGPT along with a custom tool to analyze the video transcript.

    API Transcript Timecode Retriever

    • Use the custom API tool based on the contribution made to the YouTube Transcript API repository.
    • This tool fetches the transcript along with its corresponding timecodes, and filters out irrelevant short entries to enhance accuracy.

    Transcript Cleanup and Chunking

    • The transcript is processed to exclude brief or irrelevant text entries, ensuring concise and valuable input for the API.
    • Each entry is converted to a HH:MM:SS format and grouped into 30-second sections for clarity.
    • To manage API token limits, the system ensures the text doesn't exceed predefined length restrictions (e.g., 8000 characters).

    Transcript Summarization (if necessary)

    • If the transcript is too long, the system uses ChatGPT to summarize it while preserving essential timestamps and insights.

    API Call Execution

    • The summarized or cleaned transcript is then used in an API call with ChatGPT. The call utilizes an interactive prompt where users can specify the exact details they seek from the video.

    Result Display

    • The result is displayed with clear timestamp markers, ensuring users can easily navigate to the moments they’re interested in.

Potential Use Cases

  • Content Review: Quickly locate key moments in a video by asking direct questions about its content.
  • Content Summarization: Summarize sections of a video, providing timecodes for easy navigation.
  • Highlight Extraction: Identify and timestamp notable quotes or events from a video.
  • Educational Content: Help educators and learners find relevant video segments aligned with specific topics.

Conclusion

By leveraging Uniflow's interactive capabilities and integrating with specialized API tools, this workflow provides an efficient solution for extracting and analyzing timestamped data from YouTube videos. This approach not only simplifies content analysis but also enhances user interaction by automating complex data retrieval processes.

Feel free to adapt and extend this workflow to suit different scenarios, ensuring more efficient and tailored content analysis experiences.