YouTube Subtitles MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that extracts clean text transcripts from YouTube videos using their subtitles.

Features

• Extract English subtitles (auto-generated or manual) from YouTube videos
• Convert subtitle files to clean, deduplicated plain text
• Save transcripts to local files or return them directly
• Works with any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, etc.)

Prerequisites

Before using this MCP server, you must have the following tools installed:

Required Dependencies

1. yt-dlp - YouTube video downloader

   # Install via Homebrew (macOS)
   brew install yt-dlp
      
   # Or via pip
   pip install yt-dlp

2. ffmpeg - Media file converter

   # Install via Homebrew (macOS)
   brew install ffmpeg
      
   # Or via apt (Linux)
   sudo apt install ffmpeg

3. Node.js - Version 18 or higher

   # Check your version
   node --version
      
   # Install via Homebrew (macOS)
   brew install node

Installation

Quick Start (Using npx)

No installation required! Just add to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yt-subs": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "yt-subs-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Note: You still need to have yt-dlp and ffmpeg installed on your system (see Prerequisites above).

Claude Desktop Configuration

Edit your Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the server to the mcpServers section:

Option 1: Using npx (recommended)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yt-subs": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "yt-subs-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "YT_SUBS_DOWNLOAD_DIR": "/path/to/your/transcripts"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option 2: Using local installation

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yt-subs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/yt-subs/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

For Local Development

1. Clone this repository

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x index.js

Usage

Once configured in your MCP client, you can use the get_youtube_transcript tool:

Tool: get_youtube_transcript

Extracts the subtitle/transcript text from a YouTube video URL.

Parameters:

• url (required): The YouTube video URL
• save_to_file (optional): Whether to save the transcript to a file (default: true)

Examples:

// Get transcript and save to file
{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "save_to_file": true
}

// Get transcript without saving
{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "save_to_file": false
}

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "transcript": "Never gonna give you up\nNever gonna let you down...",
  "saved_to": "/Users/yourname/Downloads/yts/dQw4w9WgXcQ.txt",
  "message": "Transcript extracted and saved to /Users/yourname/Downloads/yts/dQw4w9WgXcQ.txt"
}

Configuration

Environment Variables

• YT_SUBS_DOWNLOAD_DIR: Custom directory for saving transcript files
  • If not set, defaults to ~/Downloads/yts/
  • Must be an absolute path
  • Directory will be created if it doesn't exist

Example:

export YT_SUBS_DOWNLOAD_DIR="/path/to/your/transcripts"

Setting Environment Variables in Claude Desktop

To use a custom download directory, add the env property to your server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yt-subs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/yt-subs/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "YT_SUBS_DOWNLOAD_DIR": "/path/to/your/transcripts"
      }
    }
  }
}

Output Location

By default, transcript files are saved to:

~/Downloads/yts/

Or to the directory specified by YT_SUBS_DOWNLOAD_DIR environment variable.

Each transcript is saved with the video ID as the filename:

VIDEO_ID.txt

How It Works

1. Extracts the video ID from the provided YouTube URL
2. Downloads English subtitles (VTT format) using yt-dlp
3. Converts VTT to SRT format using ffmpeg
4. Extracts and deduplicates text content
5. Cleans up temporary files
6. Returns the clean transcript text

Troubleshooting

"Missing required dependencies" error

Make sure yt-dlp and ffmpeg are installed and available in your PATH:

which yt-dlp
which ffmpeg

"Failed to download subtitle" error

The video may not have English subtitles available. Try a different video or check if subtitles exist on YouTube.

"Could not extract video ID" error

Ensure you're providing a valid YouTube URL format:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID

Development

Running Locally

npm start

The server will run on stdio and wait for MCP protocol messages.

Testing

You can test the server using an MCP client or by sending JSON-RPC messages via stdio.

Publishing to npm

If you want to publish your own version to npm:

1. Update the package name in package.json to something unique

2. Update the repository URLs to your GitHub repository

3. Add your author information

4. Login to npm:

   npm login

5. Publish:

   npm publish

Before publishing, make sure to:

• Test the package locally using npm pack and npm install -g ./yt-subs-mcp-1.0.0.tgz
• Update the version number following semver
• Ensure README is up to date
• Add appropriate tags and keywords

License

MIT

Credits

Based on the yt-subs bash script for extracting YouTube subtitles.