---
name: Watch Anything
slug: watch-anything
category: Automation
description: Drop a video link from X, YouTube, or Bilibili and get a Chinese summary card with key points, bilingual highlights, and a full transcript. Handles videos without captions via automatic audio download and transcription, enabling interactive Q&A.
github: "https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/watch-anything"
language: JavaScript
stars: 20
forks: 0
install: "npx degit https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/watch-anything ~/.claude/skills/watch-anything"
installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/watch-anything
source_path: SKILL.md
collection_size: 1
category_size: 1523
added: 2026-08-11T07:22:17.588Z
last_synced: 2026-08-11T07:22:17.588Z
canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/watch-anything"
---

# Watch Anything

Drop a video link from X, YouTube, or Bilibili and get a Chinese summary card with key points, bilingual highlights, and a full transcript. Handles videos without captions via automatic audio download and transcription, enabling interactive Q&A.

**Install:**

```bash
npx degit https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/watch-anything ~/.claude/skills/watch-anything
```

## README

<div align="center">

# watch-anything · 看不完的视频，让 AI 替你看懂

**丢一个 X / YouTube / B站 视频链接进来，几分钟后拿到一张一眼看完的中文卡片
（摘要 + 要点 + 金句中英对照）+ 完整解读，还能就着它追问。**

**Drop in an X / YouTube / Bilibili video link, and minutes later get a glanceable card
(summary + key points + bilingual highlights) + full breakdown you can then ask questions about.**

它是 [read-anything](https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/read-anything) 的姊妹：
**read 管读文字，watch 管看视频。**

<img src="assets/demo.gif" width="820" alt="watch-anything 演示：一条带 28 分钟视频的 X 推文 → 中文卡片解读">

<sub>演示：在 X 刷到一条带 28 分钟视频的推文（Anthropic 官方 prompt 工作坊）→ 点「解读」→
自动下载音轨转写 → 出中文卡片（全文 / 摘要 / 要点 / 金句中英对照）→ 存进灵感库 / 转发到飞书。<br>
上图是<b>我的知识工作台</b>的完整产品体验（读懂面板 + 灵感库 + 飞书同步，接本机后端）。
开源的 <b>watch-anything skill 提供其中的核心</b>——抓取 + 转写 + 中文卡片，在你自己的
Claude Code / Agent 里跑，产物是 markdown；灵感库 / 飞书同步是工作台的功能，不在 skill 里。</sub>

</div>

**English** · [中文](#中文)

---

## English

## What is this

Your bookmarks are probably full of videos you "meant to watch someday" — a forty-minute
English tech talk, a tweet with a video, a podcast conversation, a caption-less long video on
Bilibili... and they just sit there collecting dust, too long to finish, too much to get through.

watch-anything is a **Claude Code / Agent skill**: drop in a video link, it first fetches the
content, transcribes the audio track into text (if there are no captions), then has your AI produce
a Chinese card breakdown, with the output landing as markdown in your own knowledge base. The whole
thing happens inside your agent — no switching back and forth between a dozen web tools.

## The specific pain it solves

- **Bookmarked it but no time to watch** → in minutes you get a card that lets you "get it without watching the original"
- **English / caption-less videos, where other summary tools just give up** → auto-downloads the audio track and transcribes, then produces a Chinese breakdown
- **Want to dig into details** → chat over the transcript, answers grounded only in the source, no fabrication
- **Watch and forget, scattered everywhere** → the breakdown lands as markdown, accumulating into your own system

## The killer feature: understand even without captions

Most "video summary" tools rely on the platform's **existing captions**, and choke on videos without
them. The core of watch-anything is a complete transcription fallback chain, where each level
automatically drops down to the next on failure:

```
Video captions (fast, accurate)  →  Groq cloud whisper (tens of seconds, nearly free)  →  local faster-whisper (zero API cost, never leaves your machine)
```

If there are captions, use them; if not, download the audio track and transcribe. With `GROQ_API_KEY`
configured it goes through the cloud; without it, transcribe locally (audio never leaves your machine).
This is also its real value relative to read-anything: read currently only grabs X as **text**, and
**does not download and transcribe video**; watch fills in exactly that gap.

## Why a skill, not a browser extension

Because the killer feature "caption-less video transcription" needs `yt-dlp` + `whisper` — **these
can't run inside a browser extension**. A skill is the only form that is "zero-server + full-capability":
the host Claude Code is itself the large model, and the skill just provides the fetching / transcription
scripts, leaving translation and interpretation to the host agent. So it doesn't need you to stand up
your own backend — clone it and it just works.

## How to use

**Install** (Claude Code, one command):

```bash
git clone https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/watch-anything.git ~/.claude/skills/watch-anything
```

Once installed, in any session just drop a video link and say "break this down / what's it about" to
trigger it. Update with `git -C ~/.claude/skills/watch-anything pull`. To install it only for a
specific project, clone it into that project's `.claude/skills/watch-anything`.

**It looks like this in use** (taking the tweet in the GIF above as an example, real link
[x.com/Krishnasagrawal/status/2084314878576365906](https://x.com/Krishnasagrawal/status/2084314878576365906)):

```
You: https://x.com/Krishnasagrawal/status/2084314878576365906 what's this video about
It: (fetch-x gets the tweet → finds a 28-min video → yt-dlp downloads the audio track → Groq/local whisper transcribes → produces card)
```

The card that comes out (full version in the GIF at the top) looks roughly like this:

```
# Anthropic official prompt workshop: how to really get the most out of Claude Code
> Krishna Agrawal（@Krishnasagrawal）| X | 2026-08-03 | 视频转写（语音听写，可能有少量误差）

【摘要】
Anthropic 团队成员 Boris 在一场 28 分钟免费研讨会里，系统讲解如何真正用好 Claude Code
这个 Agent 化编码助手：从环境配置、代码库上下文，到让它记住特定行为、写入 CLAUDE.md……

【要点】
- 给 Claude 一个能自我检查的反馈闭环（跑测试、Puppeteer 截图），它会自动迭代，比一次成型好得多
- 通过项目里的 CLAUDE.md 共享常用命令 / MCP 工具 / 斜杠决策，把团队工具接成 MCP 供它调用
- 用好快捷键：Shift+Tab 进自动接受、Esc 随时安全中断、输入「#」让它记住特定行为
- Code CLI 可当超级智能的 Unix 工具接进管道，适合 CI 故障响应、日志分析等进阶场景

【金句】
> 得到你想要的结果的最简单办法，是让它先思考。所以，先头脑风暴想法、制定计划，然后再写代码。
> The easiest way to get what you want is asking it to think first. So, brainstorm ideas, make a plan, and only then write the code.

> 给它一个能看到自己成果的方式，它就会迭代、越做越好。
> Give it a way to see the results of its own work, and it will iterate and get much better.

—— 附完整中文全稿 ——
```

**Not just Claude — any agent that can run shell commands works** (Codex / Cursor / Gemini CLI /
WorkBuddy / OpenClaw…): the core logic all lives in `PLAYBOOK.md` (a pure-markdown playbook) +
`scripts/` (ordinary command-line tools, JSON in/out), depending on no Claude-specific features. In
every case the hookup is **clone + paste a paragraph into your agent's instruction file**:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/watch-anything.git ~/.agent-skills/watch-anything
```

Paste this into the file below (each tool just differs by file name):

```markdown
## watch-anything（视频/推文 → 中文卡片解读）
当我丢 X / YouTube / B站 / 视频链接并要求「解读 / 看懂 / 讲了啥 / 转写」时，
按 ~/.agent-skills/watch-anything/PLAYBOOK.md 执行（路由、转写降级链、卡片格式、降级规则都在里面）。
```

| Agent | Instruction file |
|---|---|
| Codex CLI | `~/.codex/AGENTS.md` (global) or project-root `AGENTS.md` |
| Cursor | Create a new rule under the project's `.cursor/rules/` (or the legacy `.cursorrules`) |
| Gemini CLI | `~/.gemini/GEMINI.md` (global) or project-root `GEMINI.md` |
| WorkBuddy / others / can't be bothered to configure | Paste the paragraph above into its instruction/rules file; or each time just say "handle this link per ~/.agent-skills/watch-anything/PLAYBOOK.md" |

## What it can chew on

- **X tweets / tweet videos**: login-free fetch of the body + quoted tweets + media list; auto-downloads and transcribes audio if there's a video
- **YouTube**: captions first, local/cloud transcription if no captions
- **Bilibili**: same as above
- **Other video links**: tries whatever yt-dlp supports

English videos directly produce a Chinese breakdown (no need to translate first and then read). Images
/ video frames are P0 not parsed — it only covers "what was said," and doesn't pretend to have watched
"what's in the frame."

## Card format (default) + three alternatives

The default output is a single card: **【Summary】3 sentences · 【Key points】3-6 items · 【Highlights】
bilingual with timestamps**, plus the full Chinese transcript appended.

| What you want | Which template to use |
|---|---|
| Card + full breakdown (default) | Card breakdown `card.md` |
| Judge in 30 seconds whether it's worth watching | Quick scan `brief.md` |
| Podcast / conversation, split views by person | Interview breakdown `interview.md` |
| X thread / long tweet | Thread breakdown `thread.md` |
| how-to / tutorial / hands-on video, broken into actionable steps | Tutorial breakdown `tutorial.md` |
| Launch event / new product / industry news video | Launch breakdown `news.md` |

**Templates can all be edited and added to**: every .md in `templates/` can be deleted or changed, drop
one of your own in and it's a new template, just say "use my xx template." These templates are clean,
general-purpose perspectives, containing no personalized / productized content — if you want the
breakdown to fit your own focus (e.g. "implications for my product"), just add a template yourself.

## One principle: if it can't be seen, say so

Can't fetch the tweet, audio didn't transcribe, frame not parsed — it tells you all of this truthfully,
and never uses incomplete material to fabricate a plausible-looking breakdown. Transcription output is
labeled "may contain dictation errors," and quoted highlights remind you to check against the original
video. Every sentence you read is traceable.

## Dependencies

| Dependency | Required? | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js 18+ | Required | Runtime for the three scripts (zero npm dependencies) |
| curl | Required (ships with the system) | Network layer, natively supports proxy environment variables |
| yt-dlp | Required for the video route | Pulls captions + downloads audio track (`brew install yt-dlp`); without it, only text-only X tweets can be handled |
| GROQ_API_KEY | Optional | Groq cloud whisper transcription (fast, nearly free, ≤25MB); get one free at [console.groq.com](https://console.groq.com) |
| faster-whisper | Optional | Local transcription fallback (`pip install faster-whisper`, first run auto-downloads a ~460MB model) |

**Transcription needs at least one of a Groq key or faster-whisper**; when you have neither, caption-less
videos can only fall back to title + description and **will explicitly tell you it fell back**. Missing
optional dependencies don't error out — the corresponding content degrades automatically.

For access to YouTube / X from within China, set the `YOUTUBE_PROXY_URL` environment variable (e.g.
`http://127.0.0.1:7890`). Groq uploads go through the `HTTPS_PROXY` / `http_proxy` environment variables
(curl reads them natively).

## File structure

```
watch-anything/
├── SKILL.md          # Claude Code 触发入口（薄壳）
├── PLAYBOOK.md       # 通用剧本：路由/转写降级链/卡片格式/诚实守则（agent 无关）★
├── templates/        # 解读模板（卡片/快扫/访谈/Thread + 你自己的）
└── scripts/          # fetch-x / transcribe-video / vtt-to-text（零依赖）+ transcribe.py（本地 whisper）
```

Each script runs standalone, JSON in/out, making it easy to hook into your own pipeline.

## Is there a browser extension? Can it explain as you watch web pages?

**Not for now.** watch-anything is a pure agent skill — you drop a link in Claude Code / another agent,
and it fetches + transcribes + interprets. That browser side panel in the GIF at the top is the
**built-in version** of my own knowledge workbench (connected to a local backend), and is **not in this
skill**. The browser version — "install an extension, get explanations while you browse" — is on the
roadmap (P2), and when it's built it'll get its own separate repo; here we first make the "zero-server +
full-capability" skill version solid.

## Provenance

Distilled from the content-collection pipeline (ADR-064 cloud transcription channel) of my personal
knowledge management system [knowledge-workbench](https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/knowledge-workbench) —
the hardening points in the scripts (FxTwitter login-free tweet fetching, X video audio-video merge
`bestaudio/best` fallback, the caption `en.*` wildcard triggering 429 pitfall, Node fetch not reading the
proxy so it must go through curl, the whisper Chinese homophone mis-hearing names warning, the explicit
declaration when tweet video transcription fails, etc.) all come from real pitfalls hit in practice, with
the reasons preserved in the comments.

---

## 中文

## 这是什么

收藏夹里是不是躺着一堆「打算有空再看」的视频——四十分钟的英文技术演讲、
一条带视频的推文、一期播客对谈、一个没字幕的 B 站长视频……结果一直吃灰，
看不完也看不动。

watch-anything 是一个 **Claude Code / Agent skill**：丢一个视频链接进去，它先抓内容、
（没字幕就）把音轨转写成文字，再由你的 AI 出一张中文卡片解读，产物落成 markdown
进你自己的知识库。全程在你的 agent 里完成，不用在十几个网页工具间来回切。

## 它解决的那个具体麻烦

- **收藏了没时间看** → 几分钟给你一张「不看原视频也懂」的卡片
- **英文 / 无字幕视频，别的总结工具直接歇菜** → 自动下音轨转写，再产出中文解读
- **想追问细节** → 就着转写对话，答案只基于原文，不编造
- **看完就忘、散落各处** → 解读落成 markdown，沉淀进你自己的系统

## 杀手锏：无字幕也能看懂

大多数「视频总结」工具依赖平台**已有的字幕**，碰上没字幕的视频就歇菜。
watch-anything 的核心是一条完整的转写降级链，每一级失败自动降下一级：

```
视频字幕（快、准）  →  Groq 云 whisper（几十秒、近乎免费）  →  本地 faster-whisper（零 API 费、不出本机）
```

有字幕就用字幕；没字幕就下音轨转写。配了 `GROQ_API_KEY` 走云端，没配就本地转
（音频不出本机）。这也是它相对 read-anything 的真价值：read 现在只把 X 当**文字**抓，
**不下载转写视频**；watch 补上的正是这块。

## 为什么是 skill，不是浏览器插件

因为杀手锏「无字幕视频转写」需要 `yt-dlp` + `whisper`——**这些在浏览器插件里跑不了**。
skill 是唯一「零服务器 + 全能力」的形态：宿主 Claude Code 本身就是大模型，skill 只
负责提供抓取 / 转写脚本，翻译解读交给宿主 agent。所以它不需要你自己架后端，
克隆下来就能用。

## 怎么用

**安装**（Claude Code，一条命令）：

```bash
git clone https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/watch-anything.git ~/.claude/skills/watch-anything
```

装完在任何会话里丢个视频链接说「解读一下 / 讲了啥」即可触发。更新用
`git -C ~/.claude/skills/watch-anything pull`。只装到某个项目就克隆到项目的
`.claude/skills/watch-anything`。

**用起来长这样**（以上图那条推文为例，真实链接 [x.com/Krishnasagrawal/status/2084314878576365906](https://x.com/Krishnasagrawal/status/2084314878576365906)）：

```
你：https://x.com/Krishnasagrawal/status/2084314878576365906 这条视频讲了啥
它：（fetch-x 拿推文 → 发现带 28 分钟视频 → yt-dlp 下音轨 → Groq/本地 whisper 转写 → 出卡片）
```

出来的卡片（完整版见顶部 GIF）大致是这样：

```
# Anthropic 官方 prompt 工作坊：如何真正用好 Claude Code
> Krishna Agrawal（@Krishnasagrawal）| X | 2026-08-03 | 视频转写（语音听写，可能有少量误差）

【摘要】
Anthropic 团队成员 Boris 在一场 28 分钟免费研讨会里，系统讲解如何真正用好 Claude Code
这个 Agent 化编码助手：从环境配置、代码库上下文，到让它记住特定行为、写入 CLAUDE.md……

【要点】
- 给 Claude 一个能自我检查的反馈闭环（跑测试、Puppeteer 截图），它会自动迭代，比一次成型好得多
- 通过项目里的 CLAUDE.md 共享常用命令 / MCP 工具 / 斜杠决策，把团队工具接成 MCP 供它调用
- 用好快捷键：Shift+Tab 进自动接受、Esc 随时安全中断、输入「#」让它记住特定行为
- Code CLI 可当超级智能的 Unix 工具接进管道，适合 CI 故障响应、日志分析等进阶场景

【金句】
> 得到你想要的结果的最简单办法，是让它先思考。所以，先头脑风暴想法、制定计划，然后再写代码。
> The easiest way to get what you want is asking it to think first. So, brainstorm ideas, make a plan, and only then write the code.

> 给它一个能看到自己成果的方式，它就会迭代、越做越好。
> Give it a way to see the results of its own work, and it will iterate and get much better.

—— 附完整中文全稿 ——
```

**不止 Claude——任何能跑 shell 命令的 agent 都能用**（Codex / Cursor / Gemini CLI /
WorkBuddy / OpenClaw…）：核心逻辑全在 `PLAYBOOK.md`（纯 markdown 剧本）+ `scripts/`
（普通命令行工具，JSON 进出），不依赖任何 Claude 特性。接法都是**克隆 + 在你的 agent
指令文件里贴一段话**：

```bash
git clone https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/watch-anything.git ~/.agent-skills/watch-anything
```

往下面这个文件里贴这段（各家只是文件名不同）：

```markdown
## watch-anything（视频/推文 → 中文卡片解读）
当我丢 X / YouTube / B站 / 视频链接并要求「解读 / 看懂 / 讲了啥 / 转写」时，
按 ~/.agent-skills/watch-anything/PLAYBOOK.md 执行（路由、转写降级链、卡片格式、降级规则都在里面）。
```

| Agent | 指令文件 |
|---|---|
| Codex CLI | `~/.codex/AGENTS.md`（全局）或项目根 `AGENTS.md` |
| Cursor | 项目 `.cursor/rules/` 下新建规则（或旧版 `.cursorrules`） |
| Gemini CLI | `~/.gemini/GEMINI.md`（全局）或项目根 `GEMINI.md` |
| WorkBuddy / 其他 / 懒得配 | 往它的指令/规则文件贴上面那段；或每次直接说「按 ~/.agent-skills/watch-anything/PLAYBOOK.md 处理这个链接」 |

## 吃得下这些

- **X 推文 / 推文视频**：免登录抓正文 + 引用推文 + 媒体清单；带视频自动下音轨转写
- **YouTube**：字幕优先，无字幕本地/云转写
- **B站**：同上
- **其他视频链接**：yt-dlp 支持的都试

英文视频直接产出中文解读（不用先翻译再看）。图片 / 视频画面 P0 不解析——
只覆盖「说了什么」，不假装看过「画面里有什么」。

## 卡片格式（默认）+ 三种备选

默认输出一张卡片：**【摘要】3 句 · 【要点】3-6 条 · 【金句】中英对照带时间戳**，
再附完整中文稿。

| 你想要 | 用哪个模板 |
|---|---|
| 卡片 + 完整解读（默认） | 卡片解读 `card.md` |
| 30 秒判断值不值得看 | 快扫 `brief.md` |
| 播客 / 对谈，按人拆观点 | 访谈拆解 `interview.md` |
| X 连推 thread / 长推文 | Thread 拆解 `thread.md` |
| how-to / 教学 / 上手视频，拆成可照做的步骤 | 教程拆解 `tutorial.md` |
| 发布会 / 新品 / 行业新闻视频 | 发布会解读 `news.md` |

**模板都能改、能加**：`templates/` 里每个 .md 都可删可改，丢一个你自己的进去就是新模板，
说一句「用我的 xx 模板」即可。这些模板是干净的通用视角，不含任何个人化 / 产品化内容——
想让解读贴合你自己的关注点（比如"对我产品的启发"），自己加一个模板就行。

## 一个原则：看不到就说看不到

推文抓不到、音频没转成、画面没解析——都如实告诉你，绝不拿残缺材料硬编一篇
像模像样的解读。转写产物标注「可能存在听写误差」，引用金句提醒你核对原视频。
你读到的每一句都有据可查。

## 依赖

| 依赖 | 是否必需 | 用途 |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js 18+ | 必需 | 三个脚本的运行时（零 npm 依赖） |
| curl | 必需（系统自带） | 网络层，天然支持代理环境变量 |
| yt-dlp | 视频路由必需 | 拉字幕 + 下音轨（`brew install yt-dlp`）；缺了则只能处理 X 纯文字推文 |
| GROQ_API_KEY | 可选 | Groq 云 whisper 转写（快、近乎免费、≤25MB）；[console.groq.com](https://console.groq.com) 免费领 |
| faster-whisper | 可选 | 本地转写兜底（`pip install faster-whisper`，首次自动下载 ~460MB 模型） |

**转写至少需要 Groq key 或 faster-whisper 其一**；两者都没有时，无字幕视频只能
降级到标题 + 简介并**显式告知你降级了**。缺可选依赖不报错——对应内容自动降级。

国内网络访问 YouTube / X 需设置 `YOUTUBE_PROXY_URL` 环境变量（如 `http://127.0.0.1:7890`）。
Groq 上传走 `HTTPS_PROXY` / `http_proxy` 环境变量（curl 天然读）。

## 文件结构

```
watch-anything/
├── SKILL.md          # Claude Code 触发入口（薄壳）
├── PLAYBOOK.md       # 通用剧本：路由/转写降级链/卡片格式/诚实守则（agent 无关）★
├── templates/        # 解读模板（卡片/快扫/访谈/Thread + 你自己的）
└── scripts/          # fetch-x / transcribe-video / vtt-to-text（零依赖）+ transcribe.py（本地 whisper）
```

各脚本单独可跑，JSON 进出，方便你接进自己的管道。

## 有浏览器插件吗？能边看网页边讲解吗？

**暂时没有。** watch-anything 是纯 agent skill——你在 Claude Code / 别的 agent 里丢链接，
它抓取 + 转写 + 解读。顶部 GIF 里那个浏览器侧边面板，是我自己知识工作台的**内置版**
（接本机后端），**不在本 skill 里**。「装个插件、边刷网页边看讲解」的浏览器版在路线图上
（P2），做出来会另开一个仓——这里先把「零服务器 + 全能力」的 skill 版做扎实。

## 出处

从个人知识管理系统 [knowledge-workbench](https://github.com/heyuxuan0209/knowledge-workbench)
的内容采集链路（ADR-064 云转写通道）提炼——脚本里的加固点（FxTwitter 免登录抓推文、
X 视频音画合流 `bestaudio/best` 兜底、字幕 `en.*` 通配触发 429 的坑、Node fetch 不读代理
必须走 curl、whisper 中文同音字误听人名警示、推文视频转写失败的显式声明等）都来自真实
踩坑，注释里保留了原因。

---

## 🔗 关注我 · Follow me

边做 AI 产品边把一手经验和思考公开分享，欢迎关注、来聊。<br>
I build AI products in public and share the notes here — come say hi:

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  </tr>
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  </tr>
</table>

## License & 二开须知 · Contributing

MIT — 见 [LICENSE](LICENSE)。欢迎 **Star / Fork / Issue**，也欢迎二次开发、魔改、接进你自己的产品或工作流。**唯一的请求**：二开或转载时**注明出处**，并 **@ 一下我**（公众号 / 小红书「**杰西卡聊AI**」，主页见上）——让顺着来的人能找到源头，就是最好的感谢 🙏。

MIT licensed — see [LICENSE](LICENSE). **Star / Fork / Issues welcome**, and feel free to remix, modify, or build it into your own product or workflow. **One ask:** if you fork/remix or repost, please **credit the source and @ me** (Jessica · 杰西卡聊AI). That's the best thank-you 🙏.