Workflow · Researchers
Synthesize across a whole library of sources
The repeatable pattern for writers, analysts, podcasters, and grad students: import a playlist, process every episode, then pull a citation-rich research document out of the result.
1
Import a playlist
Paste a YouTube playlist URL. VidNotes imports every video with metadata and fetches existing captions. Works for podcasts, interview series, conference talks.
2
Process in bulk
Right-click the playlist → Generate briefs for all. Transcription and brief generation run in parallel with automatic provider fallback if any key hits a rate limit.
3
Open the Knowledge Graph
Click the graph icon in the sidebar. Every person, book, paper, and company mentioned across the playlist is now a node. Filter scope to the playlist — see only entities mentioned in these episodes.
4
Run cross-video synthesis
Click Synthesis (⟂). Type a scope keyword or leave empty for everything. VidNotes clusters overlapping claims and labels each cluster consensus, contested, or single-source.
5
Compile & export
Review each cluster — keep, merge, contrast, or exclude. Click Compile Document and VidNotes produces a merged research document with proper citations back to each source video and timestamp. Export to Markdown or Obsidian (YAML frontmatter + [[wikilinks]]).
For writers: build your next article from 10+ sources without losing track of who said what. Every quote in the compiled doc links back to the source with a timestamp. No more “I know they said that somewhere”.