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.

Website: zubeidhendricks.github.io/youtube-mcp-server

Available Tools

The server currently exposes 10 MCP tools.

| Tool | Description | Required Parameters | Optional Parameters |
|------|-------------|---------------------|---------------------|
| videos_getVideo | Get detailed information about a YouTube video | videoId | parts |
| videos_searchVideos | Search for videos on YouTube | query | maxResults, order, publishedAfter, publishedBefore, channelId, uniqueChannels, channelMinSubscribers, channelMaxSubscribers, channelLastUploadAfter, channelLastUploadBefore, creatorOnly, sortBy |
| transcripts_getTranscript | Get the transcript of a YouTube video | videoId | language |
| channels_getChannel | Get information about a YouTube channel | channelId | None |
| channels_getChannels | Get information about multiple YouTube channels | channelIds | parts, includeLatestUpload |
| channels_searchChannels | Search for YouTube channels by handle, name, or query | query | maxResults, order, channelType, minSubscribers, maxSubscribers, lastUploadAfter, lastUploadBefore, creatorOnly, sortBy |
| channels_findCreators | Find creator channels from video mentions with channel-size and activity filters | query | maxResults, order, videoPublishedAfter, videoPublishedBefore, channelMinSubscribers, channelMaxSubscribers, channelLastUploadAfter, channelLastUploadBefore, creatorOnly, sortBy, sampleVideosPerChannel |
| channels_listVideos | Get videos from a specific channel | channelId | maxResults |
| playlists_getPlaylist | Get information about a YouTube playlist | playlistId | None |
| playlists_getPlaylistItems | Get videos in a YouTube playlist | playlistId | maxResults |

Tool Parameters

videos_getVideo

- videoId (string): The YouTube video ID. - parts (string[], optional): Specific video resource parts to retrieve.

videos_searchVideos

- query (string): Search query. - maxResults (number, optional): Maximum number of results to return. - order (string, optional): Result ordering such as relevance or date. - publishedAfter (string, optional): Only include videos published after this ISO 8601 date. - publishedBefore (string, optional): Only include videos published before this ISO 8601 date. - channelId (string, optional): Restrict results to a specific channel. - uniqueChannels (boolean, optional): Return only one video per unique channel. - channelMinSubscribers / channelMaxSubscribers (number, optional): Filter matched videos by the subscriber band of their channel. - channelLastUploadAfter / channelLastUploadBefore (string, optional): Filter matched videos by the latest upload activity of their channel. - creatorOnly (boolean, optional): Restrict results to channels heuristically classified as creators. - sortBy (string, optional): Supports relevance, subscribers_asc, subscribers_desc, indie_priority, and recent_activity.

transcripts_getTranscript

- videoId (string): The YouTube video ID. - language (string, optional): Transcript language code. Falls back to YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG or en.

channels_getChannel

- channelId (string): The YouTube channel ID.

Responses now include:
- latestVideoPublishedAt
- normalizedMetadata
- includes country, defaultLanguage, joinedAt, customUrl, emailsFound, contactLinks, and creator-vs-brand heuristic fields

channels_getChannels

- channelIds (string[]): A list of YouTube channel IDs. - includeLatestUpload (boolean, optional): Whether to include latestVideoPublishedAt. Defaults to true.

channels_searchChannels

- query (string): Channel search query or handle. - maxResults (number, optional): Maximum number of channels to return. - order (string, optional): Result ordering such as relevance. - channelType (string, optional): Restrict the search to a channel type. - minSubscribers / maxSubscribers (number, optional): Filter channels by subscriber band. - lastUploadAfter / lastUploadBefore (string, optional): Filter channels by latest upload activity. - creatorOnly (boolean, optional): Restrict results to channels heuristically classified as creators. - sortBy (string, optional): Supports relevance, subscribers_asc, subscribers_desc, indie_priority, and recent_activity.

channels_findCreators

- query (string): Topic, game, or mention query to discover channels from matched videos. - videoPublishedAfter / videoPublishedBefore (string, optional): Recency filters for the matched videos. - channelMinSubscribers / channelMaxSubscribers (number, optional): Subscriber band filters for returned channels. - channelLastUploadAfter / channelLastUploadBefore (string, optional): Latest-upload activity filters for returned channels. - creatorOnly (boolean, optional): Restrict results to channels heuristically classified as creators. - sortBy (string, optional): Supports relevance, subscribers_asc, subscribers_desc, indie_priority, and recent_activity. - sampleVideosPerChannel (number, optional): How many matched videos to include per returned channel.

channels_listVideos

- channelId (string): The YouTube channel ID. - maxResults (number, optional): Maximum number of videos to return.

playlists_getPlaylist

- playlistId (string): The YouTube playlist ID.

playlists_getPlaylistItems

- playlistId (string): The YouTube playlist ID. - maxResults (number, optional): Maximum number of playlist items to return.

Installation

Quick Setup for Claude Desktop

1. Install the package:

npm install -g zubeid-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": {
    "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server": {
      "command": "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server",
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_primary_youtube_api_key",
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY2": "your_secondary_youtube_api_key",
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY3": "your_tertiary_youtube_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternative: Using NPX (No Installation Required)

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_primary_youtube_api_key",
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY2": "your_secondary_youtube_api_key",
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY3": "your_tertiary_youtube_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Installing via Smithery

To install YouTube MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @ZubeidHendricks/youtube --client claude

Configuration

Set the following environment variables: YOUTUBE_API_KEY: Primary YouTube Data API key YOUTUBE_API_KEY2: Secondary fallback API key YOUTUBE_API_KEY3: Third fallback API key YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG: Default language for transcripts (optional, defaults to 'en')

At least one of YOUTUBE_API_KEY, YOUTUBE_API_KEY2, or YOUTUBE_API_KEY3 must be set. When a request fails because a key has exhausted its quota, the server retries the same request with the next configured key.

Using with VS Code

For one-click installation, click one of the install buttons below:

Manual Installation

If you prefer manual installation, first check the install buttons at the top of this section. Otherwise, follow these steps:

Add the following JSON block to your User Settings (JSON) file in VS Code. You can do this by pressing Ctrl + Shift + P and typing Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON).

{
  "mcp": {
    "inputs": [
      {
        "type": "promptString",
        "id": "apiKey",
        "description": "YouTube API Key",
        "password": true
      }
    ],
    "servers": {
      "youtube": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server"],
        "env": {
          "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "${input:apiKey}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Optionally, you can add it to a file called .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "apiKey",
      "description": "YouTube API Key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "${input:apiKey}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Development

```bash