Fast CLI for summarizing anything you can point at:

• Web pages (article extraction; Firecrawl fallback if sites block agents)
• YouTube links (best-effort transcripts; can fall back to audio transcription)
• Podcasts (Apple Podcasts / Spotify / RSS; prefers published transcripts when available; otherwise transcribes full episodes)
• Any audio/video (local files or direct media URLs; transcribe via Whisper, then summarize)
• Remote files (PDFs/images/audio/video via URL — downloaded and forwarded to the model)
• Local files (PDFs/images/audio/video/text — forwarded or inlined; support depends on provider/model)

It streams output by default on TTY and renders Markdown to ANSI (via markdansi) using scrollback-safe hybrid streaming (line-by-line, but buffers fenced code blocks and tables as blocks). At the end it prints a single “Finished in …” line with timing, token usage, and a best-effort cost estimate (when pricing is available).

Requires Node 22+.

• npx (no install):

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://example.com"

• npm (global install):

npm i -g @steipete/summarize

• npm (library / minimal deps):

npm i @steipete/summarize-core

import { createLinkPreviewClient } from '@steipete/summarize-core/content'

• Homebrew (custom tap):

brew install steipete/tap/summarize

Apple Silicon only (arm64).

summarize "https://example.com"

Want a one-click “always-on” summarizer in Chrome (real Side Panel, not injected UI)?

This is a Chrome extension + a tiny local daemon (autostart service) that streams Markdown summaries for the currently visible tab into the Side Panel.

Docs + setup: https://summarize.sh

Quickstart (local daemon):

1. Install summarize (choose one):
   • npm i -g @steipete/summarize
   • brew install steipete/tap/summarize (macOS arm64)
2. Build + load the extension (unpacked):
   • pnpm -C apps/chrome-extension build
   • Chrome → chrome://extensions → Developer mode → “Load unpacked”
   • Pick: apps/chrome-extension/.output/chrome-mv3
3. Open the Side Panel → it shows a token + install command.
4. Run the install command in Terminal:
   • Installed binary: summarize daemon install --token <TOKEN>
   • Repo/dev checkout: pnpm summarize daemon install --token <TOKEN> --dev
5. Verify / debug:
   • summarize daemon status
   • summarize daemon restart

Notes:

• Summarization only runs when the Side Panel is open.

• “Auto” mode summarizes on navigation (incl. SPAs); otherwise use the button.

• The daemon is localhost-only and requires a shared token.

• Daemon autostart: macOS (launchd), Linux (systemd user), Windows (Scheduled Task).

• Tip: configure free via summarize refresh-free (requires OPENROUTER_API_KEY). Add --set-default to also set model=free, then set Model to free in extension settings.

• Docs: docs/chrome-extension.md

• Extension package/dev notes: apps/chrome-extension/README.md

Troubleshooting:

• “Receiving end does not exist”: Chrome didn’t inject the content script yet.
  • Extension details → “Site access” → set to “On all sites” (or allow this domain)
  • Reload the tab once.
• “Failed to fetch” / daemon unreachable:
  • Run summarize daemon status
  • Check logs: ~/.summarize/logs/daemon.err.log

Input can be a URL or a local file path:

npx -y @steipete/summarize "/path/to/file.pdf" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview
npx -y @steipete/summarize "/path/to/image.jpeg" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview

Remote file URLs work the same (best-effort; the file is downloaded and passed to the model):

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://example.com/report.pdf" --model google/gemini-3-flash-preview

YouTube (supports youtube.com and youtu.be):

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ" --youtube auto

Podcast RSS feed (transcribes latest episode enclosure):

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://feeds.npr.org/500005/podcast.xml"

Apple Podcasts episode page (extracts stream URL, transcribes via Whisper):

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2424-jelly-roll/id360084272?i=1000740717432"

Spotify episode page (best-effort; resolves to full episode via iTunes/RSS enclosure when available — not preview clips; may fail for Spotify-exclusive shows):

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://open.spotify.com/episode/5auotqWAXhhKyb9ymCuBJY"

This is “best effort” and depends on what your selected model/provider accepts. In practice these usually work well:

• text/* and common structured text (.txt, .md, .json, .yaml, .xml, …)
  • text-like files are inlined into the prompt (instead of attached as a file part) for better provider compatibility
• PDFs: application/pdf (provider support varies; Google is the most reliable in this CLI right now)
• Images: image/jpeg, image/png, image/webp, image/gif
• Audio/Video: audio/*, video/* (when supported by the model)

Notes:

• If a provider rejects a media type, the CLI fails fast with a friendly message (no “mystery stack traces”).
• xAI models currently don’t support attaching generic files (like PDFs) via the AI SDK; use a Google/OpenAI/Anthropic model for those.

Use “gateway-style” ids: <provider>/<model>.

Examples:

• openai/gpt-5-mini
• anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5
• xai/grok-4-fast-non-reasoning
• google/gemini-3-flash-preview
• zai/glm-4.7
• openrouter/openai/gpt-5-mini (force OpenRouter)

Note: some models/providers don’t support streaming or certain file media types. When that happens, the CLI prints a friendly error (or auto-disables streaming for that model when supported by the provider).

--length controls how much output we ask for (guideline), not a hard truncation.

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://example.com" --length long
npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://example.com" --length 20k

• Presets: short|medium|long|xl|xxl
• Character targets: 1500, 20k, 20000
• Optional hard cap: --max-output-tokens <count> (e.g. 2000, 2k)
  • Provider/model APIs still enforce their own maximum output limits.
  • If omitted, no max token parameter is sent (provider default).
  • Prefer --length unless you need a hard cap (some providers count “reasoning” into the cap).
• Minimums: --length numeric values must be ≥ 50 chars; --max-output-tokens must be ≥ 16.
• Preset targets (source of truth: packages/core/src/prompts/summary-lengths.ts):
  • short: target ~900 chars (range 600-1,200)
  • medium: target ~1,800 chars (range 1,200-2,500)
  • long: target ~4,200 chars (range 2,500-6,000)
  • xl: target ~9,000 chars (range 6,000-14,000)
  • xxl: target ~17,000 chars (range 14,000-22,000)

• Text inputs over 10 MB are rejected before tokenization.
• Text prompts are preflighted against the model’s input limit (LiteLLM catalog), using a GPT tokenizer.

npx -y @steipete/summarize <input> [flags]

Use summarize --help or summarize help for the full help text.

• --model <provider/model>: which model to use (defaults to auto)
• --model auto: automatic model selection + fallback (default)
• --model <name>: use a config-defined model (see “Configuration”)
• --timeout <duration>: 30s, 2m, 5000ms (default 2m)
• --retries <count>: LLM retry attempts on timeout (default 1)
• --length short|medium|long|xl|xxl|s|m|l|<chars>
• --language, --lang <language>: output language (auto = match source; or en, de, english, german, ...)
• --max-output-tokens <count>: hard cap for LLM output tokens (optional; only sent when set)
• --cli [provider]: use a CLI provider (case-insensitive; equivalent to --model cli/<provider>). If omitted, uses auto selection with CLI enabled.
• --stream auto|on|off: stream LLM output (auto = TTY only; disabled in --json mode)
• --plain: Keep raw output (no ANSI/OSC Markdown rendering)
• --no-color: disable ANSI colors
• --format md|text: website/file content format (default text)
• --markdown-mode off|auto|llm|readability: Markdown conversion mode (default readability). For websites: HTML→Markdown conversion. For YouTube transcripts: llm formats the raw transcript into clean Markdown (headings/paragraphs).
• --preprocess off|auto|always: controls uvx markitdown usage (default auto; always forces file preprocessing)
  • Install uvx: brew install uv (or https://astral.sh/uv/)
• --extract: print extracted content and exit (no summary) — only for URLs
  • Deprecated alias: --extract-only
• --json: machine-readable output with diagnostics, prompt, metrics, and optional summary
• --verbose: debug/diagnostics on stderr
• --metrics off|on|detailed: metrics output (default on; detailed adds a compact 2nd-line breakdown on stderr)

Run: summarize <url>

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Amazon Music / Audible podcast pages
• Podbean
• Podchaser
• RSS feeds (Podcasting 2.0 transcripts when available)
• Embedded YouTube podcast pages (e.g. JREPodcast)

Transcription: prefers local whisper.cpp when installed; otherwise uses OpenAI Whisper or FAL when keys are set.

--language/--lang controls the output language of the summary (and other LLM-generated text). Default is auto (match source language).

When the input is audio/video, the CLI needs a transcript first. The transcript comes from one of these paths:

1. Existing transcript (preferred)
   • YouTube: uses youtubei / captionTracks when available.
   • Podcasts: uses Podcasting 2.0 RSS <podcast:transcript> (JSON/VTT) when the feed publishes it.
2. Whisper transcription (fallback)
   • YouTube: falls back to yt-dlp (audio download) + Whisper transcription when configured; Apify is a last-last resort (requires APIFY_API_TOKEN).
   • Prefers local whisper.cpp when installed + model available.
   • Otherwise uses cloud Whisper (OpenAI OPENAI_API_KEY) or FAL (FAL_KEY) depending on configuration.

For “any video/audio file” (local path or direct media URL), use --video-mode transcript to force “transcribe → summarize”:

summarize /path/to/file.mp4 --video-mode transcript --lang en

--model auto builds candidate attempts from built-in rules (or your model.rules overrides). CLI tools are not used in auto mode unless you explicitly enable them via cli.enabled in config. Why: CLI adds ~4s latency per attempt and higher variance. Shortcut: --cli (with no provider) uses auto selection with CLI enabled.

When enabled, auto prepends CLI attempts in the order listed in cli.enabled (recommended: ["gemini"]), then tries the native provider candidates (with OpenRouter fallbacks when configured).

Enable CLI attempts:

{
  "cli": { "enabled": ["gemini"] }
}

Disable CLI attempts:

{
  "cli": { "enabled": [] }
}

Note: when cli.enabled is set, it’s also an allowlist for explicit --cli / --model cli/....

Non-YouTube URLs go through a “fetch → extract” pipeline. When the direct fetch/extraction is blocked or too thin, --firecrawl auto can fall back to Firecrawl (if configured).

• --firecrawl off|auto|always (default auto)
• --extract --format md|text (default text; if --format is omitted, --extract defaults to md for non-YouTube URLs)
• --markdown-mode off|auto|llm|readability (default readability; for non-YouTube URLs this controls HTML→Markdown conversion)
  • auto: use an LLM converter when configured; may fall back to uvx markitdown
  • llm: force LLM conversion (requires a configured model key)
  • off: disable LLM conversion (still may return Firecrawl Markdown when configured)
• Plain-text mode: use --format text.

--youtube auto tries best-effort web transcript endpoints first. When captions aren't available, it falls back to:

1. Apify (if APIFY_API_TOKEN is set): Uses a scraping actor (faVsWy9VTSNVIhWpR)
2. yt-dlp + Whisper (if yt-dlp is available): Downloads audio via yt-dlp, transcribes with local whisper.cpp when installed (preferred), otherwise falls back to OpenAI (OPENAI_API_KEY) or FAL (FAL_KEY)

Environment variables for yt-dlp mode:

• YT_DLP_PATH - optional path to yt-dlp binary (otherwise yt-dlp is resolved via PATH)
• SUMMARIZE_WHISPER_CPP_MODEL_PATH - optional override for the local whisper.cpp model file
• SUMMARIZE_WHISPER_CPP_BINARY - optional override for the local binary (default: whisper-cli)
• SUMMARIZE_DISABLE_LOCAL_WHISPER_CPP=1 - disable local whisper.cpp (force remote)
• OPENAI_API_KEY - OpenAI Whisper transcription
• FAL_KEY - FAL AI Whisper fallback

Apify costs money but tends to be more reliable when captions exist.

Format the extracted transcript as Markdown (headings + paragraphs) via an LLM:

summarize "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..." --extract --format md --markdown-mode llm

--video-mode transcript forces audio/video inputs (local files or direct media URLs) through Whisper first, then summarizes the transcript text. Prefers local whisper.cpp when available; otherwise requires OPENAI_API_KEY or FAL_KEY.

Single config location:

• ~/.summarize/config.json

Supported keys today:

{
  "model": { "id": "openai/gpt-5-mini" }
}

Shorthand (equivalent):

{
  "model": "openai/gpt-5-mini"
}

Also supported:

• model: { "mode": "auto" } (automatic model selection + fallback; see docs/model-auto.md)
• model.rules (customize candidates / ordering)
• models (define presets selectable via --model <preset>)
• media.videoMode: "auto"|"transcript"|"understand"
• openai.useChatCompletions: true (force OpenAI-compatible chat completions)

Note: the config is parsed leniently (JSON5), but comments are not allowed. Unknown keys are ignored.

Precedence:

1. --model
2. SUMMARIZE_MODEL
3. ~/.summarize/config.json
4. default (auto)

Set the key matching your chosen --model:

• OPENAI_API_KEY (for openai/...)
• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (for anthropic/...)
• XAI_API_KEY (for xai/...)
• Z_AI_API_KEY (for zai/...; supports ZAI_API_KEY alias)
• GEMINI_API_KEY (for google/...)
  • also accepts GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY and GOOGLE_API_KEY as aliases

OpenAI-compatible chat completions toggle:

• OPENAI_USE_CHAT_COMPLETIONS=1 (or set openai.useChatCompletions in config)

OpenRouter (OpenAI-compatible):

• Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY=...
• Prefer forcing OpenRouter per model id: --model openrouter/<author>/<slug> (e.g. openrouter/meta-llama/llama-3.1-8b-instruct:free)
• Built-in preset: --model free (uses a default set of OpenRouter :free models).

Quick start: make free the default (keep auto available)

# writes ~/.summarize/config.json (models.free) and sets model="free"
summarize refresh-free --set-default
# now this defaults to free models
summarize "https://example.com"
# whenever you want best quality instead
summarize "https://example.com" --model auto

Regenerates the free preset (writes models.free into ~/.summarize/config.json) by:

• Fetching OpenRouter /models, filtering :free
• Skipping models that look very small (<27B by default) based on the model id/name (best-effort heuristic)
• Testing which ones return non-empty text (concurrency 4, timeout 10s)
• Picking a mix of “smart-ish” (bigger context_length / output cap) and fast models
• Refining timings for the final selection and writing the sorted list back

If --model free stops working (rate limits, allowed-provider restrictions, models removed), run:

summarize refresh-free

Flags:

• --runs 2 (default): extra timing runs per selected model (total runs = 1 + runs)
• --smart 3 (default): how many “smart-first” picks (rest filled by fastest)
• --min-params 27b (default): ignore models with inferred size smaller than N billion parameters
• --max-age-days 180 (default): ignore models older than N days (set 0 to disable)
• --set-default: also sets "model": "free" in ~/.summarize/config.json

Example:

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-... summarize "https://example.com" --model openrouter/meta-llama/llama-3.1-8b-instruct:free

If your OpenRouter account enforces an allowed-provider list, make sure at least one provider is allowed for the selected model. (When routing fails, summarize prints the exact providers to allow.)

Legacy: OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 (and either OPENAI_API_KEY or OPENROUTER_API_KEY) also works.

Z.AI (OpenAI-compatible):

• Z_AI_API_KEY=... (or ZAI_API_KEY=...)
• Optional base URL override: Z_AI_BASE_URL=...

Optional services:

• FIRECRAWL_API_KEY (website extraction fallback)
• YT_DLP_PATH (path to yt-dlp binary for audio extraction)
• FAL_KEY (FAL AI API key for audio transcription via Whisper)
• APIFY_API_TOKEN (YouTube transcript fallback)

The CLI uses the LiteLLM model catalog for model limits (like max output tokens):

• Downloaded from: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BerriAI/litellm/main/model_prices_and_context_window.json
• Cached at: ~/.summarize/cache/

Recommended (minimal deps):

• @steipete/summarize-core/content
• @steipete/summarize-core/prompts

Compatibility (pulls in CLI deps):

• @steipete/summarize/content
• @steipete/summarize/prompts

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