Summarize YouTube videos with Gemini AI and send via Telegram

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 YOURAPIKEY" - 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 YOURCHATID 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