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Summarize YouTube videos with Gemini AI and send via Telegram

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Created by: Khairul Muhtadin || khmuhtadin
Khairul Muhtadin

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Last update 4 days ago

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Turn any YouTube video into a 5-minute read. This TLDW (Too Long; Didn't Watch) generator pulls full transcripts and metadata with Decodo's scraping API, then has Google Gemini write intelligent summaries with key points, chapter breakdowns, tools mentioned, and actionable takeaways. No more hours of note-taking.

Last updated: September 2026.

Why Use This Workflow?

Time Savings: A 2-hour video becomes a 5-minute summary. Research time down 95%.
Comprehensive Coverage: Key points, chapters, tools, quotes, and actionable steps that manual notes miss.
Instant Accessibility: Structured summaries in Telegram within 30-60 seconds of sharing a link.
Multi-Language Support: Transcripts in multiple languages via YouTube's auto-caption system.

Ideal For

  • Content Creators & Researchers: Extract insights from competitor videos, educational content, or industry talks without watching hours of footage.
  • Students & Educators: Study notes from lectures, online courses, or tutorials with chapter breakdowns.
  • Marketing Teams: Competitor strategies, tools and techniques mentioned, trending topics across videos.
  • Busy Professionals: Conference talks, webinars, and industry updates as readable summaries.

How It Works

  1. Trigger: User sends any YouTube URL (youtube.com or youtu.be) to a configured Telegram bot
  2. Data Collection: Workflow extracts video ID and simultaneously fetches full transcript and metadata (title, channel, views, duration, chapters, tags) via Decodo API
  3. Processing: Raw transcript extracted and cleaned, metadata parsed into structured fields with formatted statistics and chapter timestamps
  4. AI Processing: Google Gemini Flash analyzes the transcript into a structured summary: one-line overview, key points, main topics by chapter, tools mentioned, target audience, practical takeaways, and notable quotes

Setup Guide

Prerequisites

Requirement Type Purpose
n8n instance Essential Workflow execution platform
Telegram Bot API Essential Receives video links and delivers summaries (tutorial)
Decodo Scraper API Essential Extracts YouTube transcripts and metadata
Google Gemini API Essential AI-powered summary generation

Installation Steps

  1. Import the JSON file to your n8n instance
  2. Configure credentials:
    • Telegram Bot API: Create a bot via @BotFather on Telegram, obtain the API token, and configure in n8n Telegram credentials
    • Decodo API: Sign up at Decodo Dashboard, get your API key, create HTTP Header Auth credential with header name "Authorization" and value "Basic [YOUR_API_KEY]"
    • Google Gemini API: Obtain API key from Google AI Studio, configure in n8n Google Palm API credentials
  3. Update environment-specific values:
    • In the "Alert Admin" node, replace YOUR_CHAT_ID with your personal Telegram user ID for error notifications
    • Optionally adjust the languageCode in "Set: Video ID & Config" node (default: "en")
  4. Customize settings:
    • Modify the AI prompt in "Generate TLDR" node to adjust summary structure and depth
  5. Test execution:
    • Send a YouTube link to your Telegram bot
    • Verify you receive the "Processing..." notification, video info card, and formatted summary chunks

Technical Details

Workflow Logic

The workflow employs parallel processing for efficiency. Transcript and metadata are fetched simultaneously after video ID extraction.

Once both API calls complete, the transcript feeds directly into Gemini AI while metadata is parsed separately. The merge node combines AI output with structured metadata before splitting into Telegram-friendly chunks.

Error handling is isolated on a separate branch triggered by any node failure, formatting error details and alerting admins without disrupting the main flow.

Customization Options

Basic Adjustments:

  • Language Selection: Change languageCode from "en" to "id", "es", "fr", etc. to fetch transcripts in different languages (YouTube must have captions available)
  • Summary Style: Edit the prompt in "Generate TLDR" to focus on specific aspects (e.g., "focus only on technical tools mentioned" or "create a summary for beginners")
  • Message Length: Adjust maxCharsPerChunk (currently 4000) to create longer or shorter message splits based on preference

Advanced Enhancements:

  • Database Storage: Add a Postgres/Airtable node after "Merge: Data + Summary" to archive all summaries with timestamps and user IDs for searchable knowledge base (medium complexity)
  • Multi-Model Comparison: Duplicate the "Generate TLDR" chain and connect GPT-4 or Claude, merge results to show different AI perspectives on the same video (high complexity)
  • Auto-Translation: Insert a translation node after summary generation to deliver summaries in user's preferred language automatically (medium complexity)

Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

Problem Cause Solution
"Not a YouTube URL" error URL format not recognized Ensure URL sent contains youtube.com or youtu.be
No transcript available Video lacks captions or wrong language Check video has auto-generated or manual captions change languageCode to match available options
Decodo API 401/403 error Invalid or expired API key Verify API key in HTTP Header Auth credential. regenerate if needed from Decodo dashboard
Error notifications not received Wrong chat ID in Alert Admin node Get your Telegram user ID from @userinfobot and update the node

Use Case Examples

Scenario 1: Marketing Agency Competitive Analysis

Challenge: Agency needs to analyze 50+ competitor YouTube videos monthly to identify content strategies, tools used, and messaging angles—watching all videos would require 80+ hours
Solution: Drop youtube links into a shared Telegram group with the bot. Summaries are generated instantly, highlighting tools mentioned, key talking points, and target audience insights
Result: Research time reduced from 80 hours to 6 hours monthly (93% time savings), with searchable archive of all competitor content strategies

Quick Answers

Which languages work?
Any language YouTube captions support. Set languageCode (default "en") in the config node.
How long are the chunks?
maxCharsPerChunk is 4000 by default. Adjust it to taste.
What if it errors?
Failures go to an isolated branch that alerts the admin without breaking the main flow.

Made by: khmuhtadin
Category: AI-Powered Automation
Tags: YouTube, AI, Telegram, Summarization, Content Analysis, Decodo, Gemini
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Additional info

Built with n8n. Need an assessment on your business? Feel free to reach out at https://khmuhtadin.com/consultation/