Nanobot summarize

Summarize or extract text/transcripts from URLs, podcasts, and local files (great fallback for “transcribe this YouTube/video”).

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/nanobot
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/HKUDS/nanobot "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/nanobot/skills/summarize" ~/.claude/skills/hkuds-nanobot-summarize && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: nanobot/skills/summarize/SKILL.md
source content

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)

Quick start

summarize "https://example.com" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview
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):

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

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

Optional services:

  • FIRECRAWL_API_KEY
    for blocked sites
  • APIFY_API_TOKEN
    for YouTube fallback