YouTube

Kapa provides an integration to pull YouTube videos from any public YouTube channel. Kapa parses the video transcript and ingests a summary. This way, Kapa can then reference informative tutorials or product demos in its answers.

If the video does not have a transcript, Kapa ingests the video description instead.

Prerequisites

• A YouTube channel with public videos
• YouTube Channel ID

Data ingested

When you connect Kapa to YouTube, the following data is ingested:

• Video URLs
• Video and playlist titles
• Video summary based on transcripts, or video description if no transcripts are available

Setup

Step 1: Obtain a channel ID

To obtain the YouTube Channel ID:

For your own channel:

1. Sign into YouTube
2. Navigate to Settings
3. In the My YouTube Channel section, click on Advanced settings
4. Copy the YouTube Channel ID

For any channel (including ones you don't own):

1. Go to the YouTube page URL (formatted as "youtube.com/@thechannel")
2. Click the "About" button next to the channel description
3. Click "Share Channel" and select "Copy channel ID"

Step 2: Configure the Kapa platform

1. Go to the Sources tab in the Kapa platform
2. Click Add new source
3. Select YouTube as the source type
4. Enter the YouTube Channel ID in the appropriate field
5. Select specific playlists to ingest (optional)
6. Click Save to begin the ingestion process

Configuration options

The following configuration options are available for the YouTube integration:

Option	Description	Default	Required
Channel ID	The unique identifier for the YouTube channel	None	Yes
Playlists	Specific playlists to ingest (if any)	All videos	No
Video age	Only ingest videos uploaded within this time period	All videos	No
Include unlisted videos	Whether to include unlisted videos (requires channel owner access)	Disabled	No

Best practices

• Focus on instructional content: Tutorials, demos, and how-to videos typically provide the most valuable information
• Ensure good transcripts: Videos with clear audio or manual transcripts provide better quality data
• Group by playlist: Use YouTube playlists to organize related content for more coherent knowledge
• Consider content freshness: Newer videos may contain more current information
• Complement with text docs: Pair video content with written documentation for comprehensive coverage

Troubleshooting

• Missing transcripts: Some videos may not have available transcripts, preventing Kapa from ingesting them
• Transcript quality issues: Auto-generated transcripts may contain errors, especially for technical terminology
• Channel ID not found: Verify you're using the correct channel ID format
• Limited video access: Private videos cannot be ingested even with the channel ID