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YouTube Transcript MCP Server

Provides MCP access to YouTube transcripts, including extraction, search, and time-based summaries for multiple videos.

Installation

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alex2zimmermann-ux-yt-transcript-mcp": {
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/youtube-transcript",
      "headers": {
        "YT_MCP_MODE": "standalone",
        "YT_MCP_TRANSPORT": "stdio",
        "YT_MCP_BACKEND_URL": "http://localhost:8300",
        "YT_MCP_CACHE_MAX_SIZE": "100",
        "YT_MCP_BACKEND_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "YT_MCP_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS": "3600",
        "YT_MCP_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE": "30"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can run a lightweight MCP server that creates, searches, and analyzes YouTube transcripts, enabling you to fetch full transcripts, search for keywords with context, and obtain time-based summaries across multiple videos. It integrates with MCP clients like Claude Desktop and Cursor, making it easy to incorporate YouTube transcripts into your workflows.

How to use

You will run the MCP server locally and connect an MCP client to it. Start the server in stdio mode, then in your MCP client configure the server using the provided command and environment settings. Once connected, you can request a full transcript for a YouTube video, search the transcript for terms with surrounding context, obtain a time-chunked transcript for analysis, or process multiple videos in a batch.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installing include Python and pip on your system.

pip install yt-transcript-mcp

If you prefer installing from source, clone the repository and install the package locally.

git clone https://github.com/alex2zimmermann-ux/yt-transcript-mcp
cd yt-transcript-mcp
pip install .

Additional setup and configuration

Configure the MCP server in your client to run in standalone mode by specifying the executable and environment settings. The server exposes an MCP entry point that accepts requests from your MCP client.

# Example configuration snippet for a client that supports MCP servers
{ 
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcript": {
      "command": "yt-transcript-mcp",
      "env": {
        "YT_MCP_MODE": "standalone"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools and endpoints you can use

This server provides a set of functions to interact with YouTube transcripts.

Get Transcript: obtain the full transcript from a YouTube video.

Search Transcript: locate keywords within a transcript with surrounding context.

Transcript Summary: receive a time-based breakdown of the transcript for easier analysis.

Batch Processing: process up to ten videos in a single operation.

Available tools

get_transcript

Retrieve the transcript for a YouTube video with optional language and format.

search_transcript

Search a video transcript for a term with optional language and surrounding context segments.

get_transcript_summary

Return a time-chunked transcript suitable for analysis.

batch_transcripts

Process multiple YouTube videos in a single operation, up to ten URLs.