YouTube

You can interact with YouTube content through a dedicated MCP server that exposes YouTube data, transcripts, playlists, and channel information via a standardized interface. This makes it easy to query videos, retrieve transcripts in multiple languages, and embed direct YouTube URLs in your responses for seamless integration with language models and automation workflows.

How to use

You use an MCP client to connect to the YouTube MCP Server. Start by configuring a server entry in your MCP client with the appropriate command and environment variables, then run queries to fetch video details, transcripts, channel data, and playlists. Each video response includes a direct URL and the video ID for simple linking and further processing. You can search for videos, retrieve transcripts in your preferred language, and access channel and playlist information through the same unified interface.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js installed on your system. If you do not have Node.js, install it from nodejs.org and verify with node -v and npm -v.

Option A: Quick setup for Claude Desktop (install globally) and configure the MCP server entry.

npm install -g @sfiorini/youtube-mcp

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

Option B: Use NPX (no installation required) and configure the MCP server entry.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@sfiorini/youtube-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option C: Install via Smithery to set up automatically for Claude Desktop.

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @sfiorini/youtube-mcp --client claude

Additional configuration and usage notes

Configure the following environment variables to enable the MCP server: YOUTUBE_API_KEY (required). You may also set YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG to specify the default transcript language (defaults to en if not provided).

You can integrate with VS Code for one-click installation by using the provided MCP configuration blocks in your settings or workspace file. The MCP server entries support both direct CLI-based start and NPX-based execution.

The server exposes a variety of tools and resources, including youtube://transcript/{videoId} for direct transcript access and youtube://info for usage information. Prompts such as summarize-video and analyze-channel are designed to streamline common workflows.

Examples

Get video details with direct URL and transcript for a specific video, including enhanced fields like url and videoId.

Search for videos with results that include direct URLs and video IDs, then fetch transcripts in the desired language.

Retrieve channel details and list channel videos, then explore playlists and their items.

Available tools

summarize-video

Automated workflow to fetch a video and generate a concise summary.

analyze-channel

Comprehensive analysis of a channel's content strategy and performance.

getVideo

Retrieve video details including enhanced fields like url and videoId.

listChannelVideos

List videos within a channel with direct URLs.

getTranscript

Retrieve video transcripts in the specified language.

searchVideos

Search videos and return results including URLs and IDs.

getChannel

Get channel details.

getPlaylistItems

Get items from a playlist.

getPlaylist

Get details of a playlist.