YouTube Knowledge MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI assistants the ability to extract knowledge from YouTube videos. Works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and any MCP-compatible client. Fetch video metadata, extract transcripts, download videos, and build a personal knowledge library from YouTube content.

Features

• Fetch videos from playlists or channels
• Get video info (title, channel, duration, description, tags)
• Extract transcripts (auto-generated or manual captions)
• Download videos with quality selection and format options
• Save to library (summaries, notes, skills)
• List library with tag filtering

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• yt-dlp: brew install yt-dlp (macOS) or see installation guide

Installation

Via npm (Recommended)

npm install -g youtube-knowledge-mcp

Via npx (no installation)

Configure directly with npx (see Configuration section).

From source

git clone https://github.com/teobouancheau/youtube-knowledge-mcp.git
cd youtube-knowledge-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Configuration

Quick Start with npx (Recommended)

No installation needed! Add to your MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-knowledge": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "youtube-knowledge-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

With Global Installation

npm install -g youtube-knowledge-mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-knowledge": {
      "command": "youtube-knowledge-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Configuration File Locations

| Client | Path | | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | Claude Desktop (macOS) | ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json | | Claude Desktop (Windows) | %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json | | Claude Desktop (Linux) | ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json | | Claude Code | .mcp.json in your project or ~/.claude/settings.json | | Cursor | .cursor/mcp.json in your project |

Restart your client after updating configuration.

MCP Tools

youtube_fetch_videos

List videos from a YouTube playlist or channel.

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | | --------- | ------ | -------- | ------------------------------- | | url | string | required | YouTube playlist or channel URL | | limit | number | 20 | Maximum videos to fetch |

youtube_get_video_info

Get detailed metadata for a YouTube video.

| Parameter | Type | Description | | --------- | ------ | --------------- | | video | string | Video ID or URL |

Returns: title, channel, duration, description, tags, thumbnail

youtube_get_transcript

Extract transcript/subtitles from a YouTube video.

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | | ---------- | ------ | -------- | ----------------------- | | video | string | required | Video ID or URL | | language | string | "en" | Preferred language code |

youtube_list_formats

List available download formats for a YouTube video.

| Parameter | Type | Description | | --------- | ------ | --------------- | | video | string | Video ID or URL |

Returns: format IDs, resolutions, codecs, file sizes

youtube_download_video

Download a YouTube video with quality selection.

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | | ----------- | ------ | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | video | string | required | Video ID or URL | | quality | string | "best" | Quality preset (best, 2160p, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, audio) | | formatId | string | - | Specific format code from youtube_list_formats | | outputDir | string | - | Custom output directory |

youtube_save_to_library

Save content to your personal YouTube knowledge library.

| Parameter | Type | Description | | -------------- | -------- | --------------------- | | video_id | string | YouTube video ID | | title | string | Video title | | content | string | Content to save | | content_type | string | "summary" or "skill" | | tags | string[] | Optional tags | | channel | string | Optional channel name |

youtube_list_library

List all saved items in your library.

| Parameter | Type | Description | | --------- | ------ | ---------------------- | | tag | string | Optional filter by tag |

Library Storage

Content is stored in ~/.youtube-knowledge/:

~/.youtube-knowledge/
├── transcripts/          # Cached transcripts
│   └── {video_id}.txt
├── library/              # Saved content
│   └── {video_id}/
│       ├── metadata.json
│       ├── summary.md
│       └── skill.md
├── downloads/            # Downloaded videos
│   └── {video_title}.{ext}
└── index.json            # Searchable index

Usage Examples

Quick summary

"Summarize this video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ABC123"

Explore a channel

"Show me the latest videos from @ThePrimeagen"

Download a video

"Download this video in 1080p: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ABC123"

Save to library

"Save this summary with tags: programming, productivity"

Create a skill

"Create a Claude Code skill from this video's content"

Testing

npm test              # Run all tests
npm run test:watch    # Watch mode
npm run test:coverage # Coverage report

Test Suite:

• ✅ 11 tests passing
• ⚡ Execution time: ~100ms
• 🧰 Framework: Vitest

Development

npm run dev      # Watch mode
npm run build    # Build for production
npm run rebuild  # Clean and rebuild
npm start        # Run the server

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Run tests (npm test)
4. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Attribution appreciated! If you use YouTube Knowledge MCP, consider:

• ⭐ Starring this repository
• 💬 Mentioning it in your project
• 🔗 Linking back to this repo

Acknowledgments

• yt-dlp for the powerful YouTube extraction
• Anthropic for the Model Context Protocol
• All contributors and users of this project