YouTube MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for YouTube, enabling AI language models to interact with YouTube content through a standardized interface. Updated to support MCP SDK 1.23.

Features

Video Information

• Get video details (title, description, duration, etc.)
• List channel videos
• Get video statistics (views, likes, comments)
• Search videos across YouTube

Transcript Management

• Retrieve video transcripts
• Support for multiple languages
• Get timestamped captions
• Search within transcripts

Channel Management

• Get channel details
• List channel playlists
• Get channel statistics
• Search within channel content

Playlist Management

• List playlist items
• Get playlist details
• Search playlists

Installation

Quick Setup for Claude Desktop

1. Install the package:

npm install -g @yilin-jing/youtube-mcp-server

2. Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

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

Alternative: Using NPX (No Installation Required)

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration:

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

Configuration

Set the following environment variables:

• YOUTUBE_API_KEY: Your YouTube Data API key (required)
• YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG: Default language for transcripts (optional, defaults to 'en')

YouTube API Setup

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project or select an existing one
3. Enable the YouTube Data API v3
4. Create API credentials (API key)
5. Copy the API key for configuration

Available Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | videos_getVideo | Get detailed information about a YouTube video | | videos_searchVideos | Search for videos on YouTube | | transcripts_getTranscript | Get the transcript of a YouTube video | | channels_getChannel | Get information about a YouTube channel | | channels_listVideos | Get videos from a specific channel | | playlists_getPlaylist | Get information about a YouTube playlist | | playlists_getPlaylistItems | Get videos in a YouTube playlist |

Examples

Managing Videos

// Get video details
const video = await youtube.videos_getVideo({
  videoId: "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
});

// Search videos
const searchResults = await youtube.videos_searchVideos({
  query: "TypeScript tutorial",
  maxResults: 10
});

Managing Transcripts

// Get video transcript
const transcript = await youtube.transcripts_getTranscript({
  videoId: "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  language: "en"
});

Managing Channels

// Get channel details
const channel = await youtube.channels_getChannel({
  channelId: "UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw"
});

// List channel videos
const videos = await youtube.channels_listVideos({
  channelId: "UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw",
  maxResults: 50
});

Managing Playlists

// Get playlist items
const playlistItems = await youtube.playlists_getPlaylistItems({
  playlistId: "PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf",
  maxResults: 50
});

// Get playlist details
const playlist = await youtube.playlists_getPlaylist({
  playlistId: "PLrAXtmErZgOeiKm4sgNOknGvNjby9efdf"
});

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install
# or
bun install

# Build
npm run build

# Run tests
bun test

# Start server
npm start

Testing

This project includes 50 comprehensive tests covering all services:

# Run tests with bun
YOUTUBE_API_KEY="your_api_key" bun test

License

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

Credits

Originally forked from ZubeidHendricks/youtube-mcp-server, updated with MCP SDK 1.23 support and comprehensive test coverage.