Meetings & transcription
yt-fts
Full-text search across an entire YouTube channel's subtitles
★ 1.8k
January 2026
Unlicense
Meetings & transcription
What we checked ourselves
Not copied from the project's own blurb. These are things we opened and verified, with the date.
- 23 Aug 2026We checked that the link to the project still resolves.
- 14 Aug 2026We read the licence text itself (LICENSE). No unusual restrictions were stated.
- 1 Sept 2026We read the project's own documentation and found no sign that development has stopped.
Where this sits among the 67 tools we list in Meetings & transcription
- Commercial use confirmed as allowed53 of 67
- Requires terminal commands45 that do not →
- Requires an API key54 that do not →
- Sends your input to the provider34 that do not →
Counted from our own checks: every tool we list is examined against the same criteria.
What it does
Pulls a channel's subtitles into a local SQLite database and searches them from the command line, returning timestamped URLs that jump straight to the moment a phrase was said — genuinely useful against long streams or lecture series. Two caveats carry equal weight: the author states the project is abandoned, and subtitle retrieval rides on yt-dlp, which breaks whenever YouTube changes. Retrieval also sits awkwardly with YouTube's terms. Unlicense.
Summary based on the project's own description. The Japanese page has a fuller beginner guide: setup difficulty, what to prepare, and a step-by-step start.
Screenshots & visuals
Before you start
- Setup difficultyFor advanced users
- Command lineRequired
- API keyRequired
- Sends data onlineYes
Judged automatically from the project's own metadata. Always confirm on the official page.
yt-fts FAQ
- Is yt-fts free?
- yt-fts itself is free, but it needs an API key for an external AI service. That service charges separately, though some have a free tier.
- Do I need to install anything or write code to use yt-fts?
- It needs the command line. If you are not comfortable typing commands, expect to get stuck during setup.
- Does yt-fts work on a phone?
- No. It needs a computer.
- Can I use yt-fts commercially?
- The licence is Unlicense, which permits commercial use. Conditions such as keeping the copyright notice still apply, so read the licence text before shipping it inside something.
How it compares
The conditions that decide whether you can actually use it, side by side.
| Tool | Command line | API key | Sends data out | Phone | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yt-fts (this page) | Required | Required | Yes | No | Yes |
| yt-whisper | Required | Not needed | Yes | No | Yes |
| voice-pro | Required | Not needed | Yes | No | Yes |
| whisper-diarization | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
"Sends data out" means your input is uploaded to someone's server. Pick "No" when the material cannot leave your organisation.