YouTube Video Transcript Summarizer and Slack Auto-Poster - n8n Workflow

Content curators and analysts who track foreign language YouTube channels.
Teams needing immediate, translated summaries of video content.
Users looking for advanced examples of integrating n8n with specialized APIs (RapidAPI) and OpenAI.
Developers seeking robust n8n templates for AI-powered data pipelines.

This sophisticated automation solves the problem of rapidly consuming new video content and translating core concepts for non-native speakers. By leveraging a multi-step n8n workflow, users can automate the entire process: detection, data extraction, AI translation, and notification. This specific n8n workflow template utilizes the n8n trigger for RSS feeds to initiate the process immediately upon a new upload. The subsequent steps use a combination of API calls and custom code to prepare the data. The use of the OpenAI n8n node, specifically leveraging GPT-4o-mini, ensures fast and high-quality translation and summarization, making this a crucial n8n automation for efficient content monitoring. This comprehensive n8n workflow significantly reduces manual content review time.

The process starts with the YouTube RSS Trigger (Channel 1) n8n trigger, which constantly polls the specified YouTube channel RSS feed for new video uploads. Once a new video is detected, the n8n workflow proceeds. First, the video ID is extracted and sent to the Get YouTube Transcript via RapidAPI http n8n node to retrieve the full subtitle text from an external service. Next, the Combine Transcript Text (Code) n8n node processes the output, merging the segmented transcript into one large text block—a necessary preparation step before AI processing. This block of text is then passed to the Generate Japanese Summary (OpenAI) n8n node, which uses GPT-4o-mini to execute the translation and summarization task as defined by the prompt. Finally, the resulting Japanese summary, along with the original video link and title (retrieved from the initial n8n trigger data), is formatted and published automatically to a dedicated Slack channel via the Send Summary to Slack n8n node. This complete n8n workflow ensures timely and translated updates.

To use this powerful n8n workflow, follow these steps:

1. Import the provided n8n workflow JSON into your n8n instance.


2. YouTube RSS Trigger: Update the feedUrl parameter in the YouTube RSS Trigger (Channel 1) n8n trigger node to the specific YouTube channel ID you wish to monitor.


3. RapidAPI Credentials: Configure the Get YouTube Transcript via RapidAPI n8n node. You must replace the placeholder YOURRAPIDAPIKEY_HERE with your actual key for the youtube-transcript3 service on RapidAPI, configuring the necessary headers.


4. OpenAI Credentials: Set up your OpenAI credential within the n8n node. Ensure this credential is valid and allows access to the gpt-4o-mini model used by this n8n workflow.


5. Slack Credentials: Configure the Send Summary to Slack n8n node using a valid Slack OAuth2 credential. Update the Channel ID parameter to match your desired destination channel (e.g., #youtube-summary).


6. Activate the n8n workflow to start monitoring. This robust n8n template is ready for production use after credential setup.

YouTube RSS Trigger (Channel 1) (RSS Feed Read Trigger): The core n8n trigger for this automation. It polls a YouTube channel's RSS feed (derived from the channel ID) every minute to detect new uploads.
Get YouTube Transcript via RapidAPI (HTTP Request): This critical n8n node fetches the transcript. It uses an expression to dynamically construct the URL based on the videoId from the trigger data, requiring x-rapidapi-key and x-rapidapi-host headers for authentication.
Combine Transcript Text (Code): A custom n8n node (Code node) that iterates through the transcript array returned by RapidAPI and concatenates all text segments into a single full_text variable for optimal input into the AI model. This prepares the data for the next n8n node.
Generate Japanese Summary (OpenAI) (OpenAI Node): This AI n8n node handles the text processing. Configuration uses the efficient gpt-4o-mini model and a specific instruction: "Summarize the following YouTube video transcript into 3 concise sentences in Japanese." This is a key step in the n8n workflow.

• Send Summary to Slack (#youtube-summary) (Slack Node): The final action n8n node. It formats the output, including original metadata and the AI-generated summary, and posts it immediately to the designated Slack channel, completing the n8n workflow cycle.