summarize▌
steipete/clawdis · updated Apr 12, 2026
Extract summaries and transcripts from URLs, videos, and local files via CLI.
- ›Supports URLs, YouTube links, PDFs, and local files with configurable summary length (short to xxl) and output format (text or JSON)
- ›Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Google Gemini models; defaults to Gemini 3 Flash if no model specified
- ›Includes best-effort YouTube transcript extraction and Firecrawl/Apify fallbacks for blocked or hard-to-parse content
- ›Single command interface with optional config
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-dlpneeded)
Quick start
summarize "https://example.com" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview
summarize "/path/to/file.pdf" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto
YouTube: summary vs transcript
Best-effort transcript (URLs only):
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto --extract-only
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 google/gemini-3-flash-preview if none is set.
Useful flags
--length short|medium|long|xl|xxl|<chars>--max-output-tokens <count>--extract-only(URLs only)--json(machine readable)--firecrawl auto|off|always(fallback extraction)--youtube auto(Apify fallback ifAPIFY_API_TOKENset)
Config
Optional config file: ~/.summarize/config.json
{ "model": "openai/gpt-5.2" }
Optional services:
FIRECRAWL_API_KEYfor blocked sitesAPIFY_API_TOKENfor YouTube fallback
Ratings
4.5★★★★★10 reviews- ★★★★★Shikha Mishra· Oct 10, 2024
summarize is among the better-maintained entries we tried; worth keeping pinned for repeat workflows.
- ★★★★★Piyush G· Sep 9, 2024
Keeps context tight: summarize is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
- ★★★★★Chaitanya Patil· Aug 8, 2024
Registry listing for summarize matched our evaluation — installs cleanly and behaves as described in the markdown.
- ★★★★★Sakshi Patil· Jul 7, 2024
summarize reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.
- ★★★★★Ganesh Mohane· Jun 6, 2024
I recommend summarize for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.
- ★★★★★Oshnikdeep· May 5, 2024
Useful defaults in summarize — fewer surprises than typical one-off scripts, and it plays nicely with `npx skills` flows.
- ★★★★★Dhruvi Jain· Apr 4, 2024
summarize has been reliable in day-to-day use. Documentation quality is above average for community skills.
- ★★★★★Rahul Santra· Mar 3, 2024
Solid pick for teams standardizing on skills: summarize is focused, and the summary matches what you get after install.
- ★★★★★Pratham Ware· Feb 2, 2024
We added summarize from the explainx registry; install was straightforward and the SKILL.md answered most questions upfront.
- ★★★★★Yash Thakker· Jan 1, 2024
summarize fits our agent workflows well — practical, well scoped, and easy to wire into existing repos.