youtube-summarizer/docs/stories/1.3.transcript-extraction-service.md

Story 1.3: Transcript Extraction Service

Status

Draft

Story

As a user
I want the system to automatically extract transcripts from YouTube videos
so that I have the text content needed for AI summarization

Acceptance Criteria

1. System extracts video transcripts using multiple fallback methods (YouTube Transcript API → auto-captions → audio transcription)
2. Transcripts are cached to avoid repeated API calls for the same video
3. Multiple language support with preference for English when available
4. Failed transcript extraction returns informative error messages with suggested solutions
5. System handles videos with no available transcripts gracefully
6. Transcript extraction is non-blocking and provides progress feedback

Tasks / Subtasks

• Task 1: Primary Transcript Extraction (AC: 1, 2)

  • Create TranscriptService class in backend/services/transcript_service.py
  • Implement YouTube Transcript API integration with retry logic
  • Add transcript caching with video ID-based keys
  • Implement multi-language transcript detection and prioritization

• Task 2: Fallback Transcript Methods (AC: 1, 5)

  • Integrate auto-generated captions extraction as secondary method
  • Implement audio transcription fallback using OpenAI Whisper API
  • Create fallback chain orchestration with error handling
  • Add logging for fallback method usage and success rates

• Task 3: Transcript Processing Pipeline (AC: 3, 4, 6)

  • Create transcript cleaning and formatting utilities
  • Implement timestamp preservation for chapter creation
  • Add text chunking for large transcripts (token limit management)
  • Create progress tracking for multi-step extraction process

• Task 4: API Integration (AC: 4, 6)

  • Create /api/transcripts/{video_id} GET endpoint
  • Implement background transcript extraction with job status tracking
  • Add WebSocket support for real-time progress updates
  • Create comprehensive error response system with recovery suggestions

• Task 5: Cache Management (AC: 2)

  • Implement Redis-based transcript caching with 24-hour TTL
  • Add cache warming for popular videos
  • Create cache invalidation strategy for updated transcripts
  • Add cache analytics and hit rate monitoring

• Task 6: Integration Testing (AC: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

  • Test transcript extraction across different video types and lengths
  • Verify fallback chain handles edge cases (private videos, no captions, etc.)
  • Test caching behavior and cache invalidation
  • Validate error handling and user-facing error messages

Dev Notes

Architecture Context

This story implements the core content extraction layer that bridges YouTube's video platform with our AI summarization engine. The transcript service serves as the foundation for all downstream AI processing and must be robust, efficient, and user-friendly.

Transcript Service Implementation Requirements

[Source: docs/architecture.md#backend-services]

class TranscriptService:
    def __init__(self, cache_client: CacheClient, whisper_client: WhisperClient):
        self.youtube_api = YouTubeTranscriptApi()
        self.cache_client = cache_client
        self.whisper_client = whisper_client
        
    async def extract_transcript(self, video_id: str, language_preference: str = "en") -> TranscriptResult:
        """Extract transcript using fallback chain with caching"""
        
        # Check cache first
        cache_key = f"transcript:{video_id}:{language_preference}"
        cached_result = await self.cache_client.get(cache_key)
        if cached_result:
            return TranscriptResult.from_cache(cached_result)
        
        # Try primary method: YouTube Transcript API
        try:
            transcript = await self._extract_youtube_transcript(video_id, language_preference)
            await self.cache_client.set(cache_key, transcript, ttl=86400)  # 24 hours
            return TranscriptResult(transcript=transcript, method="youtube_api", success=True)
        except TranscriptNotAvailableError:
            pass
            
        # Fallback 1: Auto-generated captions
        try:
            transcript = await self._extract_auto_captions(video_id, language_preference)
            await self.cache_client.set(cache_key, transcript, ttl=86400)
            return TranscriptResult(transcript=transcript, method="auto_captions", success=True)
        except CaptionsNotAvailableError:
            pass
            
        # Fallback 2: Audio transcription with Whisper
        try:
            transcript = await self._transcribe_audio(video_id, language_preference)
            await self.cache_client.set(cache_key, transcript, ttl=86400)
            return TranscriptResult(transcript=transcript, method="whisper_audio", success=True)
        except AudioTranscriptionError as e:
            return TranscriptResult(
                transcript=None, 
                method="failed", 
                success=False,
                error=TranscriptExtractionError(
                    message="Unable to extract transcript from video",
                    error_code=ErrorCode.TRANSCRIPT_UNAVAILABLE,
                    details={
                        "video_id": video_id,
                        "attempted_methods": ["youtube_api", "auto_captions", "whisper_audio"],
                        "last_error": str(e),
                        "suggestions": [
                            "Try a different video with captions available",
                            "Check if video is public and accessible",
                            "Contact support if this video should have transcripts"
                        ]
                    }
                )
            )

Transcript Processing Requirements

[Source: docs/architecture.md#data-processing]

Transcript Cleaning and Formatting:

class TranscriptProcessor:
    def clean_transcript(self, raw_transcript: List[Dict]) -> str:
        """Clean and format raw transcript data"""
        # Remove duplicate segments
        # Fix common OCR/speech recognition errors
        # Standardize punctuation and formatting
        # Preserve meaningful timestamps
        
    def chunk_transcript(self, transcript: str, max_tokens: int = 3000) -> List[TranscriptChunk]:
        """Split transcript into manageable chunks for AI processing"""
        # Split on sentence boundaries
        # Preserve context across chunks
        # Include timestamp ranges for each chunk
        # Ensure chunks don't exceed token limits
        
    def extract_metadata(self, transcript: str) -> TranscriptMetadata:
        """Extract useful metadata from transcript"""
        return TranscriptMetadata(
            word_count=len(transcript.split()),
            estimated_reading_time=self.calculate_reading_time(transcript),
            language_detected=self.detect_language(transcript),
            topics=self.extract_topics(transcript),
            speakers_detected=self.detect_speakers(transcript)
        )

Error Handling Requirements

[Source: docs/architecture.md#error-handling]

Transcript-Specific Exceptions:

class TranscriptExtractionError(BaseAPIException):
    """Base exception for transcript extraction failures"""
    pass

class TranscriptNotAvailableError(TranscriptExtractionError):
    """No transcript available through any method"""
    def __init__(self, video_id: str, attempted_methods: List[str]):
        super().__init__(
            message=f"No transcript available for video {video_id}",
            error_code=ErrorCode.TRANSCRIPT_UNAVAILABLE,
            status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND,
            details={
                "video_id": video_id,
                "attempted_methods": attempted_methods,
                "recovery_suggestions": [
                    "Check if video has captions enabled",
                    "Try a different video",
                    "Contact video owner to enable captions"
                ]
            }
        )

class RateLimitExceededError(TranscriptExtractionError):
    """API rate limit exceeded for transcript service"""
    pass

class AudioTranscriptionError(TranscriptExtractionError):
    """Audio transcription failed"""
    pass

API Endpoint Specification

[Source: docs/architecture.md#api-specification]

Request/Response Models:

class TranscriptRequest(BaseModel):
    video_id: str = Field(..., description="YouTube video ID")
    language_preference: str = Field("en", description="Preferred transcript language")
    include_metadata: bool = Field(True, description="Include transcript metadata")

class TranscriptResponse(BaseModel):
    video_id: str
    transcript: Optional[str] = None
    metadata: Optional[TranscriptMetadata] = None
    extraction_method: str  # "youtube_api", "auto_captions", "whisper_audio"
    language: str
    word_count: int
    cached: bool
    processing_time_seconds: float
    error: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None

Endpoint Implementation:

@router.get("/transcripts/{video_id}", response_model=TranscriptResponse)
async def get_transcript(
    video_id: str,
    language_preference: str = "en",
    include_metadata: bool = True,
    transcript_service: TranscriptService = Depends()
):
    start_time = time.time()
    
    try:
        result = await transcript_service.extract_transcript(video_id, language_preference)
        
        response_data = {
            "video_id": video_id,
            "transcript": result.transcript,
            "extraction_method": result.method,
            "language": result.language,
            "word_count": len(result.transcript.split()) if result.transcript else 0,
            "cached": result.from_cache,
            "processing_time_seconds": time.time() - start_time
        }
        
        if include_metadata and result.transcript:
            response_data["metadata"] = transcript_service.extract_metadata(result.transcript)
            
        return TranscriptResponse(**response_data)
        
    except TranscriptExtractionError as e:
        return TranscriptResponse(
            video_id=video_id,
            extraction_method="failed",
            language=language_preference,
            word_count=0,
            cached=False,
            processing_time_seconds=time.time() - start_time,
            error={
                "code": e.error_code,
                "message": e.message,
                "details": e.details
            }
        )

Background Job Implementation

[Source: docs/architecture.md#background-processing]

Async Transcript Extraction:

@router.post("/transcripts/extract", response_model=JobResponse)
async def extract_transcript_async(
    request: TranscriptRequest,
    background_tasks: BackgroundTasks,
    transcript_service: TranscriptService = Depends()
):
    job_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
    
    # Start background extraction
    background_tasks.add_task(
        extract_transcript_job,
        job_id=job_id,
        video_id=request.video_id,
        language_preference=request.language_preference,
        transcript_service=transcript_service
    )
    
    return JobResponse(
        job_id=job_id,
        status="processing",
        message="Transcript extraction started"
    )

@router.get("/transcripts/jobs/{job_id}", response_model=JobStatusResponse)
async def get_extraction_status(job_id: str):
    # Check job status in cache/database
    # Return progress updates via WebSocket if available
    pass

Cache Strategy Implementation

[Source: docs/architecture.md#caching-strategy]

Multi-Level Caching:

class TranscriptCacheManager:
    def __init__(self, redis_client: RedisClient, db_session: Session):
        self.redis = redis_client
        self.db = db_session
        
    async def get_cached_transcript(self, video_id: str, language: str) -> Optional[str]:
        # Level 1: Redis cache (fast, temporary)
        cache_key = f"transcript:{video_id}:{language}"
        cached = await self.redis.get(cache_key)
        if cached:
            return json.loads(cached)
            
        # Level 2: Database cache (persistent)
        db_transcript = self.db.query(CachedTranscript).filter(
            CachedTranscript.video_id == video_id,
            CachedTranscript.language == language,
            CachedTranscript.expires_at > datetime.utcnow()
        ).first()
        
        if db_transcript:
            # Warm Redis cache
            await self.redis.setex(cache_key, 86400, db_transcript.content)
            return db_transcript.content
            
        return None
        
    async def cache_transcript(self, video_id: str, language: str, transcript: str):
        cache_key = f"transcript:{video_id}:{language}"
        
        # Cache in Redis (24 hours)
        await self.redis.setex(cache_key, 86400, transcript)
        
        # Cache in database (7 days)
        db_transcript = CachedTranscript(
            video_id=video_id,
            language=language,
            content=transcript,
            created_at=datetime.utcnow(),
            expires_at=datetime.utcnow() + timedelta(days=7)
        )
        self.db.add(db_transcript)
        self.db.commit()

File Locations and Structure

[Source: docs/architecture.md#project-structure]

Backend Files:

• backend/services/transcript_service.py - Main transcript extraction service
• backend/services/transcript_processor.py - Transcript cleaning and processing
• backend/services/cache_manager.py - Multi-level caching implementation
• backend/api/transcripts.py - Transcript API endpoints
• backend/core/exceptions.py - Updated with transcript-specific exceptions
• backend/models/transcript.py - Transcript data models
• backend/tests/unit/test_transcript_service.py - Unit tests
• backend/tests/integration/test_transcript_api.py - Integration tests

Testing Standards

Backend Unit Tests

[Source: docs/architecture.md#testing-strategy]

Test File: backend/tests/unit/test_transcript_service.py

class TestTranscriptService:
    def test_extract_transcript_success(self):
        """Test successful transcript extraction"""
        service = TranscriptService(mock_cache, mock_whisper)
        
        # Mock successful YouTube API response
        with patch.object(service, '_extract_youtube_transcript') as mock_extract:
            mock_extract.return_value = "Sample transcript content"
            
            result = await service.extract_transcript("dQw4w9WgXcQ")
            
            assert result.success == True
            assert result.transcript == "Sample transcript content"
            assert result.method == "youtube_api"

    def test_fallback_chain(self):
        """Test fallback chain when primary method fails"""
        service = TranscriptService(mock_cache, mock_whisper)
        
        # Mock YouTube API failure, auto-captions success
        with patch.object(service, '_extract_youtube_transcript') as mock_yt:
            mock_yt.side_effect = TranscriptNotAvailableError()
            
            with patch.object(service, '_extract_auto_captions') as mock_auto:
                mock_auto.return_value = "Auto-generated transcript"
                
                result = await service.extract_transcript("dQw4w9WgXcQ")
                
                assert result.success == True
                assert result.method == "auto_captions"

    def test_cache_hit(self):
        """Test transcript retrieval from cache"""
        cache = MockCache()
        cache.set("transcript:dQw4w9WgXcQ:en", "Cached transcript")
        
        service = TranscriptService(cache, mock_whisper)
        result = await service.extract_transcript("dQw4w9WgXcQ")
        
        assert result.from_cache == True
        assert result.transcript == "Cached transcript"

Integration Tests

[Source: docs/architecture.md#testing-strategy]

Test File: backend/tests/integration/test_transcript_api.py

class TestTranscriptAPI:
    def test_get_transcript_endpoint(self):
        """Test transcript retrieval endpoint"""
        response = client.get("/api/transcripts/dQw4w9WgXcQ")
        
        assert response.status_code == 200
        data = response.json()
        assert "transcript" in data
        assert "extraction_method" in data
        assert "processing_time_seconds" in data

    def test_async_extraction(self):
        """Test background transcript extraction"""
        # Start async extraction
        response = client.post("/api/transcripts/extract", json={
            "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
            "language_preference": "en"
        })
        
        assert response.status_code == 200
        job_data = response.json()
        job_id = job_data["job_id"]
        
        # Check job status
        status_response = client.get(f"/api/transcripts/jobs/{job_id}")
        assert status_response.status_code == 200
        assert status_response.json()["status"] in ["processing", "completed"]

Performance Optimization

• Caching Strategy: Multi-level caching reduces API calls by 90%+ for popular videos
• Async Processing: Non-blocking extraction prevents UI freezing
• Smart Fallbacks: Fastest methods tried first, expensive audio transcription last
• Token Management: Transcript chunking prevents AI model token limit issues
• Rate Limiting: Exponential backoff for API rate limit handling

Security Considerations

• API Key Management: All external API keys stored securely in environment variables
• Input Validation: Video ID format validation before processing
• Rate Limiting: Per-IP limits to prevent abuse of transcript extraction
• Content Filtering: Optional content filtering for inappropriate transcripts
• Cache Security: Encrypted cache keys and secure Redis configuration

Change Log

Date	Version	Description	Author
2025-01-25	1.0	Initial story creation	Bob (Scrum Master)

Dev Agent Record

This section will be populated by the development agent during implementation

Agent Model Used

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Debug Log References

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Completion Notes List

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File List

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QA Results

Results from QA Agent review of the completed story implementation will be added here