MCP YouTube Extract

You can run a self-contained MCP server that exposes YouTube video information and transcripts without requiring an API key for core functionality. This server exposes a single tool to fetch video metadata and transcripts, and it includes comprehensive logging and error handling to help you build reliable client applications.

How to use

You will interact with the MCP YouTube Extract server through a client configuration that points to the local MCP instance. The main tool is get_yt_video_info, which accepts a YouTube video identifier and returns metadata such as title, description, channel, publish date, view count, and a transcript via built-in integration. Use this tool to retrieve rich video context for indexing, dashboards, or analysis. When you supply the video ID, you will receive a structured response that includes the metadata and a transcript if available.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Python and a working network environment. You will install the MCP YouTube Extract package from PyPI and run the MCP server locally.

pip install mcp-youtube-extract

# Run the MCP YouTube Extract server directly
mcp_youtube_extract

Configuration and runtime notes

Optional YouTube API key: you can provide a YouTube Data API key to enhance metadata extraction. This key is only used as a fallback if the built-in extractor cannot obtain information from YouTube. If you choose to configure it, set the environment variable YOUTUBE_API_KEY to your key.

# Example optional environment configuration (for downstream clients or startup scripts)
# Set your API key only if you have one
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_youtube_api_key

Running in development mode with uv

If you prefer the development workflow using uv, you can install uv and run the server through uv. This is useful when you are actively developing or testing changes.

# Install uv if you haven't already
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Clone and install the project
git clone https://github.com/sinjab/mcp_youtube_extract.git
cd mcp_youtube_extract

# Install dependencies (including dev dependencies)
uv sync --dev

# Optional: configure API key
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your YouTube API key

Client configuration example

To use the MCP server from a client, point to the local CLI or a configured MCP server entry. The examples below show a minimal local setup with the CLI endpoint.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_youtube_extract": {
      "command": "mcp_youtube_extract"
    }
  }
}

Notes on API key usage

An API key is optional. It provides additional fallback capabilities but is not required for basic video info retrieval and transcripts using the built-in extractors.

Available tools

get_yt_video_info

Fetches YouTube video metadata via yt-info-extract and retrieves the transcript via yt-ts-extract, returning a structured result with title, description, channel, publish date, view count, and transcript.