mcp -youtube-transcript

The YouTube Transcript Server provides a straightforward MCP interface to fetch transcripts from YouTube videos. It exposes a get_transcript tool that accepts a YouTube URL or video ID and returns the transcript data, with optional language selection, optional timestamps, and an option to strip out ads and sponsorship content. You can request transcripts in a preferred language, and if the exact language isn’t available, the server automatically falls back to available languages. The server is designed to work with Claude Desktop via Smithery, and it emphasizes robust error handling for invalid URLs, unavailable transcripts, and network issues. Typical usage involves calling the get_transcript tool with parameters such as url, lang, include_timestamps, and strip_ads to tailor the output to your needs.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18 or higher
• npm or yarn

Installation steps:

1. Install dependencies and build the project (from the MCP server repository):

npm install
npm run build

2. Run the server locally (for development):

npm run start

3. (Optional) Run in watch mode for auto-rebuild during development:

npm run watch

4. If you’re deploying via MCP tooling, you can install this server using MCP-get or Smithery as shown in the README:

npx @michaellatman/mcp-get@latest install @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript

5. Verify the server starts and expose the MCP interface, then configure your MCP client to point to the server using the provided mcp_config snippet.

Tips and considerations:

• The server requires no external dependencies to fetch transcripts beyond standard network access. If you encounter network errors, check your firewall or proxy settings.
• Language handling automatically falls back to available languages if the requested one isn’t present.
• By default, ads, sponsorships, and promotional content are filtered from transcripts; set strip_ads to false if you need raw transcripts.
• For debugging, MCP Inspector can help inspect stdio-based communications between MCP clients and servers.
• If you’re integrating into Claude Desktop, use the provided mcpServers configuration and the Smithery install path as shown in the README.
• Ensure you provide a valid YouTube URL or video ID; the server handles various formats including Shorts URLs.
• When testing, you can pass environment variables (like OPENAI_API_KEY for evals) inline before the npx command, as shown in the evals section of the README.