Do you have a long playlist of YouTube videos you really need to go through one of these days?  Is scrolling through your Watch Later playlist giving you carpal tunnel syndrome?

Have I got a great solution for you.

What if you could take any YouTube URL and use it as an argument to a command-line program which would nearly immediately spit out a bullet-point summary of what was said in the video, including pertinent quotes?

Um, what?

The Magic of fabric

Fabric is a CLI tool that allows you to do things like this:

$ yt --transcript https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ5Cgi2uIpY \
| fabric -sp extract_wisdom

That produces a summary of about 100 lines of Markdown that was broken into the following sections:

• Summary
• Ideas
• Insights
• Quotes
• Habits
• Facts
• References
• One-Sentence Takeaway
• Recommendations

That video was our piece on the Hans Reiser saga.  Summary? “The content discusses the story of Hans Reiser, a convicted murderer and developer of the ReiserFS file system, and his involvement in the Linux project” which is fair.

Take a look at the quotes it extracted:

– “Linux powers all of the world’s top 500 supercomputers.”
– “The Linux community operates as a nearly perfect meritocracy.”
– “Hans Reiser, a convicted murderer, contributed significant code to the Linux kernel.”
– “ReiserFS introduced advanced ideas for its time.”
– “Mail order brides have a history dating back to the 17th century.”
– “The internet significantly impacted the mail order bride industry.”
– “Hans Reiser’s marriage to a Russian mail order bride ended in murder.”
– “ReiserFS was deprecated from the Linux kernel due to ceased development.”
– “Hans Reiser’s case raises questions about personal actions on professional legacies.”
– “The rise and fall of Hans Reiser serves as a cautionary tale.”
– “The Linux project’s openness allows for contributions from a wide range of individuals.”
– “ReiserFS’s novel ideas contributed to the evolution of file systems.”
– “The legal and personal drama surrounding Hans Reiser overshadowed his achievements.”
– “Technical innovation can be overshadowed by personal actions and legal controversies.”
– “Open-source projects attract diverse contributors, including controversial figures.”

And here are some things referenced (“References”):

– Linux project announcement by Linus Torvalds in 1991
– University of California, Berkeley, where Hans Reiser studied
– ReiserFS file system developed by Hans Reiser
– SUSE Linux versions that used ReiserFS as the default file system
– Cherry Blossoms company advertising Filipino brides post-WWII
– Websites offering Slavic brides following the fall of the Soviet Union
– Namesys Inc., Hans Reiser’s company
– Battlefield Vietnam video game mentioned in legal proceedings
– Commit published in early 2022 deprecating ReiserFS from the Linux kernel

All of which is accurate.

Wow!  What Else Can It Do?

Just look at the patterns directory in the repo:

• analyze_debate
• analyze_log
• check_agreement
• create_git_diff_commit
• explain_code
• improve_prompt
• summarize_lecture
• to_flashcards

Et many cetera…there are over 100 different commands, and of course it’s easy to write your own.  Enjoy!

• Author
• Recent Posts

raindog308

Dread Lord of LowEnd Content at LowEndBox

I'm raindog308, techno polymath and long-time LowEndTalk community Administrator. My technical interests include all things Unix, perl, python, golang, shell scripting, vintage operating systems such as MVS, and relational database systems such as Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

I also enjoy using LEBs! I have an empire of little guys for VPNs, larger guys for apps, and big guys for databases and storage. When I'm not in front a screen I'm into German Shepherd dogs, quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop roleplaying games, and forest hiking.

I enjoy writing technical articles here on LowEndBox to help people get more out of their systems. You can find me on LowEndTalk @raindog308

Latest posts by raindog308 (see all)

• Dropbear in 2025: Still the LowEnd SSH Server of Choice? - January 20, 2025
• “OMG! I Never Knew That!”: The Simply Linux Tip That Has Got Me More Thanks Than Anything I’ve Ever Shared in 30+ Years - January 19, 2025
• Bluesky has Flopped: How Mashable is Lying To You - January 18, 2025