diff --git a/packages/repco-core/package.json b/packages/repco-core/package.json
index 1b16dc3e..f5115c19 100644
--- a/packages/repco-core/package.json
+++ b/packages/repco-core/package.json
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@ipld/car": "^5.1.0",
     "@noble/hashes": "^1.2.0",
+    "@plussub/srt-vtt-parser": "^1.1.1",
     "@types/b4a": "^1.6.0",
     "@ucans/ucans": "^0.11.2",
     "b4a": "^1.6.1",
@@ -44,9 +45,11 @@
     "@types/tempy": "^0.3.0",
     "brittle": "^2.4.0",
     "esbuild": "^0.14.51",
+    "express": "^4.18.1",
     "get-port": "^6.1.2",
     "nanobench-utils": "^1.0.1",
     "split2": "^4.2.0",
-    "tempy": "^3.0.0"
+    "tempy": "^3.0.0",
+    "why-is-node-running": "^2.2.2"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/repco-core/src/datasource.ts b/packages/repco-core/src/datasource.ts
index 67cb604b..372be0c7 100644
--- a/packages/repco-core/src/datasource.ts
+++ b/packages/repco-core/src/datasource.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+import { parse as parseSubtitle } from '@plussub/srt-vtt-parser'
 import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events'
 import { createLogger } from 'repco-common'
+import { fetch } from 'undici'
 import { EntityForm } from './entity.js'
 import { IngestOutcome, IngestState } from './ingest.js'
 import { DataSourcePluginRegistry } from './plugins.js'
@@ -644,9 +646,48 @@ async function persistAndMapSourceRecords(
       errors.push(error)
     }
   }
+  await Promise.all(entities.map(processBeforeSave))
   return { entities, errors }
 }
 
+async function processBeforeSave(entity: EntityForm): Promise<void> {
+  if (entity.type === 'Transcript') {
+    const content = entity.content
+    if (!content.text && content.subtitleUrl) {
+      const url = content.subtitleUrl
+      try {
+        content.text = await fetchSubtitle(url)
+        log.debug(`Fetched subtitle text for ${entity.content.uid} from ${url}`)
+      } catch (error) {
+        log.warn({
+          error,
+          mesage: `Failed to fetch subtitle for ${content.uid} from ${url}`,
+        })
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+async function fetchSubtitle(url: string) {
+  const timeout = 2000
+  const controller = new AbortController()
+  const id = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), timeout)
+  const res = await fetch(url, { signal: controller.signal })
+  if (!res.ok) {
+    const error = `${res.status} ${res.statusText}`
+    clearTimeout(id)
+    throw new Error(`Failed to fetch: ${error}`)
+  }
+  try {
+    const text = await res.text()
+    const { entries } = parseSubtitle(text)
+    const fullText = entries.map(({ text }) => text).join('\n')
+    return fullText
+  } finally {
+    clearTimeout(id)
+  }
+}
+
 // Recreate all entities originating from a particular DataSource
 //
 // This traverses all source records for a datasource and recreates entity revisions for each.
diff --git a/packages/repco-core/test/subtitles.ts b/packages/repco-core/test/subtitles.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ffd9a05b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/repco-core/test/subtitles.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+/* eslint-disable  @typescript-eslint/no-non-null-assertion */
+
+import test from 'brittle'
+import express from 'express'
+import getPort from 'get-port'
+import { setup } from './util/setup.js'
+import { DataSource, repoRegistry } from '../lib.js'
+import {
+  BaseDataSource,
+  DataSourceDefinition,
+  FetchUpdatesResult,
+  ingestUpdatesFromDataSources,
+  SourceRecordForm,
+} from '../src/datasource.js'
+import { EntityForm } from '../src/entity.js'
+import { DataSourcePlugin, DataSourcePluginRegistry } from '../src/plugins.js'
+
+type Config = {
+  subtitleHost: string
+}
+
+class TestDataSourcePlugin implements DataSourcePlugin {
+  createInstance(config: any) {
+    return new TestDataSource(config as Config)
+  }
+  get definition() {
+    return {
+      name: 'test',
+      uid: 'ds:test',
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+class TestDataSource extends BaseDataSource implements DataSource {
+  public subtitleConfig: Config
+  get definition(): DataSourceDefinition {
+    return {
+      name: 'TestDataSource',
+      uid: 'ds:test:1',
+      pluginUid: 'ds:test',
+    }
+  }
+
+  constructor(config: Config) {
+    super()
+    this.subtitleConfig = config
+  }
+
+  canFetchUri(uid: string): boolean {
+    if (uid.startsWith('test:')) return true
+    return false
+  }
+
+  async fetchUpdates(cursorString: string | null): Promise<FetchUpdatesResult> {
+    const cursor = Number(cursorString)
+    console.log('fetchUpdates', cursor)
+    const records = []
+    if (cursor == 0) {
+      const media: EntityForm = {
+        type: 'MediaAsset',
+        headers: {
+          EntityUris: ['media1'],
+        },
+        content: {
+          title: 'media1',
+          description: 'boo',
+          mediaType: 'video',
+        },
+      }
+      const record1 = {
+        sourceUri: 'subtitle1',
+        contentType: 'text',
+        body: JSON.stringify(media),
+        sourceType: 'entity',
+      }
+      records.push(record1)
+      const url = this.subtitleConfig.subtitleHost + '/subtitle1.vtt'
+      const entity: EntityForm = {
+        type: 'Transcript',
+        content: {
+          text: '',
+          subtitleUrl: url,
+          author: 'asdf',
+          engine: 'foo',
+          license: 'bar',
+          language: 'de',
+          MediaAsset: {
+            uri: 'media1',
+          },
+        },
+      }
+      const record2 = {
+        sourceUri: 'subtitle1',
+        contentType: 'text',
+        body: JSON.stringify(entity),
+        sourceType: 'entity',
+      }
+      records.push(record2)
+    }
+
+    return {
+      cursor: '' + (cursor + 1),
+      records,
+    }
+  }
+  async fetchByUri(_uid: string): Promise<SourceRecordForm[] | null> {
+    throw new Error('Failed to fetch')
+  }
+
+  async mapSourceRecord(record: SourceRecordForm): Promise<EntityForm[]> {
+    const form = JSON.parse(record.body) as EntityForm
+    return [form]
+  }
+}
+
+test('subtitle fetch after ingest', async (assert) => {
+  console.log('start')
+  const subtitlePort = await getPort()
+  const subtitleApp = express()
+  const VTT = `WEBVTT
+00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:02.000
+The Web is always changing
+
+00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:04.300
+and the way we access it is changing`
+
+  subtitleApp.get('/subtitle1.vtt', (_req, res) => {
+    res.header('content-type', 'text/vtt')
+    res.send(VTT)
+  })
+  const subtitleServer = subtitleApp.listen(subtitlePort)
+  const subtitleHost = `http://localhost:${subtitlePort}`
+
+  const prisma = await setup(assert)
+  const repo = await repoRegistry.create(prisma, 'test')
+  const plugins = new DataSourcePluginRegistry()
+  plugins.register(new TestDataSourcePlugin())
+  await repo.dsr.create(
+    repo.prisma,
+    plugins,
+    'ds:test',
+    { subtitleHost },
+    repo.did,
+  )
+  await ingestUpdatesFromDataSources(repo)
+  const uri = 'media1'
+  const entities = await prisma.mediaAsset.findMany({
+    where: { Revision: { entityUris: { has: uri } } },
+    include: {
+      Transcripts: true,
+    },
+  })
+  assert.is(entities.length, 1)
+  const media = entities[0]
+  assert.is(media.Transcripts.length, 1)
+  const transcript = media.Transcripts[0]
+  const expectedText = [
+    'The Web is always changing',
+    'and the way we access it is changing',
+  ].join('\n')
+  assert.is(transcript.text, expectedText)
+  subtitleServer.closeAllConnections()
+  subtitleServer.close()
+})
diff --git a/packages/repco-core/test/util/setup.ts b/packages/repco-core/test/util/setup.ts
index bcf5e9b1..199f0c13 100644
--- a/packages/repco-core/test/util/setup.ts
+++ b/packages/repco-core/test/util/setup.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ const defaultLogFn = (...args: any[]) =>
 
 export async function setup(test: Test) {
   const { teardown, databaseUrl } = await setupDb(defaultLogFn)
-  test.teardown(teardown, { order: 0 })
+  test.teardown(teardown, { order: 2 })
   process.env.DATABASE_URL = databaseUrl
   const log: Prisma.LogDefinition[] = []
   if (process.env.QUERY_LOG) log.push({ emit: 'event', level: 'query' })
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ export async function setup(test: Test) {
       test.comment(`QUERY: ${e.query} ${e.params}`)
     }
   })
+  test.teardown(() => prisma.$disconnect(), { order: 1 })
   return prisma
 }
 
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index df048ddc..e4c5429f 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2427,6 +2427,11 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@pkgjs/parseargs/-/parseargs-0.11.0.tgz#a77ea742fab25775145434eb1d2328cf5013ac33"
   integrity sha512-+1VkjdD0QBLPodGrJUeqarH8VAIvQODIbwh9XpP5Syisf7YoQgsJKPNFoqqLQlu+VQ/tVSshMR6loPMn8U+dPg==
 
+"@plussub/srt-vtt-parser@^1.1.1":
+  version "1.1.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@plussub/srt-vtt-parser/-/srt-vtt-parser-1.1.1.tgz#62103c1e57eea3422afe2bff1a296774c1dc1027"
+  integrity sha512-uHZLKANNVoXSEjLRtkyyDFXaiC86ZNnjPnHve5bs5RSiXV0DfVlUvXMZXzfR7X+z2OVdoLFn6oYsS2a/VkN8Ew==
+
 "@prisma/client@^4.12.0":
   version "4.16.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@prisma/client/-/client-4.16.2.tgz#3bb9ebd49b35c8236b3d468d0215192267016e2b"
@@ -15183,7 +15188,7 @@ which@^2.0.1:
   dependencies:
     isexe "^2.0.0"
 
-why-is-node-running@^2.2.1:
+why-is-node-running@^2.2.1, why-is-node-running@^2.2.2:
   version "2.2.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/why-is-node-running/-/why-is-node-running-2.2.2.tgz#4185b2b4699117819e7154594271e7e344c9973e"
   integrity sha512-6tSwToZxTOcotxHeA+qGCq1mVzKR3CwcJGmVcY+QE8SHy6TnpFnh8PAvPNHYr7EcuVeG0QSMxtYCuO1ta/G/oA==