youtube-mcp

A simplified MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for extracting subtitles from videos. Supports YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and other platforms via yt-dlp.

Features

• Get Available Subtitles: List all available subtitle languages for any video
• Extract Subtitles: Download subtitles in original format (SRT/VTT) for any language
• Timestamp Control: Optional --without-timestamp parameter to remove timestamps from subtitle output
• Multi-Platform Support: Works with YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and other yt-dlp supported platforms
• Auto-Generated Fallback: Automatically falls back to machine-generated subtitles when manual ones aren't available
• MCP Integration: Works seamlessly with Claude and other MCP-compatible LLMs

Installation

Prerequisites

Install yt-dlp based on your operating system:

# Windows
winget install yt-dlp

# macOS
brew install yt-dlp

# Linux
pip install yt-dlp

With Claude Desktop

1. Open Claude Desktop settings
2. Add this MCP server configuration:

Default mode (with timestamps):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@bingyin/youtube-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Without timestamps:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@bingyin/youtube-mcp",
        "--without-timestamp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop

Manual Installation

npm install -g @bingyin/youtube-mcp

Available Tools

get_available_subtitles

List available subtitle languages for a video.

Input:

• url (string, required): Video URL

get_subtitles

Download subtitle content for a specific language (returns SRT/VTT format).

Input:

• url (string, required): Video URL
• language (string, optional): Language code (e.g., 'en', 'zh', 'ja'). Defaults to 'en'

Manual Start

With timestamps (default):

npx @bingyin/youtube-mcp

Without timestamps:

npx @bingyin/youtube-mcp --without-timestamp

Requirements

• Node.js 20+
• yt-dlp in system PATH
• MCP-compatible LLM service

Supported Platforms

Thanks to yt-dlp, this tool supports subtitle extraction from:

• YouTube
• Facebook
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Twitter/X
• And 1000+ other sites

Documentation

• API Reference
• Configuration
• Error Handling
• Contributing

License

MIT

Author

Dewei Yen

Bingyin

Acknowledgments

This project is based on yt-dlp-mcp by Dewei Yen, simplified to focus on subtitle extraction functionality.