Summarize
- 22.3k installs
- 385k repo stars
- Updated August 3, 2026
- steipete/clawdis
summarize is a CLI tool that extracts and summarizes content from URLs, videos, podcasts, and files using configurable LLM providers.
About
summarize is a fast CLI tool for extracting and summarizing content from URLs, local files, YouTube videos, and podcasts. Developers use it when they need to quickly process long-form content into concise summaries. It supports multiple LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Google) with configurable summary lengths and fallback extraction via Firecrawl.
- Summarize URLs, videos, podcasts, and local files
- Multiple LLM provider support with flexible configuration
- YouTube transcript extraction and best-effort transcription
Summarize by the numbers
- 22,329 all-time installs (skills.sh)
- +497 installs in the week ending Aug 2, 2026 (Skillselion tracking)
- Ranked #76 of 3,280 Productivity & Planning skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
- Security screen: MEDIUM risk (skills.sh audit)
- Data as of Aug 3, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
summarize capabilities & compatibility
Depends on LLM provider usage
- Capabilities
- url summarization · video transcription · pdf summarization · json output
- Works with
- openai · anthropic
- Use cases
- research
- Pricing
- Bring your own API key
What summarize says it does
Fast CLI to summarize URLs, local files, and YouTube links.
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto --extract
Default model is `auto`; config may choose the provider/model.
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| Installs | 22.3k |
|---|---|
| repo stars | ★ 385k |
| Security audit | 2 / 3 scanners passed |
| Last updated | August 3, 2026 |
| Repository | steipete/clawdis ↗ |
How do you summarize URLs and PDFs from CLI?
Extract and summarize URLs, videos, podcasts, and documents for content analysis and information synthesis.
Who is it for?
Developers who want a brew-installed summarize CLI wired into coding agents for quick URL, PDF, and video content digestion.
Skip if: Full video editing pipelines, offline-only environments without LLM API keys, or deep structured data extraction requiring custom scrapers.
When should I use this skill?
User asks to summarize a URL, article, PDF, podcast link, YouTube video, or says what's this link or video about.
What you get
Text summaries, optional JSON output, extracted article bodies, and best-effort YouTube transcripts without yt-dlp.
- Content summaries in configurable lengths
- Transcript extraction from videos
- Structured JSON output support
By the numbers
- Documents 5 --length modes: short, medium, long, xl, xxl
- Lists 4 LLM provider API key environment variables
- Optional config at ~/.summarize/config.json for model selection
Files
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"
summarize "/path/to/file.pdf"
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube autoYouTube: summary vs transcript
Best-effort transcript (URLs only):
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto --extractIf 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 auto; config may choose the provider/model.
Useful flags
--length short|medium|long|xl|xxl|<chars>--max-output-tokens <count>--extract(print extracted content, no LLM summary)--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
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Summarize has 4 known copies in the catalog totaling 150 installs. They canonicalize to this original listing.
- volcengine - 87 installs
- hkuds - 57 installs
- firecrawl - 5 installs
- letta-ai - 1 installs
How it compares
Use summarize for quick CLI summaries of links and files; use dedicated browser automation when interaction beyond read-only extraction is required.
FAQ
Which API keys do I need to set up summarize?
Set one: OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, XAI_API_KEY, or GEMINI_API_KEY. The default model is auto.
Can I get transcripts instead of summaries?
Yes, use --youtube auto --extract to get best-effort transcript extraction from YouTube URLs.
Is Summarize safe to install?
skills.sh reports 2 of 3 security scanners passed. Review the Security Audits panel on this page before installing in production.