YouTube MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables YouTube content browsing and summarization using the YouTube Data API v3.

Features

🔍 Video Search: Search YouTube for videos by keyword with customizable sorting
📊 Video Details: Get comprehensive metadata about any video (views, likes, duration, tags)
📝 Video Transcripts: Fetch video transcripts/captions for summarization and analysis
👤 Channel Information: Get channel stats, subscriber counts, and recent videos
🎬 Channel Videos: List all videos from a specific channel with sorting options
📋 Playlist Information: Get playlist metadata and video counts
🎵 Playlist Videos: List all videos in a playlist with positions

Why Use This?

AI-Powered Analysis: Perfect for AI assistants like Claude to analyze YouTube content
Cross-Platform: Works with any MCP-compatible client (Claude Code, Cline, etc.)
Comprehensive: Combines YouTube Data API v3 with transcript scraping
Free Tier Friendly: Optimized for Google's free API quota (10,000 units/day)
Type-Safe: Built with TypeScript for reliability

Prerequisites
Installation
Getting a YouTube API Key
Configuration
Usage
Available Tools
Examples
API Quota Management
Contributing
License

Prerequisites

Node.js v18 or higher (Download)
YouTube Data API v3 key (free, see Getting a YouTube API Key)
MCP-compatible client (e.g., Claude Code)

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm (coming soon)

npm install -g youtube-mcp-server

Option 2: Install from source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/anirudhyadavMS/youtube_mcp.git
cd youtube-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

Getting a YouTube API Key

You can get a free YouTube Data API key with any Gmail account (no credit card required).

Step-by-Step Guide

Go to Google Cloud Console
- Sign in with your Gmail account
Create a New Project
- Click "Select a project" → "New Project"
- Name it (e.g., "YouTube MCP Server")
- Click "Create"
Enable YouTube Data API v3
- Use the search bar to find "YouTube Data API v3"
- Click on it and press "Enable"
Create API Key
- Go to "APIs & Services" → "Credentials"
- Click "Create Credentials" → "API key"
- Copy the generated API key
Restrict Your API Key (Recommended for security)
- Click on the API key you just created
- Under "API restrictions", select "Restrict key"
- Choose "YouTube Data API v3" only
- Click "Save"

Free Tier Limits

Daily Quota: 10,000 units per day
Search: 100 units per request (~100 searches/day)
Video Details: 1 unit per request (~10,000 requests/day)
Transcripts: Uses web scraping (no quota cost)

Configuration

For Claude Code

Add this to your MCP configuration file:

macOS/Linux: ~/.config/claude-code/mcp_config.json or ~/.mcp.json

Windows: C:\Users\YOUR-USERNAME\.config\claude-code\mcp_config.json or C:\Users\YOUR-USERNAME\.mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/youtube-mcp-server/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

For Other MCP Clients

Configure using stdio transport with:

Command: node
Args: Path to dist/server.js
Environment: YOUTUBE_API_KEY with your API key

Environment Variables

Alternatively, create a .env file in the project root:

YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Usage

Once configured, restart your MCP client (e.g., Claude Code). The YouTube tools will be automatically available.

Quick Start Examples

Ask your AI assistant:

"Search YouTube for 'python tutorial' and show me the top 5 videos"

"Get the transcript for video dQw4w9WgXcQ and summarize it"

"Find the most popular videos from the Fireship channel"

"What are the videos in the 'Learn Python' playlist?"

Available Tools

1. `search_youtube`

Search YouTube for videos by keyword.

Parameters:

{
  query: string           // Required: Search term
  maxResults?: number     // Optional: 1-50, default 10
  order?: string         // Optional: "relevance" | "date" | "viewCount" | "rating"
}

Returns: Array of videos with ID, title, channel, thumbnail, description, views, publish date

2. `get_video_details`

Get comprehensive metadata about a specific video.

Parameters:

{
  videoId: string        // Required: YouTube video ID (e.g., "dQw4w9WgXcQ")
}

Returns: Detailed video object with title, description, duration, views, likes, tags, category, thumbnails

3. `get_video_transcript`

Fetch the transcript/captions for a YouTube video.

Parameters:

{
  videoId: string              // Required: YouTube video ID
  language?: string            // Optional: Language code, default "en"
  includeTimestamps?: boolean  // Optional: Include timestamps, default true
}

Returns: Full transcript text with optional timestamps

Note: Only works for videos with captions enabled.

4. `get_channel_info`

Get detailed information about a YouTube channel.

Parameters:

{
  channelId: string          // Required: YouTube channel ID
  includeVideos?: boolean    // Optional: Include recent videos, default false
}

Returns: Channel name, description, subscriber count, view count, video count, recent videos

5. `get_channel_videos`

List videos from a specific YouTube channel.

Parameters:

{
  channelId: string      // Required: YouTube channel ID
  maxResults?: number    // Optional: 1-50, default 25
  order?: string        // Optional: "date" | "viewCount" | "title"
}

Returns: Array of video objects from the channel

6. `get_playlist_info`

Get information about a YouTube playlist.

Parameters:

{
  playlistId: string     // Required: YouTube playlist ID
}

Returns: Playlist title, description, video count, channel, thumbnail

7. `get_playlist_videos`

List all videos in a YouTube playlist.

Parameters:

{
  playlistId: string     // Required: YouTube playlist ID
  maxResults?: number    // Optional: 1-50, default 50
}

Returns: Array of video objects with playlist positions

Examples

User: "Search for 'AI news' on YouTube, sorted by view count, show me 10 results"

AI uses: search_youtube
{
  "query": "AI news",
  "maxResults": 10,
  "order": "viewCount"
}

Example 2: Video Analysis

User: "Get the transcript for video dQw4w9WgXcQ and summarize the main topics"

AI uses: get_video_transcript
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "includeTimestamps": false
}

AI then summarizes the transcript content.

Example 3: Channel Deep Dive

User: "Tell me about the Fireship channel and show me their recent videos"

AI uses: get_channel_info
{
  "channelId": "UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA",
  "includeVideos": true
}

Example 4: Playlist Exploration

User: "What videos are in this playlist: PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf"

AI uses: get_playlist_videos
{
  "playlistId": "PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf",
  "maxResults": 50
}

API Quota Management

The YouTube Data API has a daily quota limit. Here's how to manage it:

Quota Costs

Operation	Quota Cost	Requests/Day (10,000 limit)
Search	100 units	~100 searches
Video Details	1 unit	~10,000 requests
Channel Info	1 unit	~10,000 requests
Playlist Info	1 unit	~10,000 requests
Transcripts	0 units	Unlimited (web scraping)

Tips to Conserve Quota

Use transcripts when possible - They don't use API quota
Cache results - Store frequently accessed data locally
Combine operations - Get channel info with videos in one call
Monitor usage - Check quota in Google Cloud Console
Request quota increase - Contact Google if you need more

Checking Your Quota

Visit Google Cloud Console → APIs & Services → Dashboard → YouTube Data API v3

Project Structure

youtube-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   ├── server.ts           # Main MCP server implementation
│   ├── youtube-api.ts      # YouTube Data API wrapper
│   ├── transcript.ts       # Transcript fetching (web scraping)
│   └── types.ts            # TypeScript type definitions
├── dist/                   # Compiled JavaScript (generated)
├── package.json            # Dependencies and scripts
├── tsconfig.json           # TypeScript configuration
├── .env.example            # API key template
├── LICENSE                 # MIT License
├── CONTRIBUTING.md         # Contribution guidelines
├── SECURITY.md            # Security best practices
└── README.md              # This file

Development

Build

npm run build

Watch Mode (auto-rebuild on changes)

npm run dev

Start Server Manually

npm start

Error Handling

The server handles common errors gracefully:

Error	Message
Missing API Key	Clear setup instructions
Quota Exceeded	Helpful message about daily limits
Invalid Video/Channel/Playlist ID	User-friendly error
Transcript Unavailable	"No transcript available for this video"
Network Errors	Automatic error reporting

Technology Stack

@modelcontextprotocol/sdk - MCP protocol implementation
googleapis - Official YouTube Data API v3 client
youtube-transcript - Web scraping for public transcripts
TypeScript - Type-safe development
Node.js - Runtime environment

Limitations

API quota limits (10,000 units/day on free tier)
Transcripts only available for videos with captions enabled
Some private or restricted videos may not be accessible
No support for OAuth-only features (comments, ratings, personal data)
Maximum 50 results per request (YouTube API limitation)

Roadmap

Future enhancements being considered:

Caching layer to reduce API quota usage
Support for YouTube Shorts metadata
Batch operations for multiple videos
Live stream detection and metadata
Comment fetching (requires OAuth)
Video category lookup
Trending videos by region
Unit and integration tests

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Quick Contribution Steps

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Security

Please see SECURITY.md for security best practices and how to report vulnerabilities.

Key Security Tips:

Never commit your API key to version control
Restrict your API key to YouTube Data API v3 only
Monitor your API usage regularly
Rotate API keys periodically

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Built with the Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
Uses the YouTube Data API v3 by Google
Inspired by the MCP community

Support

Issues: GitHub Issues
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
MCP Documentation: modelcontextprotocol.io

MCP Servers Repository - Official MCP servers
Claude Code - AI coding assistant with MCP support
Cline - Another MCP-compatible client

Made with ❤️ for the MCP community

Star this repo if you find it useful! ⭐

YouTube MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables YouTube content browsing and summarization using the YouTube Data API v3.

Features

🔍 Video Search: Search YouTube for videos by keyword with customizable sorting
📊 Video Details: Get comprehensive metadata about any video (views, likes, duration, tags)
📝 Video Transcripts: Fetch video transcripts/captions for summarization and analysis
👤 Channel Information: Get channel stats, subscriber counts, and recent videos
🎬 Channel Videos: List all videos from a specific channel with sorting options
📋 Playlist Information: Get playlist metadata and video counts
🎵 Playlist Videos: List all videos in a playlist with positions

Why Use This?

AI-Powered Analysis: Perfect for AI assistants like Claude to analyze YouTube content
Cross-Platform: Works with any MCP-compatible client (Claude Code, Cline, etc.)
Comprehensive: Combines YouTube Data API v3 with transcript scraping
Free Tier Friendly: Optimized for Google's free API quota (10,000 units/day)
Type-Safe: Built with TypeScript for reliability

Prerequisites
Installation
Getting a YouTube API Key
Configuration
Usage
Available Tools
Examples
API Quota Management
Contributing
License

Prerequisites

Node.js v18 or higher (Download)
YouTube Data API v3 key (free, see Getting a YouTube API Key)
MCP-compatible client (e.g., Claude Code)

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm (coming soon)

npm install -g youtube-mcp-server

Option 2: Install from source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/anirudhyadavMS/youtube_mcp.git
cd youtube-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

Getting a YouTube API Key

You can get a free YouTube Data API key with any Gmail account (no credit card required).

Step-by-Step Guide

Go to Google Cloud Console
- Sign in with your Gmail account
Create a New Project
- Click "Select a project" → "New Project"
- Name it (e.g., "YouTube MCP Server")
- Click "Create"
Enable YouTube Data API v3
- Use the search bar to find "YouTube Data API v3"
- Click on it and press "Enable"
Create API Key
- Go to "APIs & Services" → "Credentials"
- Click "Create Credentials" → "API key"
- Copy the generated API key
Restrict Your API Key (Recommended for security)
- Click on the API key you just created
- Under "API restrictions", select "Restrict key"
- Choose "YouTube Data API v3" only
- Click "Save"

Free Tier Limits

Daily Quota: 10,000 units per day
Search: 100 units per request (~100 searches/day)
Video Details: 1 unit per request (~10,000 requests/day)
Transcripts: Uses web scraping (no quota cost)

Configuration

For Claude Code

Add this to your MCP configuration file:

macOS/Linux: ~/.config/claude-code/mcp_config.json or ~/.mcp.json

Windows: C:\Users\YOUR-USERNAME\.config\claude-code\mcp_config.json or C:\Users\YOUR-USERNAME\.mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/youtube-mcp-server/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

For Other MCP Clients

Configure using stdio transport with:

Command: node
Args: Path to dist/server.js
Environment: YOUTUBE_API_KEY with your API key

Environment Variables

Alternatively, create a .env file in the project root:

YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Usage

Once configured, restart your MCP client (e.g., Claude Code). The YouTube tools will be automatically available.

Quick Start Examples

Ask your AI assistant:

"Search YouTube for 'python tutorial' and show me the top 5 videos"

"Get the transcript for video dQw4w9WgXcQ and summarize it"

"Find the most popular videos from the Fireship channel"

"What are the videos in the 'Learn Python' playlist?"

Available Tools

1. `search_youtube`

Search YouTube for videos by keyword.

Parameters:

{
  query: string           // Required: Search term
  maxResults?: number     // Optional: 1-50, default 10
  order?: string         // Optional: "relevance" | "date" | "viewCount" | "rating"
}

Returns: Array of videos with ID, title, channel, thumbnail, description, views, publish date

2. `get_video_details`

Get comprehensive metadata about a specific video.

Parameters:

{
  videoId: string        // Required: YouTube video ID (e.g., "dQw4w9WgXcQ")
}

Returns: Detailed video object with title, description, duration, views, likes, tags, category, thumbnails

3. `get_video_transcript`

Fetch the transcript/captions for a YouTube video.

Parameters:

{
  videoId: string              // Required: YouTube video ID
  language?: string            // Optional: Language code, default "en"
  includeTimestamps?: boolean  // Optional: Include timestamps, default true
}

Returns: Full transcript text with optional timestamps

Note: Only works for videos with captions enabled.

4. `get_channel_info`

Get detailed information about a YouTube channel.

Parameters:

{
  channelId: string          // Required: YouTube channel ID
  includeVideos?: boolean    // Optional: Include recent videos, default false
}

Returns: Channel name, description, subscriber count, view count, video count, recent videos

5. `get_channel_videos`

List videos from a specific YouTube channel.

Parameters:

{
  channelId: string      // Required: YouTube channel ID
  maxResults?: number    // Optional: 1-50, default 25
  order?: string        // Optional: "date" | "viewCount" | "title"
}

Returns: Array of video objects from the channel

6. `get_playlist_info`

Get information about a YouTube playlist.

Parameters:

{
  playlistId: string     // Required: YouTube playlist ID
}

Returns: Playlist title, description, video count, channel, thumbnail

7. `get_playlist_videos`

List all videos in a YouTube playlist.

Parameters:

{
  playlistId: string     // Required: YouTube playlist ID
  maxResults?: number    // Optional: 1-50, default 50
}

Returns: Array of video objects with playlist positions

Examples

User: "Search for 'AI news' on YouTube, sorted by view count, show me 10 results"

AI uses: search_youtube
{
  "query": "AI news",
  "maxResults": 10,
  "order": "viewCount"
}

Example 2: Video Analysis

User: "Get the transcript for video dQw4w9WgXcQ and summarize the main topics"

AI uses: get_video_transcript
{
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "en",
  "includeTimestamps": false
}

AI then summarizes the transcript content.

Example 3: Channel Deep Dive

User: "Tell me about the Fireship channel and show me their recent videos"

AI uses: get_channel_info
{
  "channelId": "UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA",
  "includeVideos": true
}

Example 4: Playlist Exploration

User: "What videos are in this playlist: PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf"

AI uses: get_playlist_videos
{
  "playlistId": "PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf",
  "maxResults": 50
}

API Quota Management

The YouTube Data API has a daily quota limit. Here's how to manage it:

Quota Costs

Operation	Quota Cost	Requests/Day (10,000 limit)
Search	100 units	~100 searches
Video Details	1 unit	~10,000 requests
Channel Info	1 unit	~10,000 requests
Playlist Info	1 unit	~10,000 requests
Transcripts	0 units	Unlimited (web scraping)

Tips to Conserve Quota

Use transcripts when possible - They don't use API quota
Cache results - Store frequently accessed data locally
Combine operations - Get channel info with videos in one call
Monitor usage - Check quota in Google Cloud Console
Request quota increase - Contact Google if you need more

Checking Your Quota

Visit Google Cloud Console → APIs & Services → Dashboard → YouTube Data API v3

Project Structure

youtube-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   ├── server.ts           # Main MCP server implementation
│   ├── youtube-api.ts      # YouTube Data API wrapper
│   ├── transcript.ts       # Transcript fetching (web scraping)
│   └── types.ts            # TypeScript type definitions
├── dist/                   # Compiled JavaScript (generated)
├── package.json            # Dependencies and scripts
├── tsconfig.json           # TypeScript configuration
├── .env.example            # API key template
├── LICENSE                 # MIT License
├── CONTRIBUTING.md         # Contribution guidelines
├── SECURITY.md            # Security best practices
└── README.md              # This file

Development

Build

npm run build

Watch Mode (auto-rebuild on changes)

npm run dev

Start Server Manually

npm start

Error Handling

The server handles common errors gracefully:

Error	Message
Missing API Key	Clear setup instructions
Quota Exceeded	Helpful message about daily limits
Invalid Video/Channel/Playlist ID	User-friendly error
Transcript Unavailable	"No transcript available for this video"
Network Errors	Automatic error reporting

Technology Stack

@modelcontextprotocol/sdk - MCP protocol implementation
googleapis - Official YouTube Data API v3 client
youtube-transcript - Web scraping for public transcripts
TypeScript - Type-safe development
Node.js - Runtime environment

Limitations

API quota limits (10,000 units/day on free tier)
Transcripts only available for videos with captions enabled
Some private or restricted videos may not be accessible
No support for OAuth-only features (comments, ratings, personal data)
Maximum 50 results per request (YouTube API limitation)

Roadmap

Future enhancements being considered:

Caching layer to reduce API quota usage
Support for YouTube Shorts metadata
Batch operations for multiple videos
Live stream detection and metadata
Comment fetching (requires OAuth)
Video category lookup
Trending videos by region
Unit and integration tests

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Quick Contribution Steps

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Security

Please see SECURITY.md for security best practices and how to report vulnerabilities.

Key Security Tips:

Never commit your API key to version control
Restrict your API key to YouTube Data API v3 only
Monitor your API usage regularly
Rotate API keys periodically

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Built with the Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
Uses the YouTube Data API v3 by Google
Inspired by the MCP community

Support

Issues: GitHub Issues
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
MCP Documentation: modelcontextprotocol.io

MCP Servers Repository - Official MCP servers
Claude Code - AI coding assistant with MCP support
Cline - Another MCP-compatible client

Made with ❤️ for the MCP community

Star this repo if you find it useful! ⭐

YouTube MCP Server

YouTube MCP Server

Features

Why Use This?

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm (coming soon)

Option 2: Install from source

Getting a YouTube API Key

Step-by-Step Guide

Free Tier Limits

Configuration

For Claude Code

For Other MCP Clients

Environment Variables

Usage

Quick Start Examples

Available Tools

1. search_youtube

2. get_video_details

3. get_video_transcript

4. get_channel_info

5. get_channel_videos

6. get_playlist_info

7. get_playlist_videos

Examples

Example 1: Finding Trending Videos

Example 2: Video Analysis

Example 3: Channel Deep Dive

Example 4: Playlist Exploration

API Quota Management

Quota Costs

Tips to Conserve Quota

Checking Your Quota

Project Structure

Development

Build

Watch Mode (auto-rebuild on changes)

Start Server Manually

Error Handling

Technology Stack

Limitations

Roadmap

Contributing

Quick Contribution Steps

Security

License

Acknowledgments

Support

Related Projects

YouTube MCP Server

Features

Why Use This?

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm (coming soon)

Option 2: Install from source

Getting a YouTube API Key

Step-by-Step Guide

Free Tier Limits

Configuration

For Claude Code

For Other MCP Clients

Environment Variables

Usage

Quick Start Examples

Available Tools

1. search_youtube

2. get_video_details

3. get_video_transcript

4. get_channel_info

5. get_channel_videos

6. get_playlist_info

7. get_playlist_videos

Examples

Example 1: Finding Trending Videos

Example 2: Video Analysis

Example 3: Channel Deep Dive

1. `search_youtube`

2. `get_video_details`

3. `get_video_transcript`

4. `get_channel_info`

5. `get_channel_videos`

6. `get_playlist_info`

7. `get_playlist_videos`

1. `search_youtube`

2. `get_video_details`

3. `get_video_transcript`

4. `get_channel_info`

5. `get_channel_videos`

6. `get_playlist_info`

7. `get_playlist_videos`