YouTube Playlist Processing

Convert entire YouTube playlists to markdown files. Each video becomes a separate markdown file with frontmatter and transcript.

Quick Start

bash

# Process a playlist
gobbler batch youtube-playlist "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxx" \
  -o "./Playlist Name" \
  --timestamps

# With custom concurrency (default: 3)
gobbler batch youtube-playlist "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxxx" \
  -o "./Playlist Name" \
  --timestamps \
  --concurrency 5

Options Reference

Flag	Default	Description
`-o, --output`	Required	Output directory path
`--timestamps`	`false`	Include timestamps in transcript
`--concurrency, -c`	`3`	Parallel video processing (1-10)
`--language, -l`	`en`	Preferred transcript language
`--skip-existing`	`true`	Skip videos that already have output files
`--no-skip-existing`	-	Force reprocess all videos

Features

•Parallel processing: Multiple videos process simultaneously
•Skip existing: Only processes new videos by default
•Progress tracking: Shows which videos are starting and completing
•Graceful failures: One failed video won't stop the batch
•Rate limit handling: Uses webshare proxy + paid API fallback

Output Structure

code

Playlist Name/
  Video Title One.md
  Video Title Two.md
  Video Title Three.md
  ...

Each file contains:

•YAML frontmatter (source URL, video ID, title, channel, duration, etc.)
•Timestamped transcript (if --timestamps used)

Saving Output

Tip: If the user has configured output.default_directory in ~/.config/gobbler/config.yml, save files there:

bash

gobbler batch youtube-playlist "URL" -o "$OUTPUT_DIR/Playlist Name" --timestamps

Progress Output

code

Fetching playlist info...
Found 47 videos (42 existing, 5 new)
Processing 5 videos (3 parallel)...

  Starting: Video Title One
  Starting: Video Title Two
  Starting: Video Title Three
Video Title Two
  Progress: 1/5
Video Title One
  Progress: 2/5
  Starting: Video Title Four
...

Sync complete!
  New: 5
  Skipped (existing): 42

Rate Limiting

YouTube may rate-limit transcript requests. Gobbler handles this with:

•Webshare proxy: Rotating proxies via WEBSHARE_USER/WEBSHARE_PASS
•Paid API fallback: TRANSCRIPTAPI_KEY for reliable access
•Concurrency control: Lower -c value if hitting limits

bash

# If rate limited, reduce concurrency
gobbler batch youtube-playlist "URL" -o ./out --concurrency 1

Troubleshooting

Videos failing with no transcript

Some videos don't have transcripts available:

•Live streams often lack transcripts
•Music videos may have only lyrics
•Creator may have disabled captions

Playlist not found

Verify the playlist URL works:

bash

yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print "%(title)s" "YOUR_PLAYLIST_URL" | head -5

Many failures (rate limited)

bash

# Reduce concurrency
gobbler batch youtube-playlist "URL" -o ./out --concurrency 1

# Or wait 5-10 minutes and retry

Resume interrupted download

Just run the same command again - --skip-existing (default) will skip completed videos.