Tubask is a hosted remote MCP server that lets your AI assistant search YouTube, summarize videos, and pull timestamped quotes — from inside Claude or Cursor, in one message. No local Python. No 15-tool chains. Three tools, smart routing, OAuth, and a hosted trial (25 searches + 3 summaries) — then upgrade to Pro (no Google key) or stay on Free with your own key.

| Without Tubask | With Tubask | | --- | --- | | Paste a link → “I can't access YouTube” | Paste a link → summary, chapters, quotes | | Open 5 tabs to research a topic | Ranked results in chat | | Chain search → transcript → summarize | One summarize_video or goal=advice call |

MCP endpoint

https://tubask.app/mcp

Transport: Streamable HTTP · Auth: OAuth 2.0 (browser signup on first tool call) · Read-only tools

Quick start

npx @tubask/mcp

Interactive setup: pick your client, write config, optionally install the Cursor skill.
No args needed.

npx @tubask/mcp init              # non-interactive config write
npx @tubask/mcp skill install     # Cursor routing skill
npx @tubask/mcp status            # check existing setup

Then Settings → Tools & MCP → Connect in Cursor and complete OAuth on first use.

1. Create a free account at tubask.app/signup (no credit card).
2. Add the MCP server to your client (npx above, or snippets below).
3. Send any YouTube URL in chat — e.g. “Summarize this talk and list the main argument.”
4. On first use, complete OAuth in your browser.
5. (Optional) Add your free YouTube Data API key in the Tubask dashboard after the hosted trial.

npx CLI

| Command | What it does | | --- | --- | | npx @tubask/mcp | Interactive onboarding (recommended) | | npx @tubask/mcp init | Write .cursor/mcp.json in the current project | | npx @tubask/mcp init --global | Write ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all projects | | npx @tubask/mcp init --client claude-code | Write .mcp.json + print claude mcp add command | | npx @tubask/mcp skill install | Copy tubask-youtube skill to .cursor/skills/ | | npx @tubask/mcp status | Check if Tubask is already configured | | npx @tubask/mcp init --dry-run | Preview config without writing files |

The server runs at https://tubask.app/mcp — the CLI only writes client config.

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tubask": {
      "url": "https://tubask.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then Settings → Tools & MCP → Connect and authorize.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http tubask https://tubask.app/mcp

Or add to .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tubask": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://tubask.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop / Claude.ai

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste:

https://tubask.app/mcp

ChatGPT

Settings → Apps & Connectors → Create app → paste the same URL.

Smithery

smithery mcp add https://tubask.app/mcp

No extra config — OAuth and API keys are handled in your Tubask account after connect.

Other clients

Any MCP host with remote HTTP support: paste https://tubask.app/mcp and sign in on first tool call.
Client-specific notes: tubask.app/docs/connect

Tools

| Tool | Use when | | --- | --- | | youtube_query | Paste anything — URL, @handle, playlist, search text. Search, latest uploads, comments, creator advice across videos. | | summarize_video | Understand one video — summary, key_points, chapters, quotes with timestamps. | | get_transcript | Exact words — keyword search, time slices, pagination. |

Every response includes next_steps[] so the model doesn't guess the next tool.

Example prompts

Summarize this and give me 3 quotable lines with timestamps:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=...

What's @Fireship published about AI agents in the last month? Skip shorts.

Find every time they say "product-market fit" and give timestamps:
https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID

More: tubask.app/docs/examples

Why three tools?

Most YouTube MCP servers expose 10–20 granular tools. Models chain search → get_video → get_transcript → summarize, burning tokens, latency, and YouTube API quota.

Tubask collapses the surface:

Paste anything     → youtube_query (intent=auto)
One video          → summarize_video
Exact words        → get_transcript

Creator advice across multiple videos → youtube_query(goal=advice) in one call (up to 8 recent long-form uploads).

Pricing

| Plan | Price | Includes | | --- | --- | --- | | Trial | Free | 25 searches + 3 summaries · hosted · no API key | | Free | $0 | 100 credits/mo (~12 summaries or ~100 searches) · your Google API key | | Pro | $8/mo | 800 credits/mo (~100 summaries) · hosted · 3 MCP clients | | Plus | $19/mo | 2,500 credits/mo (~312 summaries) · hosted · unlimited clients |

Credits: 1 search = 1 credit · 1 summary/transcript = 8 credits · metadata-only summary = 1 credit · advice = 1 + 8×transcript-covered videos. Hard stop at zero.

Details: tubask.app/docs/quota

Security

• OAuth 2.0 for every MCP connection
• Your YouTube API key encrypted at rest (Fernet)
• Argon2id password hashing
• Read-only tools — no writes to your YouTube account

tubask.app/docs/security · SECURITY.md

Comparison

| | Tubask | Local uvx YouTube MCPs | | --- | --- | --- | | Install | Paste URL | Python/uv, local deps | | Summaries | Built-in (chapters, quotes) | Often transcript-only | | Channel / search / advice | youtube_query | Varies; often many tools | | Auth | OAuth + dashboard | Usually none | | API key | Your key in Tubask dashboard | Optional / none |

Discovery metadata

MCP scanners that cannot authenticate may read server-card.json or the live endpoint at tubask.app/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json.

Support

• Troubleshooting
• GitHub Issues — bugs, feature requests, and public discussion
• [email protected]
• Privacy · Terms

License

This repository contains documentation and discovery metadata for the Tubask hosted service. The Tubask service software is proprietary. See LICENSE.