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summarize — Claude Code skill: what it does, how to install

Runs a CLI tool to summarize or transcribe web articles, YouTube videos, podcasts, and local PDF documents directly within your AI assistant.

Install into Claude Code · Skills CLI (Vercel) All methods and platforms ↓ 
npx skills add openclaw/openclaw --skill summarize -a claude-code
Open on GitHub

What summarize does

This skill connects the summarize command-line utility to your coding agent. It processes web pages, video transcripts, podcasts, and local files like PDFs, delivering either a concise synthesis or raw text extraction. Video transcription handles YouTube links directly without depending on yt-dlp.

Operation requires the summarize binary, installed via Homebrew from steipete/tap/summarize. You also need an API key for your chosen provider, such as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, XAI_API_KEY, or GEMINI_API_KEY. Settings can be customized in ~/.summarize/config.json. For restricted web pages and backup video extraction, the tool supports optional tokens for Firecrawl and Apify.

Install this if you regularly digest documentation, podcasts, or video tutorials inside terminal sessions. Skip it if your agent workflows never leave local source code files.

What it helps with

  • generate concise summaries of web articles
  • extract transcripts from YouTube videos without yt-dlp
  • parse and summarize local PDF files
  • export extracted document content as structured JSON

Example prompts for the agent

  • summarize this video link and extract the transcript
  • summarize local file release-notes.pdf with --length short
  • extract raw content from this documentation link without summary

How to install summarize

1Skills CLI (Vercel)

npx skills add openclaw/openclaw --skill summarize -a claude-code

2Manually: put the files in place

~/.claude/skills/summarize/SKILL.md

Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/summarize/

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Questions about summarize

How to install summarize in Claude Code?

Run npx skills add openclaw/openclaw --skill summarize -a claude-code in your terminal.

What does the summarize skill do?

It invokes a dedicated CLI tool to extract text or produce summaries from web links, videos, podcasts, and local documents.

What prerequisites are needed for summarize?

You must install the CLI binary via Homebrew from steipete/tap/summarize and provide an API key such as OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.

Source text

SKILL.md · MIT 
---
name: summarize
description: "Summarize or transcribe URLs, YouTube/videos, podcasts, articles, transcripts, PDFs, and local files."
homepage: https://summarize.sh
metadata:
  {
    "openclaw":
      {
        "emoji": "🧾",
        "requires": { "bins": ["summarize"] },
        "install":
          [
            {
              "id": "brew",
              "kind": "brew",
              "formula": "steipete/tap/summarize",
              "bins": ["summarize"],
              "label": "Install summarize (brew)",
            },
          ],
      },
  }
---

# 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

```bash
summarize "https://example.com"
summarize "/path/to/file.pdf"
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto
```

## YouTube: summary vs transcript

Best-effort transcript (URLs only):

```bash
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto --extract
```

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 `auto`; config may choose the provider/model.

## Useful flags

- `--length short|medium|long|xl|xxl|<chars>`
- `--max-output-tokens <count>`
- `--extract` (print extracted content, no LLM summary)
- `--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`

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

Optional services:

- `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY` for blocked sites
- `APIFY_API_TOKEN` for YouTube fallback

© openclaw · MIT · openclaw/openclaw

See also

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