Download a YouTube transcript into Markdown you own.
Open a video, choose Save, and keep its available captions with timestamps, chapters, metadata, and cover art in your own folder. LocalKeepFlash works as a browser extension—not a transcript proxy website.
How local-first research works
Keep the transcript and the context around it.
A useful video note should explain where it came from and make it easy to return to the exact moment that mattered.
Timestamped captions
Save available caption lines with clickable time references instead of flattening everything into an anonymous text block.
Video chapters
Keep available chapter titles and time boundaries so a long transcript remains navigable.
Source metadata
Retain the title, channel, source URL, video ID, capture time, and preferred language in the note.
Local cover art
Download the video cover beside the note rather than depending only on a remote image URL.
Save the transcript while the source is open.
LocalKeepFlash runs in the context of the video you are already watching and writes the result directly to your selected directory.
Open the YouTube video
Navigate to the video whose available transcript and context you want to keep.
Choose caption preferences
Use the language preferences configured in LocalKeepFlash, then choose Save from the extension.
Open the local note
Continue in Obsidian, a code editor, Git, or any other workflow that understands Markdown files.
A transcript that still points back to the video.
The generated note combines readable Markdown with structured metadata so both people and local tools can understand it.
- Portable Markdown with YAML frontmatter
- Timestamp links back to the original video
- Predictable local note and asset paths
---
title: How local-first research works
source_url: https://youtube.com/watch?v=example
capture_type: youtube
language: en
---
## Transcript
**[00:18]** The useful part is not just the video URL.
**[01:42]** Keep the exact explanation with a timestamp back to the source.Your transcript does not need a third-party proxy.
LocalKeepFlash performs the save inside the extension and writes the result to your chosen directory. There is no KeepFlash account, analytics service, or AI processor in that path.
YouTube saves may contact YouTube's own player and caption endpoints with credentials omitted. Availability depends on captions and interfaces controlled by YouTube, which may change.
- No transcript upload to KeepFlash
- No cloud database or local daemon
- No analytics or AI processing
Use it on the video—not as a paste-a-URL website.
This distinction keeps the product promise honest and makes the workflow clear before installation.
LocalKeepFlash extension
Install the open-source Chromium extension, open a YouTube video, and save its available transcript directly to your local folder.
Install from GitHubWhat this page is not
There is no URL input that sends a video to a hosted extraction service. The current 0.1.0 release is installed from source rather than a browser store.
YouTube transcript downloader FAQ
01How do I download a YouTube transcript as Markdown?+
Install LocalKeepFlash, open a YouTube video with available captions, and choose Save in the extension. It writes a Markdown note with available timestamped captions and source metadata to your selected folder.
02Does it preserve timestamps?+
Yes. Available caption lines are stored with timestamps, and the generated note can link those timestamps back to the original video.
03Can it download every YouTube transcript?+
No. A video must expose usable captions, and availability can vary by language, region, video settings, and changes to interfaces controlled by YouTube.
04Does it upload the transcript to KeepFlash or an AI service?+
No. LocalKeepFlash writes to your selected directory and does not put a KeepFlash account, cloud database, analytics service, or AI processor in the saving path.
05Is there a Chrome Web Store version?+
Not in the current 0.1.0 release. Build the Chromium MV3 extension from source and load the generated folder as an unpacked extension.
Keep the transcript where the rest of your files live.
Save available captions with timestamps and context, then continue in the Markdown workflow you already trust.
Open source · local-first · no account required