# Video transcript

> What's said in a video, from TikTok's captions: WEBVTT with timestamps plus plain text.

- **Request:** `GET https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/tiktok/video/transcript`
- **Auth:** `x-api-key` header ([get a free key](https://lurkapi.com/login?next=/dashboard))
- **Cost:** 1 credit per call; 5 if speech-to-text runs. Validation errors, `401`/`402`/`429` rejections and `5xx` failures are free; `not_found` is charged ([how charging works](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#credits)).
- **MCP tool:** `tiktok_transcript` on `https://api.lurkapi.com/mcp`
- **Freshness:** responses are cached for up to 30 days
- **Try it live:** https://lurkapi.com/docs/tiktok/transcript#try (no signup; free tool: [TikTok transcript generator](https://lurkapi.com/free-tools/tiktok-transcript))
- **Platform:** [TikTok](https://lurkapi.com/docs/tiktok.md) (tiktok.com)
- **Web page:** https://lurkapi.com/docs/tiktok/transcript

## When to use this

Use it to turn a TikTok into text: repurpose a script, search what creators say, or feed it to an LLM. `transcript` is WEBVTT with timestamps (the same format other TikTok APIs return); `text` is the same words as plain text.

Transcripts come from TikTok's own captions: auto-generated speech captions (`source: asr`), the creator's own captions, or TikTok's translations. Most spoken videos have them. A video without captions (music only, or captions off) returns `transcript: null` with `languages: []`.

**No captions?** Pass `use_ai_as_fallback=true` and we transcribe the audio ourselves (`source: ai`) for videos up to 2 minutes. That costs 5 credits in total, and only when it runs; with captions it's still 1. If it hears no speech (music only), you get 404 `transcript_unavailable` for 1 credit, and that answer is cached.

By default you get the original language. Pass `language` (e.g. `es`) to pick one of `languages`.

Deleted, private and region-locked videos return 404 `not_found`.

## Parameters

All parameters go in the query string.

| Name | Type | Required | Default | Allowed values | Description | Example |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `url` | string | yes |  |  | The video's URL, e.g. `https://www.tiktok.com/@hubspot/video/7671325437229845774`. Photo post URLs and bare video ids work too. | `https://www.tiktok.com/@hubspot/video/7671325437229845774` |
| `language` | string | no |  |  | 2-letter language code, e.g. `en` or `es`. Default: the video's original language. |  |
| `use_ai_as_fallback` | boolean | no | `false` | `true`, `false` | `true`: if the video has no captions, transcribe its audio with speech-to-text (videos up to 2 minutes; 5 credits in total, only when it runs). |  |

## Example request

Replace `YOUR_API_KEY` with your key, or set `LURKAPI_KEY` for the code. [Get a free key](https://lurkapi.com/login?next=/dashboard).

curl:

```bash
curl "https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/tiktok/video/transcript?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hubspot%2Fvideo%2F7671325437229845774" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

JavaScript:

```js
const params = new URLSearchParams({
  url: "https://www.tiktok.com/@hubspot/video/7671325437229845774",
});
const res = await fetch(`https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/tiktok/video/transcript?${params}`, {
  headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.LURKAPI_KEY },
});
const data = await res.json();
if (!data.success) throw new Error(`${data.code}: ${data.error}`);
console.log(data.languages);
```

Python:

```python
import os
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.lurkapi.com/v1/tiktok/video/transcript",
    params={
        "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@hubspot/video/7671325437229845774",
    },
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["LURKAPI_KEY"]},
    timeout=60,
)
data = res.json()
if not data["success"]:
    raise RuntimeError(f"{data['code']}: {data['error']}")
print(data["languages"])
```

## Example response

A real response from this endpoint, captured from the live API and trimmed to a couple of items. Strings over 96 characters (mostly signed media URLs) are cut short and end in `…`.

200 OK (application/json):

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "credits_remaining": 99983,
  "credits_charged": 1,
  "id": "7671325437229845774",
  "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@hubspot/video/7671325437229845774",
  "languages": [
    {
      "language": "en",
      "source": "asr"
    }
  ],
  "transcript": "WEBVTT\n\n\n00:00:00.060 --> 00:00:02.400\nWhen your lead score came across …",
  "text": "When your lead score came across the threshold,\nI knew there was potenti…",
  "language": "en",
  "source": "asr"
}
```

## Response fields

Every field of a successful response. `[]` marks a list: `a[].b` is the `b` of each item in `a`. **nullable** fields can be `null`; **optional** fields can be missing.

| Field | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `success` | `true` | Always true here; errors have `success: false`. |
| `credits_remaining` | `number` | Your balance after this call. On anonymous playground calls: free tries left today. |
| `credits_charged` | `number` | Credits this call cost; 0 on free endpoints. On anonymous playground calls: tries used (1). |
| `id` | `string` | Video id. |
| `url` | `string` | The video on tiktok.com. |
| `transcript` | `string`, nullable | The captions as WEBVTT, with timestamps. null if the video has none in that language. |
| `text` | `string`, nullable | The same captions as plain text, one cue per line. null if none. |
| `language` | `string`, nullable | Language of `transcript`, e.g. `en`. null if none. |
| `source` | `string`, nullable | `asr`: TikTok's auto-generated speech captions. `creator`: captions the creator wrote. `translation`: TikTok's machine translation. `ai`: our speech-to-text (`use_ai_as_fallback`). null if none. |
| `languages` | `object[]` | Every caption language TikTok has for the video. Empty when it has none. |
| `languages[].language` | `string` | Language code, usually 2 letters, e.g. `en`. |
| `languages[].source` | `string` | Where these captions come from (see `source`). |

## Caching and freshness

Responses are cached for up to 30 days, so a repeat call within that window can return the same data. It still costs 1 credit.

## Errors

Errors return `{ success: false, error, code, docs }` with the HTTP status below. Validation errors, `401`/`402`/`429` rejections and `5xx` failures are free; `not_found` is charged ([how charging works](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#credits)). [All error codes](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#errors).

| Status | Code | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 401 | `missing_api_key` | No API key. Send it in the `x-api-key` header. |
| 401 | `invalid_api_key` | The key is unknown or was revoked. |
| 402 | `insufficient_credits` | Not enough credits for this call. Buy a pack or wait for tomorrow's top-up. |
| 404 | `not_found` | The endpoint, or the thing you asked for (ad, post, subreddit), doesn't exist. Charged when the platform was checked. |
| 404 | `transcript_unavailable` | The video has no captions and speech-to-text heard no speech in it. Charged the base credit, never the speech-to-text extra; the answer is cached. |
| 405 | `method_not_allowed` | Endpoints take GET with query params. |
| 429 | `rate_limited` | Too many calls at once. Wait for the `retry-after` seconds, then retry. |
| 500 | `internal_error` | Something broke on our side. Retry; 5xx errors are free. |
| 502 | `upstream_error` | The platform didn't give a usable answer. Retry; 5xx errors are free. |
| 503 | `upstream_busy` | All our connections to the platform are busy. Retry in a few seconds; 5xx errors are free. |
| 504 | `upstream_timeout` | The platform took over 30 seconds to answer. Retry; timeouts are free. |

## Use it in Claude

Once LurkAPI is [connected to Claude](https://lurkapi.com/docs.md#claude), this endpoint is the `tiktok_transcript` tool. Ask in plain English, for example:

Ask Claude:

```text
Use LurkAPI's tiktok_transcript with url "https://www.tiktok.com/@hubspot/video/7671325437229845774" and summarize what you find.
```

Claude calls `tiktok_transcript` with arguments like these, and each call costs 1 credit; 5 if speech-to-text runs:

Tool arguments:

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@hubspot/video/7671325437229845774"
}
```

Tool results skip nulls and empty lists to save tokens.

---

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