YouTube Summaries to Notion

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Goals

1. Automatically detect new YouTube uploads on a specific channel
2. Upload and index each new video in VideoDB and tag it with a target label (e.g., YT summary)
3. Generate a Markdown-formatted summary of the indexed video using VideoDB
4. Create a new Notion page containing the summary and relevant metadata for easy storage and reference

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Prerequisites

• A Zapier account to create and manage the two workflows (zaps)
• Access to VideoDB with an active API key
• A Notion account and a parent Notion page (e.g., YouTube video summaries) where new pages will be created
• The YouTube channel ID (Note: YouTube typically displays channel usernames/handles like @channelname instead of the actual channel ID. Use a converter tool such as StreamWeasels YouTube Channel ID Converter to convert the username to a channel ID)
• Basic familiarity with Zapier actions (triggers, async jobs, delay/flow control) and dynamic field mapping

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Workflow 1: YouTube Upload to VideoDB Upload and Index

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Step 1: Trigger Setup (YouTube)

1. Create a new Zap with the trigger New Video in Channel (YouTube)
2. Provide the correct YouTube channel ID. Note that YouTube displays channel usernames/handles (like @channelname) instead of the actual channel ID. Use a converter tool such as StreamWeasels YouTube Channel ID Converter to get the channel ID from the username.
3. Test the trigger to ensure Zapier can fetch a recent video from the channel

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Step 2: Upload and Index with VideoDB

1. Add a Zapier action: VideoDB - Upload an Index job
2. Authenticate using your VideoDB API key (retrieve from the VideoDB console / Access Control)
3. Map fields: video title, video URL (YouTube link), and a descriptive prompt (e.g., “informative video - summarize accordingly”)
4. Set a target label (e.g., YT summary) so VideoDB knows which downstream workflow(s) to trigger when indexing completes
5. Test the step and confirm VideoDB returns a Job ID (indexing is asynchronous)

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Step 3: Publish Workflow 1

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Workflow 2: VideoDB Done to Summarize to Notion Page

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Step 1: Trigger Setup (VideoDB)

1. Create a second Zap with trigger New video uploaded & indexed from VideoDB
2. Filter by the same target label (YT summary) to ensure only relevant indexing jobs trigger this workflow
3. Test to obtain a sample payload (includes video_id, stream/download URLs, length, etc.)

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Step 2: Request Video Summarization

1. Add an action: VideoDB - Summarize Video
2. Use the dynamic video_id from the VideoDB trigger (do not use a static video id)
3. Provide a summarization prompt tailored for Notion, for example: “Summarize the technical content of this video. Provide the final notes in Markdown format suitable for Notion.”
4. Run the step - VideoDB returns a summary job id because summarization is asynchronous

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Step 3: Wait / Poll for Completion

1. Insert a Zapier Delay (Flow Control) - e.g., Delay for 3 minutes - to allow time for the async summarization job
2. After the delay, add VideoDB - Check Job Status and pass the summary job id (dynamic)
3. Test the check step; once complete it will return the summarized text (already formatted per the prompt)

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Step 4: Create Notion Page

1. Add an action: Notion - Create Page under the parent page YouTube video summaries
2. Authenticate and grant Zapier access to that Notion page
3. Configure the page:
   • Title: map dynamically from the original YouTube upload (video name from the first trigger)
   • Body/content: use the Markdown summary returned by the VideoDB Check Job Status step (Notion supports Markdown import)
   • Optionally map metadata (video URL, video length, VideoDB job id) into properties or content for traceability
4. Test creating the page to confirm formatting and placement are correct

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Step 5: Publish Workflow 2

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Workflow Templates