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youtube-rag-scraper

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Scrape YouTube videos, extract transcripts, and build a semantic search AI knowledge base using RAG and FAISS.

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<h1 align="center">🧠 YouTube Knowledge Engine</h1>
 
 End-to-end AI pipeline that transforms YouTube channels into searchable knowledge bases.
 
 
 <a href="#features"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Features-8-blue?style=flat-square" alt="Features"></a>
 <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/python-3.10%2B-blue?style=flat-square&logo=python&logoColor=white" alt="Python">
 <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-green?style=flat-square" alt="License">
 <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/AI%20Ready-FAISS%20%2B%20Transformers-orange?style=flat-square" alt="AI Ready">
 <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/export-JSON%20%7C%20CSV%20%7C%20Parquet-purple?style=flat-square" alt="Export Formats">

---

## 📌 Overview

**YouTube Knowledge Engine** is a production-grade CLI tool that scrapes YouTube videos at scale, extracts transcripts, and builds AI-ready vector databases — enabling semantic search over any channel's entire content library.

Built as a modular Python package, it handles the full data pipeline from raw YouTube content to queryable knowledge base:

```
YouTube Channel → Metadata + Transcripts → RAG Chunks → Embeddings → FAISS Index → Semantic Search
```

---

## � Demo

### Scraping a YouTube Channel

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@jameshoffmann" --knowledge-base --workers 4
```

### Querying the Knowledge Base

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --ask "How does espresso extraction work?"
```

---

## �🏗️ Architecture

```mermaid
graph TD
 A[🎬 YouTube Input] -->|Channel / Playlist / Video| B[main.py CLI Orchestrator]

B --> C[metadata.py YouTube Data API v3]
 B --> D[transcripts.py yt-dlp Engine]

C -->|Video IDs + Metadata| E[utils.py Data Pipeline]
 D -->|VTT → Plain Text| E

E -->|JSON / JSONL / CSV / Parquet| F[(📁 Dataset Files)]

E -->|RAG Chunks| G[knowledge_base.py Embedding Generator]

G -->|sentence-transformers| H[all-MiniLM-L6-v2]
    H -->|384-dim vectors| I[FAISS Index]

I --> J[search.py Semantic Search]
 J -->|Top-K Results| K[🔍 Natural Language Query]

style A fill:#ff6b6b,color:#fff
    style B fill:#4ecdc4,color:#fff
    style F fill:#45b7d1,color:#fff
    style I fill:#f9ca24,color:#333
    style K fill:#6c5ce7,color:#fff
```

### Module Responsibilities

| Module | Role |
|--------|------|
| `main.py` | CLI interface, workflow orchestration, argument parsing |
| `metadata.py` | YouTube Data API v3 integration, channel handle resolution |
| `transcripts.py` | Parallel transcript extraction via `yt-dlp`, VTT parsing |
| `utils.py` | Multi-format export (JSON/JSONL/CSV/Parquet), RAG chunking, URL cleaning |
| `knowledge_base.py` | Vector embedding generation using `sentence-transformers` + FAISS indexing |
| `search.py` | Semantic search over the FAISS knowledge base |

---

## ✨ Features

| # | Feature | Description |
|---|---------|-------------|
| 1 | **Multi-Source Scraping** | Supports channels, playlists, and individual videos |
| 2 | **Smart URL Cleaning** | Accepts messy URLs, `@handles`, shorts links, and raw IDs |
| 3 | **Parallel Downloads** | Configurable `--workers` for concurrent transcript fetching |
| 4 | **Rate Limit Handling** | Automatic exponential backoff on YouTube 429 errors |
| 5 | **Resume Support** | Interrupted scrapes resume exactly where they left off |
| 6 | **Multi-Format Export** | JSON, JSONL, CSV, and Parquet dataset outputs |
| 7 | **RAG Dataset Generation** | Sentence-boundary-aware chunking for LLM retrieval systems |
| 8 | **Semantic Search** | Natural language queries over video transcripts via FAISS |

---

## 🚀 Quick Start

### Prerequisites

```bash
pip install google-api-python-client yt-dlp
```

For AI features (knowledge base + semantic search):

```bash
pip install sentence-transformers faiss-cpu numpy pandas pyarrow
```

### Set Your API Key

```bash
# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:YOUTUBE_API_KEY="your_key_here"

# Windows (CMD)
set YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_key_here

# macOS / Linux
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_key_here
```

> Get your free API key from the [Google Cloud Console](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials).

### (Optional) Get a cookies.txt File

YouTube throttles or blocks transcript downloads for age-restricted videos, members-only content, and sometimes just from heavy scraping. Passing a `cookies.txt` from a logged-in browser session lets `yt-dlp` authenticate as you and avoids these blocks.

**Step 1 — Install a browser extension:**

| Browser | Extension |
|---------|-----------|
| Chrome / Edge | [Get cookies.txt LOCALLY](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/get-cookiestxt-locally/cclelndahbckbenkjhflpdbgdldlbecc) |
| Firefox | [cookies.txt](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookies-txt/) |

**Step 2 — Export cookies from YouTube:**

1. Log in to [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com) in your browser
2. Click the extension icon while on the YouTube tab
3. Click **Export** — save the file as `cookies.txt`

**Step 3 — Place or reference the file:**

Put `cookies.txt` in the project root (it is gitignored by default), or in the `local/` folder and point to it explicitly:

```bash
# Default — looks for cookies.txt in the current directory
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@jameshoffmann" --knowledge-base

# Explicit path
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@jameshoffmann" --cookies local/cookies.txt
```

> **Note:** `cookies.txt` is sensitive — it grants access to your YouTube account. Never commit it. It is already covered by `.gitignore`.

---

## 📁 Local Output Files

All generated outputs (scraped JSON, FAISS indexes, embeddings) land in the directory you run the script from. To keep the project root clean, use the `local/` folder as your working output directory — it is gitignored:

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@jameshoffmann" --knowledge-base --output local/coffee_knowledge.json
```

This puts all generated files (`coffee_knowledge.json`, `*_rag.jsonl`, `*.npy`, `*.faiss`) inside `local/`, which is never committed.

---

## 💻 Usage

### Scrape a Channel

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@jameshoffmann" --workers 4
```

### Scrape a Playlist

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --playlist PLBsP89CPrMeOpKhXiKyXg8AjiConuTXvI
```

### Scrape a Single Video

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --video https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
```

### Export as CSV or Parquet

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@mkbhd" --format csv --output mkbhd_dataset.csv
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@mkbhd" --format parquet --output mkbhd_dataset.parquet
```

### Build a Knowledge Base

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --channel "@jameshoffmann" --knowledge-base --output coffee_knowledge.json
```

This generates:

```
coffee_knowledge.json              # Full metadata + transcripts
coffee_knowledge_rag.jsonl         # Chunked RAG dataset
coffee_knowledge_embeddings.npy    # 384-dim sentence embeddings
coffee_knowledge_vector_index.faiss # Searchable FAISS index
```

### Query the Knowledge Base

```bash
python -m youtube_scraper.main --ask "How does espresso extraction work?"
```

**Example Output:**

```
============================================================
🔍 Question:
   How does espresso extraction work?
============================================================

📚 Top 5 Results:

[1] James Hoffmann – The Ultimate Espresso Guide
      "Extraction refers to dissolving soluble compounds from
       the coffee bed. The key variables are dose, yield, and..."

[2] James Hoffmann – Dialing In Espresso
      "When we talk about under-extraction, we mean that not
       enough of the soluble material has been dissolved..."
```

---

## 📂 Project Structure

```
youtube_scraper/
├── main.py              # CLI entry point & workflow orchestrator
├── metadata.py          # YouTube API: video IDs, metadata, handle resolution
├── transcripts.py       # yt-dlp transcript download + VTT parsing
├── utils.py             # Export formats, RAG chunking, URL cleaning
├── knowledge_base.py    # Sentence-transformers + FAISS index builder
└── search.py            # Semantic search engine
```

---

## 🧪 Supported Input Formats

The URL cleaner automatically normalizes all of these:

| Input Type | Examples |
|-----------|----------|
| **Video** | `https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID`, `https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID`, `https://youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID` |
| **Playlist** | `https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID`, `https://youtube.com/watch?v=ID&list=PLAYLIST_ID` |
| **Channel** | `https://youtube.com/channel/UC...`, `https://youtube.com/@handle`, `https://youtube.com/c/name`, `https://youtube.com/user/name` |

---

## ⚙️ CLI Reference

| Argument | Type | Default | Description |
|----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `--video` | `str` | — | YouTube video ID or URL |
| `--playlist` | `str` | — | YouTube playlist ID or URL |
| `--channel` | `str` | — | YouTube channel ID, URL, or @handle |
| `--ask` | `str` | — | Query an existing knowledge base |
| `--output` | `str` | `scraped_transcripts.json` | Output file path |
| `--format` | `str` | `json` | Export format: `json`, `jsonl`, `csv`, `parquet` |
| `--workers` | `int` | `1` | Parallel download threads |
| `--langs` | `str` | `en,en-GB,en-US` | Subtitle language codes |
| `--delay` | `int` | `4` | Delay between downloads (seconds) |
| `--cookies` | `str` | `cookies.txt` | Path to browser cookies file |
| `--rag` | flag | — | Generate RAG-ready JSONL dataset |
| `--knowledge-base` | flag | — | Build FAISS vector index |

---

## 🧠 How the AI Pipeline Works

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User
    participant CLI as main.py
    participant YT as YouTube API
    participant DL as yt-dlp
    participant RAG as RAG Chunker
    participant EMB as Sentence Transformers
    participant DB as FAISS Index

U->>CLI: --channel "@handle" --knowledge-base
    CLI->>YT: Resolve handle → UC channel ID
    CLI->>YT: Fetch all video IDs (uploads playlist)
    CLI->>YT: Batch fetch metadata (50/request)
    CLI->>DL: Download subtitles (parallel workers)
    DL-->>CLI: VTT → plain text transcripts
    CLI->>RAG: Chunk transcripts (~600 chars)
    RAG-->>CLI: JSONL with metadata per chunk
    CLI->>EMB: Encode chunks → 384-dim vectors
    EMB-->>CLI: numpy embeddings array
    CLI->>DB: Build FAISS IndexFlatL2
    DB-->>CLI: .faiss index file
    U->>CLI: --ask "question"
    CLI->>EMB: Encode question
    CLI->>DB: Search top-K neighbors
    DB-->>U: Ranked transcript chunks
```

---

## 📊 Output Schema

### Video Metadata (JSON)

```json
{
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Video Title",
  "description": "...",
  "published_at": "2023-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "channel_title": "Channel Name",
  "tags": ["tag1", "tag2"],
  "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/.../hqdefault.jpg",
  "duration": "PT10M30S",
  "view_count": 1000000,
  "like_count": 50000,
  "comment_count": 2000,
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "transcript": "Full transcript text...",
  "transcript_language": "en",
  "transcript_error": null
}
```

### RAG Chunk (JSONL)

```json
{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "title": "Video Title",
  "channel": "Channel Name",
  "chunk_id": 3,
  "text": "Extraction refers to dissolving soluble compounds from..."
}
```

---

## 🛡️ Rate Limiting & Resilience

- **Automatic backoff**: Starts at configurable delay, doubles on each `429` response
- **Ceiling cap**: Never exceeds 60s between requests
- **Recovery**: Delay halves after successful requests following rate limits
- **Resume**: Progress saved after every single video — crash-safe
- **Thread safety**: File writes and delay tracking use locks for parallel workers

---

## 📋 Requirements

| Package | Required For | Install |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| `google-api-python-client` | Core (metadata) | `pip install google-api-python-client` |
| `yt-dlp` | Core (transcripts) | `pip install yt-dlp` |
| `sentence-transformers` | Knowledge base | `pip install sentence-transformers` |
| `faiss-cpu` | Knowledge base | `pip install faiss-cpu` |
| `numpy` | Knowledge base | `pip install numpy` |
| `pandas` | Parquet export | `pip install pandas` |
| `pyarrow` | Parquet export | `pip install pyarrow` |

---

## 📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

---

youtube-rag-scraper

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