summarize

name: summarize description: Summarize or extract text/transcripts from URLs, podcasts, YouTube videos, and local files using the summarize CLI. Use when asked to summarize a link, article, video, or file, or to transcribe a YouTube video. metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🧾", "requires": { "bins": ["summarize"] }, "install": [ { "id": "brew", "kind": "brew", "formula": "steipete/tap/summarize", "bins": ["summarize"], "label": "Install summarize (brew)", }, ], },

}

Fast CLI to summarize URLs, local files, and YouTube links.

Quick Start

summarize "https://example.com" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview
summarize "/path/to/file.pdf" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview
summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto

YouTube: Summary vs Transcript

Best-effort transcript extraction (URLs only):

summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto --extract-only

If the user asked for a transcript but it's very long, return a tight summary first, then ask which section or 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 google/gemini-3-flash-preview if none is set.

Useful Flags

--length short|medium|long|xl|xxl|<chars> — control summary length
--max-output-tokens <count> — hard token limit
--extract-only — extract raw text without summarizing (URLs only)
--json — machine-readable output
--firecrawl auto|off|always — fallback extraction for blocked sites
--youtube auto — Apify fallback if APIFY_API_TOKEN is set

Config

Optional config file: ~/.summarize/config.json

{ "model": "openai/gpt-5.2" }

Optional services:

FIRECRAWL_API_KEY for blocked sites
APIFY_API_TOKEN for YouTube fallback