Summarize

Fast CLI to summarize URLs, local files, and YouTube links.

When to use (trigger phrases)

Use this skill immediately when the user asks any of:

•"use summarize.sh"
•"what's this link/video about?"
•"summarize this URL/article"
•"transcribe this YouTube/video" (best-effort transcript extraction; no yt-dlp needed)

Prerequisites

Before running any summarize command, check if it is installed:

bash

which summarize

If the command is not found, install it locally:

bash

npm install @steipete/summarize

Homepage

https://summarize.sh

Quick start

bash

summarize "https://example.com" --format md
summarize "/path/to/file.pdf" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto

YouTube: summary vs transcript

Best-effort transcript (URLs only):

bash

summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto --extract-only

If the user asked for a transcript but it’s huge, return a tight summary first, then ask which section/time range to expand.

Model + keys

Set the API key for your chosen provider:

•OpenAI: OPENAI_API_KEY
•Anthropic: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
•xAI: XAI_API_KEY
•Google: GEMINI_API_KEY (aliases: GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY, GOOGLE_API_KEY)

Default model is google/gemini-3-flash-preview if none is set.

Useful flags

•--length short|medium|long|xl|xxl|<chars>
•--max-output-tokens <count>
•--extract-only (URLs only)
•--json (machine readable)
•--firecrawl auto|off|always (fallback extraction)
•--youtube auto (Apify fallback if APIFY_API_TOKEN set)

Config

Optional config file: ~/.summarize/config.json

json

{ "model": "openai/gpt-5.2" }

Optional services:

•FIRECRAWL_API_KEY for blocked sites
•APIFY_API_TOKEN for YouTube fallback