YouTube MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for downloading YouTube videos and audio.

⚠️ Legal Notice

This tool is intended for legitimate use only. Users are responsible for ensuring they have the right to download content and comply with all applicable laws and YouTube's Terms of Service. Unauthorized downloading of copyrighted content is prohibited.

Features

• Download YouTube videos in MP4 or WebM format
• Extract audio in MP3, M4A, or Opus format
• Validate YouTube URLs
• Check yt-dlp installation
• Security limits:
  • Maximum video duration: 2 hours
  • Playlist downloads are not supported
  • Download timeout: 5 minutes

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18
• yt-dlp installed and available in PATH
• npm

Quick Start with ModelScope (魔搭)

One-Click Configuration

1. Install yt-dlp (if not already installed):

   # Windows
   choco install yt-dlp
      
   # macOS
   brew install yt-dlp
      
   # Linux
   sudo apt install yt-dlp

2. Copy the following JSON configuration to your MCP client (e.g., Cherry Studio, Claude Desktop, etc.):

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "youtube-mcp": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": [
           "youtube-mcp-server@latest"
         ]
       }
     }
   }

3. That's it! The MCP server will be automatically downloaded and started.

Manual Installation

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Build the project:

   npm run build

Usage

Running the Server

npm start

Or directly with Node.js:

node dist/index.js

Using with uvx (Python users)

uvx youtube-mcp-server@latest

Available Tools

check_ytdlp

Check if yt-dlp is installed and get its version.

Parameters: None

validate_youtube_url

Validate if a URL is a valid YouTube URL.

Parameters:

• url (string, required): The URL to validate

download_youtube_video

Download a YouTube video to the downloads directory.

Parameters:

• url (string, required): The YouTube video URL to download
• format (string, optional): Video format - mp4 or webm (default: mp4)
• resolution (string, optional): Video resolution - best, 720p, or 1080p (default: best)

Security Limits:

• Maximum duration: 2 hours
• Playlists are not supported
• Download timeout: 5 minutes

download_youtube_audio

Download audio from a YouTube video to the downloads directory.

Parameters:

• url (string, required): The YouTube video URL to extract audio from
• audio_format (string, optional): Audio format - mp3, m4a, or opus (default: mp3)

Security Limits:

• Maximum duration: 2 hours
• Playlists are not supported
• Download timeout: 5 minutes

Development

Build

npm run build

Watch Mode

npm run dev

Project Structure

mcp_youtobe_new/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts          # Main MCP server entry point
│   └── utils/
│       └── validators.ts  # URL validation utilities
├── dist/                 # Compiled JavaScript output
├── downloads/             # Downloaded files directory
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── mcp.config.example.json
└── README.md

License

ISC

Disclaimer

This project is provided as-is for educational and legitimate use purposes. The developers are not responsible for any misuse of this software. Users must comply with all applicable laws and YouTube's Terms of Service.