/you2idea-extract
Extract startup ideas from YouTube videos. Two operating modes depending on available tools.
Mode Detection
Check which tools are available:
- With solograph MCP: use
source_search,source_list,source_tags,source_relatedfor indexed corpus - Without MCP (standalone): use yt-dlp + Read for transcript analysis
MCP Tools (if available)
source_search(query, source="youtube")— semantic search over indexed videossource_list()— check indexed video countssource_tags()— auto-detected topics with confidence scoressource_related(video_url)— find related videos by shared tagskb_search(query)— cross-reference with knowledge baseweb_search(query)— discover new videos to index
Steps
Mode 1: Index + Analyze (with solograph MCP)
- Parse input from
$ARGUMENTS:
- URL (https://youtube.com/watch?v=...) → single video index - Channel name (GregIsenberg) → channel batch index - Query text → search existing corpus (skip to step 4) - If empty, ask: "Video URL, channel name, or search query?"
- Index video(s) via solograph:
# Install if needed pip install solograph # or: uvx solograph # Single video solograph-cli index-youtube -u "$URL" # Channel batch (needs web search for discovery) solograph-cli index-youtube -c "$CHANNEL" -n 5 - Verify indexing —
source_list()to confirm new video count.source_tags()for topic distribution. - Search corpus —
source_search(query="startup ideas", source="youtube"). - Cross-reference —
kb_search(query)for related existing opportunities (if knowledge base available). - Extract insights — for each relevant video chunk:
- Identify the startup idea mentioned - Note timestamp and speaker context - Rate idea potential (specificity, market evidence, feasibility) - Flag ideas that match trends or validated patterns
- Write results to
docs/youtube-ideas.mdor print summary.
Mode 2: Standalone (without MCP)
- Parse input — same as Mode 1 step 1.
- Download transcript via yt-dlp:
# Check yt-dlp is available command -v yt-dlp >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "yt-dlp: ok" || echo "Install: pip install yt-dlp" # Download subtitles only (no video) yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download -o "transcript" "$URL" # Convert VTT to plain text sed '/^$/d; /^[0-9]/d; /-->/d; /WEBVTT/d; /Kind:/d; /Language:/d' transcript.en.vtt | sort -u > transcript.txt - Read transcript — Read the transcript.txt file.
- Analyze for startup ideas:
- Scan for business opportunities, pain points, product ideas - Note approximate timestamps from VTT cues - Rate each idea on specificity and market potential - Cross-reference with WebSearch for market validation
- For channel analysis — download multiple video transcripts:
# Get video list from channel yt-dlp --flat-playlist --print "%(id)s %(title)s" "https://youtube.com/@$CHANNEL" | head -10 # Download transcripts for top videos for id in $VIDEO_IDS; do yt-dlp --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --skip-download -o "transcripts/%(id)s" "https://youtube.com/watch?v=$id" done - Write results to
docs/youtube-ideas.mdwith format:# YouTube Ideas — [Channel/Video] Date: YYYY-MM-DD ## Idea 1: [Name] - **Source:** [Video title] @ [timestamp] - **Problem:** [What pain point] - **Solution:** [What they propose] - **Market signal:** [Evidence of demand] - **Potential:** [High/Medium/Low] — [why] ## Idea 2:...
Common Issues
yt-dlp not found
Fix: pip install yt-dlp or brew install yt-dlp
No subtitles available
Cause: Video has no auto-generated or manual captions. Fix: Try --sub-lang en,ru for multiple languages. Some videos only have auto-generated subs.
solograph MCP not available
Fix: Skills work in standalone mode (yt-dlp + Read). For indexed search across many videos, install solograph: pip install solograph. For enhanced web search, set up SearXNG (private, self-hosted, free).
Too many ideas, hard to prioritize
Fix: Use /validate on the top 3 ideas to score them through STREAM framework.