YouTube Analyzer with AI — Transcript, Summary & Email

YouTube Video Analyzer with AI

This workflow automatically extracts the transcript from any YouTube video, analyzes the content using an AI language model (DeepSeek), and sends a structured summary directly to your email. It is ideal for content creators, marketers, researchers, or anyone who needs to quickly digest video content without watching the full video.

The workflow is triggered manually, making it perfect for on-demand analysis. You simply provide a YouTube URL, and the workflow handles everything from ID extraction to transcript fetching, AI summarization, and email delivery.

Node-by-Node Breakdown

1. When clicking ‘Test workflow’ (Manual Trigger — No auth) — This is the starting point. It allows you to run the workflow on demand by clicking the "Test workflow" button in the n8n editor. No scheduling or external trigger is required.

2. Set YouTube URL (Set — No auth) — This node stores the YouTube video URL you want to analyze. You must manually edit the value (e.g., https://youtu.be/VIDEOID) to point to your target video. It outputs the URL as a field called youtubeUrl.

3. YouTube Video ID (Code — No auth) — A JavaScript code node that extracts the 11-character video ID from the YouTube URL using a regex pattern. It supports both youtube.com and youtu.be URL formats. The extracted ID is passed to the next node as videoId.

4. Generate transcript (HTTP Request — Header Auth) — This node sends a POST request to the youtube-transcript.io API to fetch the video transcript. It uses Header Auth (generic credential type) — you must provide an API key as a header. The request body contains the video ID in a JSON array. The response includes the transcript tracks.

5. Get transcript (Set — No auth) — Extracts the transcript array and language from the API response. It maps $json.tracks[0].transcript to a field called transcript and $json.tracks[0].language to language.

6. Exist? (IF — No auth) — A conditional node that checks if the transcript array is not empty. If a transcript exists, the workflow continues to the analysis branch. If not, the workflow ends (no further nodes are connected for the false branch).

7. Get Fulltext (Code — No auth) — A JavaScript node that concatenates all transcript text segments into a single string (fulltext). This prepares the full transcript for AI analysis.

8. Analyze LLM Chain (LLM Chain — No auth) — The core AI analysis node. It uses the DeepSeek Chat Model (connected via ai_languageModel) and the Structured Output Parser (connected via ai_outputParser). The prompt instructs the AI to:

   • Generate a structured summary with sections like Definition/Background, Main Characteristics, Implementation Details, Advantages/Disadvantages
   • Use markdown formatting, bullet points, bold terms, and tables
   • Output a JSON object with title and text fields

9. DeepSeek Chat Model (Language Model — API Key auth) — This node connects to DeepSeek's API using the deepseek-reasoner model. You must configure a credential with your DeepSeek API key.

10. Structured Output Parser (Output Parser — No auth) — Defines the expected JSON schema for the AI output. It expects an object with title (string) and text (string) properties.

11. Send Email (Email Send — SMTP / OAuth2) — Sends the AI-generated summary via email. The subject is set to $json.output.title and the body to $json.output.text. You must configure an email credential (SMTP or OAuth2) in n8n.

12. Sticky Notes — These are informational notes placed on the canvas to guide the user. They explain each step (e.g., "Get a FREE API on youtube-transcript.io and insert the Authentication", "Get the Youtube video ID from the URL").

Setup Instructions

To use this workflow, you will need:

1. n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)
2. YouTube Transcript API key — Sign up for a free API key at youtube-transcript.io. In n8n, create a Header Auth credential with the key as a header (e.g., Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY).
3. DeepSeek API key — Create an account at platform.deepseek.com and generate an API key. In n8n, create a DeepSeek Chat Model credential.
4. Email service credentials — Configure an SMTP or OAuth2 credential for sending emails (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, or any SMTP server).

Once credentials are set, edit the Set YouTube URL node to replace https://youtu.be/VIDEOID with your target video URL, then click "Test workflow".

Use Cases & Variations

• Content Research: Quickly summarize competitor videos or industry talks.
• Education: Generate study notes from lecture videos.
• Content Repurposing: Extract key points from videos to create blog posts or social media snippets.
• Multilingual Support: The workflow captures the transcript language — you could extend it to translate the summary using another AI model.
• Scheduled Monitoring: Replace the manual trigger with a Schedule Trigger to automatically analyze new videos from a playlist or channel RSS feed.
• Multiple AI Models: The workflow includes nodes for OpenAI and OpenRouter (disconnected) — you can easily switch to GPT-4o-mini or other models by connecting them to the LLM Chain.
• Save to Database: Instead of email, you could save the analysis to a Google Sheet, Airtable, or Notion database.

Notes

• Not all YouTube videos have transcripts (especially live streams or very short videos). The workflow gracefully handles this with the Exist? conditional node.
• The free tier of youtube-transcript.io may have rate limits — check their pricing for higher usage.

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