anyscribecli 0.5.0

CLI tool to download, transcribe, and convert video/audio to structured markdown

anyscribecli

Download. Transcribe. Markdown. A CLI tool that turns YouTube videos, Instagram reels, and local audio/video files into structured, searchable markdown — browsable in Obsidian.

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What it does

URL or local file → Download/convert audio → Transcribe → Formatted Markdown → Obsidian Vault

• 5 transcription providers — OpenAI Whisper, ElevenLabs, OpenRouter, Sarvam AI, Local (offline)
• 3 input sources — YouTube, Instagram (reels + posts), local files (mp3, mp4, m4a, wav, opus, ogg, flac, webm)
• Obsidian-native output — YAML frontmatter, word count, reading time, tags
• Master index + daily logs — browse everything in Obsidian
• Download-only mode — grab video or audio without transcribing
• Batch processing — transcribe a list of URLs from a file
• --json on main commands — for scripting and AI agent integration
• Arrow-key onboarding wizard — interactive setup, installs missing dependencies

Quick Start

Install

# From PyPI (recommended)
pip install anyscribecli

# Or use the install script (checks and installs dependencies too)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rishmadaan/anyscribecli/main/install.sh | bash

# Or clone for development
git clone https://github.com/rishmadaan/anyscribecli.git
cd anyscribecli && pip install -e .

Set up

ascli onboard

Interactive wizard with arrow-key selectors:

1. Checks system dependencies (yt-dlp, ffmpeg) — installs missing ones
2. Choose provider from 5 options (arrow keys)
3. Enter API key
4. Configure Instagram credentials (optional)
5. Choose language, media storage, post-transcription download behavior
6. Creates your Obsidian workspace

Transcribe

# From a URL
ascli transcribe "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

# From a local file
ascli transcribe /path/to/podcast.mp3

Always wrap URLs in quotes — shells like zsh break URLs with ? in them. Or just run ascli transcribe and paste when prompted. Local file paths don't need quotes.

Download (no transcription)

ascli download "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"            # video
ascli download "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" --audio-only  # audio

Commands

Command	Description
ascli onboard	Interactive setup wizard
ascli transcribe "<url or file>"	Transcribe a video or local file to markdown
ascli download "<url>"	Download video or audio only
ascli batch <file>	Batch transcribe URLs or file paths from a file
ascli config show/set/path	View and change settings
ascli providers list/test	Manage transcription providers
ascli install-skill	Install Claude Code skill
ascli update	Update to the latest version
ascli doctor	Check system health

Transcribe options

ascli transcribe "<url>"
  --provider, -p <name>    # Override provider (openai, elevenlabs, local, etc.)
  --language, -l <code>    # Language code (default: auto-detect)
  --json, -j               # JSON output for scripting/AI agents
  --keep-media             # Keep the downloaded audio file
  --clipboard, -c          # Read URL from clipboard
  --quiet, -q              # Suppress progress output

Provide a URL, file path, or use interactive mode:

ascli transcribe "https://..."     # quoted URL (primary)
ascli transcribe /path/to/file.mp3 # local audio/video file
ascli transcribe                    # interactive prompt (no quoting needed)
ascli transcribe --clipboard        # read URL from system clipboard

Download options

ascli download "<url>"
  --video / --audio-only     # Video (default) or audio only
  --json, -j                 # JSON output
  --quiet, -q                # Suppress progress
  --clipboard, -c            # Read URL from clipboard

Batch options

ascli batch <file>
  --provider, -p <name>      # Override provider
  --language, -l <code>      # Override language
  --json, -j                 # JSON output
  --keep-media               # Keep audio files
  --quiet, -q                # Suppress progress
  --stop-on-error            # Stop at first failure

JSON output

ascli transcribe "https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123" --json

{
  "success": true,
  "file": "~/anyscribe/sources/youtube/2026-03-27/video-title.md",
  "title": "Video Title",
  "platform": "youtube",
  "duration": "12:34",
  "language": "en",
  "word_count": 1500,
  "provider": "openai"
}

Prerequisites

The onboarding wizard checks for these and offers to install them:

Dependency	Required	Install
Python 3.10+	Yes	python.org
yt-dlp	Yes	brew install yt-dlp or pip install yt-dlp
ffmpeg	Yes	brew install ffmpeg or ffmpeg.org
API key	Yes (for cloud providers)	See Provider Guide

Directory structure

~/anyscribe/                              # Obsidian vault (configurable)
├── _index.md                             # Master index (newest first)
├── sources/
│   ├── youtube/YYYY-MM-DD/<slug>.md
│   ├── instagram/YYYY-MM-DD/<slug>.md
│   └── local/YYYY-MM-DD/<slug>.md
└── daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md

~/.anyscribecli/                          # App internals (hidden)
├── config.yaml                           # Settings (no secrets)
├── .env                                  # API keys + passwords
├── media/                                # Downloads (separate from vault)
│   ├── audio/<platform>/YYYY-MM-DD/      # Kept audio (if keep_media=true)
│   └── video/<platform>/YYYY-MM-DD/      # Downloaded videos
├── sessions/                             # Login sessions
└── logs/                                 # Processing logs

Workspace is visible and configurable — transcripts default to ~/anyscribe/ (no hidden dot-dir). Change it with ascli config set workspace_path /your/path. Media stays separate to keep the vault lightweight.

Providers

Provider	Best for	API key
OpenAI Whisper (default)	General purpose, multilingual	OPENAI_API_KEY
ElevenLabs Scribe	High accuracy, 99 languages, word timestamps	ELEVENLABS_API_KEY
Sarvam AI	Indic languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, etc.)	SARGAM_API_KEY
OpenRouter	Access to various AI models	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Local (faster-whisper)	Offline, free, no API key needed	None

See Provider Guide for detailed comparison, pricing, and setup.

Configuration

# ~/.anyscribecli/config.yaml
provider: openai          # Transcription provider
language: auto             # Language (auto-detect or ISO code)
keep_media: false          # Keep audio files after transcription
output_format: clean       # clean | timestamped
prompt_download: never     # never | ask | always — download video after transcription
local_file_media: skip     # skip | copy | move | ask — what to do with local files
workspace_path: ""         # empty = ~/anyscribe (default), or set a custom path

API keys and passwords live in ~/.anyscribecli/.env (separate from config, never committed).

See Configuration Guide for all options.

Claude Code Integration

ascli ships with a Claude Code skill that teaches Claude how to transcribe, configure providers, and troubleshoot on your behalf. After installing ascli:

ascli install-skill

Or run ascli onboard — it auto-detects Claude Code and offers to install the skill. Once installed, Claude can use /ascli or auto-activate when you ask it to transcribe something.

Documentation

For	Where
First-time users	Getting Started
Command reference	Commands
All config options	Configuration
Provider comparison	Providers
AI developers	CLAUDE.md
Agent directives	AGENTS.md
Developer memory	Building Docs

Development

git clone https://github.com/rishmadaan/anyscribecli.git
cd anyscribecli
pip install -e ".[dev]"

ruff check src/          # lint
ruff format src/         # format
pytest                   # test

License

MIT