Why youtube-transcript-api works locally but fails on servers, and three ways to fix it
Developers using the youtube-transcript-api library often find it works on their own machine but returns errors such as RequestBlocked, IpBlocked, or 429 Too Many Requests when run from a server. The cause is that YouTube blocks most IP addresses belonging to cloud providers, and even home or office IPs can be blocked after sending many requests in a short period. The article outlines three remedies: routing requests through rotating residential proxies, running the fetching step from a home connection, or using a third-party transcript service that handles proxies on its behalf. Each option is suited to different situations, from steady production volume to low-volume personal projects or serverless workloads. The author also recommends caching transcripts already retrieved, since captions rarely change and fewer requests lower the chance of being blocked.
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