# Introducing Vidiopintar CLI: Chat with YouTube Videos from Your Terminal

> Learn how to use the Vidiopintar CLI tool to chat with YouTube video transcripts directly from your command line. No browser needed.

- HTML: https://vidiopintar.com/blog/introducing-vidiopintar-cli
- Markdown: https://vidiopintar.com/blog/introducing-vidiopintar-cli.md

- Published: 2026-02-07
- Author: Ahmad Rosid
- Reading time: 3 min
- Tags: cli, tutorial, vidiopintar, productivity

Sometimes you just want to quickly extract insights from a YouTube video without opening a browser. That's why we built **Vidiopintar CLI** — a command-line tool that lets you chat with YouTube video transcripts directly from your terminal.

## What is Vidiopintar CLI?

Vidiopintar CLI is a lightweight, fast command-line tool that:

- 🎥 **Fetches video transcripts** automatically from any YouTube URL
- 💬 **Interactive chat** — ask questions about the video content
- 📝 **Conversation history** — maintains context from your last 5 exchanges
- 🌍 **Multi-language support** — works with English and Indonesian videos
- ⚡ **Transcript-only mode** — get the transcript without an OpenAI API key

## Installation & Setup

The CLI is included in the Vidiopintar repository. Make sure you have [Bun](https://bun.sh/) installed, then:

```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ahmadrosid/vidiopintar.com.git
cd vidiopintar.com

# Install dependencies
bun install
```

### Environment Setup

For the AI chat features, you'll need a DeepSeek API key:

```bash
# Option 1: Export in your shell
export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

# Option 2: Create a .env file
echo "DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=your-api-key-here" > .env
```

The CLI uses `deepseek-v4-flash` for all chat responses.

## Usage

### Chat Mode

Start an interactive chat session with any YouTube video:

```bash
bun run cli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
```

The tool accepts multiple URL formats:

```bash
# Full URL
bun run cli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Short URL
bun run cli https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Just the video ID
bun run cli dQw4w9WgXcQ
```

### Example Session

```bash
$ bun run cli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example
Fetching transcript...
✓ Transcript loaded (1,234 words)

============================================================
Video ID: example
Chat with YouTube video transcript
Type your questions (or :q to quit)
============================================================

> What are the main points discussed in this video?

Thinking...

Based on the video, here are the main points:

1. **Point one** — Description here...
2. **Point two** — Description here...
3. **Point three** — Description here...

> Can you explain the first point in more detail?

Thinking...

[Detailed explanation with context from the video...]

> :q
Goodbye!
```

### Transcript-Only Mode

Don't have an OpenAI API key? No problem! Get just the transcript:

```bash
bun run cli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID --transcript
```

This mode:
- ✅ Requires **no API key**
- ✅ Outputs clean text to stdout
- ✅ Perfect for piping to other tools
- ✅ Great for quick reference

### Pro Tips

**Pipe the transcript to a file:**
```bash
bun run cli VIDEO_URL --transcript > video-notes.txt
```

**Search within the transcript:**
```bash
bun run cli VIDEO_URL --transcript | grep -i "keyword"
```

**Copy to clipboard (macOS):**
```bash
bun run cli VIDEO_URL --transcript | pbcopy
```

## Use Cases

Here are some ways I use Vidiopintar CLI daily:

1. **Quick research** — Summarize long tutorials without watching
2. **Note-taking** — Extract key points for documentation
3. **Content creation** — Get transcripts for quote verification
4. **Learning** — Ask clarifying questions about complex topics
5. **Accessibility** — Read transcripts when audio isn't available

## Behind the Scenes

The CLI is built with:

- **Bun** — Fast JavaScript runtime
- **youtube-transcript-plus** — Reliable transcript fetching
- **OpenAI SDK** — AI-powered responses
- **marked** — Markdown rendering in terminal

It's a simple but powerful tool that demonstrates how AI can make video content more accessible and actionable.

## What's Next?

We're considering adding:

- Batch processing multiple videos
- Export to JSON/Markdown formats
- Integration with note-taking apps
- Support for more languages

Have ideas? [Let us know](mailto:hello@vidiopintar.com) or [contribute on GitHub](https://github.com/ahmadrosid/vidiopintar.com).

## Try It Now

```bash
# Quick start with a popular tech talk
bun run cli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPQjjsBbIc
```

Happy hacking! 🚀

## Related pages

- [Blog index](https://vidiopintar.com/blog.md)
- [Home](https://vidiopintar.com/index.html.md)
- [FAQ](https://vidiopintar.com/faq.md)
- [Tag: cli](https://vidiopintar.com/blog/tag/cli.md)
- [Tag: tutorial](https://vidiopintar.com/blog/tag/tutorial.md)

## External references

- [YouTube Help Center](https://support.google.com/youtube/): Official YouTube product documentation
- [OpenAI API documentation](https://platform.openai.com/docs): Reference for large language model APIs used in AI summarization products
- [Schema.org CreativeWork](https://schema.org/CreativeWork): Structured data vocabulary for web content