Video Summarizer - User Guide

This application allows you to summarize YouTube videos by generating concise summaries using AI. The app extracts the transcript from YouTube videos and processes it with OpenAI's GPT-4o model to create structured summaries.

Prerequisites

Before you can run this application, you need to have the following installed:

• Python 3.11 or higher
• pip (Python package manager)
• pipenv (Python virtual environment and package manager)

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/weijianzhg/youtube-summariser
cd youtube-summariser

2. Install pipenv (if not already installed)

pip install pipenv

3. Install Dependencies

The project uses Pipfile for dependency management. To install all dependencies:

# Install dependencies from Pipfile
pipenv install

This will:

• Create a virtual environment if it doesn't exist
• Install all dependencies specified in the Pipfile
• Create/update Pipfile.lock with exact versions

4. Activate the Virtual Environment

After installing dependencies, activate the virtual environment:

pipenv shell

5. Set Up Environment Variables

The application requires the following environment variables:

• OPENAI_API_KEY: Your OpenAI API key
• SESSION_SECRET: A secret key for Flask sessions

You can set these variables in your terminal:

# On Windows (PowerShell)
$env:OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key"
$env:SESSION_SECRET="your_secret_key"

# On macOS/Linux
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
export SESSION_SECRET=your_secret_key

Alternatively, create a .env file in the project root directory:

OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
SESSION_SECRET=your_secret_key

6. Running the Application

Start the application by running:

python main.py

This will start the Flask development server on http://0.0.0.0:5001/.

You can access the application by opening a web browser and navigating to:

• http://localhost:5001/ (if accessing from the same machine)
• http://your-ip-address:5001/ (if accessing from another device on the same network)

7. Using the Application

1. Enter a YouTube URL in the input field
2. Click the "Summarize" button
3. Wait for the application to process the video and generate a summary
4. View the structured summary of the video content

Troubleshooting

• API Key Issues: Ensure your OpenAI API key is valid and has sufficient credits
• YouTube Transcript Errors: Some videos may not have transcripts available or may have disabled transcript access
• Port Conflicts: If port 5001 is already in use, you can specify a different port using the --port argument
• Dependency Issues: If you encounter any dependency-related issues, try:

  pipenv clean
  pipenv install

Additional Information

• The application uses Flask as the web framework
• Video transcripts are extracted using the YouTube Transcript API
• Summaries are generated using OpenAI's GPT-4o model
• The application is configured for development use with debug mode enabled
• Dependencies are managed using Pipfile and Pipfile.lock for deterministic builds