youtube

This MCP server provides a standardized interface for interacting with YouTube content. It exposes functionality to fetch video details, list and search channel and playlist content, and manage transcripts and captions. You can query for video information (title, description, duration), retrieve transcripts with support for multiple languages, and search across videos, channels, and playlists. Use the provided tools through your MCP-enabled client to perform operations such as getting video details, listing a channel's videos, retrieving timestamps from transcripts, and obtaining playlist items, all within the unified MCP protocol.

To use the server, configure it with your YouTube Data API key. Once configured, you can call the server’s endpoints via the MCP client integration in your environment (for example, Claude Desktop or VS Code MCP integrations). Typical workflows include fetching video metadata, obtaining transcripts in your preferred language, listing channel content or playlists, and searching for content across YouTube. The server abstracts YouTube’s API calls behind a consistent MCP interface, enabling AI models to reason about and extract information from YouTube content efficiently.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js and npm installed on your system
• A YouTube Data API key

Installation options:

1. Quick Setup (global install via npm):

npm install -g zubeid-youtube-mcp-server

2. Run via NPX (no installation required per machine):

npx -y zubeid-youtube-mcp-server

3. Using with Claude Desktop (example configuration):

• Add to Claude Desktop configuration under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server": {
      "command": "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server",
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Alternative: Smithery installation (automatic):

npx -y @smithery/cli install @ZubeidHendricks/youtube --client claude

5. Manual usage with Claude or VS Code (optional):

• Ensure YOUTUBE_API_KEY is provided in the environment or via input prompts as shown in the README examples.
• Start the MCP server and connect your client to the configured server name (e.g., youtube) within the Claude or VS Code MCP setup.

Environment variables and configuration:

• YOUTUBE_API_KEY is required for all interactions with the YouTube Data API.
• YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG can be set to a language code (e.g., en, es) to default transcript language; defaults to en if not provided.
• When using NPX, the server runs per invocation unless installed globally; consider a persistent installation for production use.

Common issues:

• Ensure the YouTube Data API key is valid and has API access enabled for YouTube Data API v3.
• Check network access and any firewall restrictions that might block API requests.
• If transcripts are not returning, verify the target video supports transcripts and that the requested language is available.

Configuration tips:

• In your MCP client, provide the server name (e.g., youtube) and supply env variables as shown in the examples.
• Monitor usage and respect YouTube API quotas to avoid throttling.