Summarize Youtube videos with Ollama and Fabric

Tutorials & Resources
1

– Upfront:
This is not a highly detailed tutorial.
It’s more like a summary of how I solved a problem.

Part of why I chose to write this is that I could not find anything about Fabric on the forum,
which I deem a valuable piece of software.

You may check if you’re interested: video here (39 seconds)

A while ago I realised I needed a mechanism to sift out irrelevant videos before I engage in watching.
Enter the idea of pairing my local AI (Ollama) with Fabric* and a little bash scripting.
(script called “subdl” included - NOTE: see **)

So, the following is a short roundup of how I go about longer videos
to make sure I only watch those that are worth my time.

prerequisites

  • PC with a decent graphics card for AI + Linux or WSL2@Windows (Ubuntu 24.04) ***
  • yt-dlp, ollama, fabric, bash script (subdl)

1. install yt-dlp (fetches video subs)

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y yt-dlp

2. install/(update) ollama (runs AI models)

curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
ollama pull <YOUR_DESIRED_MODEL>, e.g.:
ollama pull llama3.1:latest

3. install go (needed for fabric install)

– uninstall any previous versions of go via
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go

– download + untar via

wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.24.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.24.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz

[OR: manually download latest go from here: All releases - The Go Programming Language]

– include go in PATH variable
cd ~ && vi .bashrc

# set PATH so it includes /usr/local/go/bin if it exists
if [ -d "/usr/local/go/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="/usr/local/go/bin:$PATH"
fi

:wq
source .bashrc

4. install/(update) fabric via go

go install github.com/danielmiessler/fabric@latest
fabric --setup

5. script “subdl”

First-off you may want to use fabric to:

  • break down its contents and
  • analyse it for security implications via:

cat subdl | fabric --pattern explain_code

– create directory for original subtitle file

mkdir sources@fabric # edit script to CHANGE FOLDER NAME

chmod +x subdl
./subdl

I hope you find this kinda helpful.
Please excuse any mistakes or inconsistencies.

p.s.:
Filtering unwanted portions in the subs was a ‘process’ to say the least..
The ugliness of the 9 separate sed commands is indeed something to overcome :wink:
The results have mostly been adequate though.

  • Fabric is a tool that provides optimized AI prompts (so-called “patterns”) for various tasks.
    ** No warranties!
    *** FYI: I am on WSL2 whilst writing this..

sources:

Links:

  • subdl.mp4
  • subdl (bash script)
6 Likes
2

So it downloads the subtitle and then summarizes the text… interesting approach… thanks for sharing

2 Likes
3

downloads the subtitle and then summarizes

That’s right.
Along the way it unclutters the subs so that they become legible.
It also stays away from online AI services which is a criterion to me.

Somewhat naive question:
How do others do this?

2 Likes