YouTube Metadata + Transcript Fallback

The Problem

An r/Slack user building a summary bot hit captionless videos. Some YouTube videos have no transcript (auto or manual).

The Scavio Solution

Try transcript first; fall back to metadata (title, description, tags, chapters) when transcript unavailable. Post metadata-based summary with a note that it is description-based.

Who It Is For

YouTube summary bot builders, content aggregators, knowledge base builders ingesting video content.

Key Benefits

• Graceful fallback from transcript to metadata
• Every video gets a summary
• Clear disclaimer when metadata-only
• Description + tags + chapters provide useful context
• No quota limits on either endpoint

Python Example

import requests, os
H = {'x-api-key': os.environ['SCAVIO_API_KEY']}

def get_best_data(video_url):
    transcript = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search', headers=H,
        json={'platform': 'youtube', 'query': video_url, 'type': 'transcript'}).json()
    if transcript.get('transcript'):
        return {'source': 'transcript', 'data': transcript}
    metadata = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search', headers=H,
        json={'platform': 'youtube', 'query': video_url, 'type': 'metadata'}).json()
    return {'source': 'metadata', 'data': metadata}

JavaScript Example

// Same fallback pattern with fetch() in JS/TS

Platforms Used