n8n Webhook: Turn YouTube Transcripts into Newsletters

Turn any YouTube transcript into a newsletter—automatically via n8n webhook

With this n8n workflow, you can send a YouTube URL (and optionally a transcript) to a webhook and instantly receive a complete newsletter issue in both structured JSON and ready-to-publish Markdown—plus repurposed content for X and LinkedIn.

What this workflow does

• Receives a POST request to an n8n Webhook with url (and optionally transcript).
• Extracts the YouTube video ID from the submitted URL and returns an error if it can’t be parsed.
• Gets the transcript by using the provided transcript when available, or fetching captions from youtubetranscript.com and converting the XML transcript into plain text.
• Calls the OpenAI Chat Completions API using the transcript, instructing it to return strict JSON with newsletter sections, takeaways, an X thread, a LinkedIn post, and a call to action.
• Parses and normalizes the AI response into consistent fields, and adds video metadata such as the video URL, video ID, and transcript word count.
• Builds a Markdown newsletter including subject line, preview text, sections, takeaways, and the repurposed social posts.
• Responds back to the webhook request with a JSON payload containing both structured outputs and the generated Markdown.

Use cases

• Convert a creator’s YouTube video into a consistent newsletter and social repurposing package.
• Operationalize content pipelines for SaaS marketing teams: one video → newsletter + X + LinkedIn.
• Build internal automation for founders or community managers who want faster weekly updates.

Technical details

• Nodes/blocks: Webhook, Code, HTTP Request, Respond to Webhook.
• External services: youtubetranscript.com for fetching captions, and OpenAI Chat Completions API for generating strict JSON outputs.
• Required setup: create an OpenAI API key and set it in the HTTP Authorization header (replace YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY).