YouTube Translate MCP server

The YouTube Translate MCP server provides access to the YouTube Translate API, enabling you to obtain transcripts, translate content, generate subtitles, and create summaries of YouTube videos through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Installation Options

Via Smithery

The easiest way to install youtube-translate-mcp for Claude Desktop is through Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @brianshin22/youtube-translate-mcp --client claude

Manual Installation

This package requires Python 3.12 or higher:

# Using uv (recommended)
uv pip install youtube-translate-mcp

# Using pip
pip install youtube-translate-mcp

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/youtube-translate-mcp.git
cd youtube-translate-mcp

# Using uv (recommended)
uv pip install -e .

# Using pip
pip install -e .

Running the Server

The server requires an API key for the YouTube Translate API:

# Using stdio transport (default)
YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY=your_api_key youtube-translate-mcp

# Using SSE transport
YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY=your_api_key youtube-translate-mcp --transport sse --port 8000

Docker Support

You can also run the server using Docker:

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t youtube-translate-mcp .

# Run with stdio transport
docker run -e YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY=your_api_key youtube-translate-mcp

# Run with SSE transport
docker run -p 8000:8000 -e YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY=your_api_key youtube-translate-mcp --transport sse

Configuration

Environment Variables

• YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY: Required. Your API key for accessing the YouTube Translate API.

Using with Claude Desktop

To use with Claude Desktop, you need to add the server to the Claude Desktop configuration file.

Local Development Configuration

Edit your Claude Desktop config file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "youtube-translate": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/youtube-translate-mcp",
                "run",
                "-m", "youtube_translate_mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
              "YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
            }
        }
    }
}

Docker-based Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-translate": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY",
        "youtube-translate-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Features

The YouTube Translate MCP server provides these capabilities:

• Get transcripts of YouTube videos
• Translate transcripts to different languages
• Generate subtitles in SRT or VTT format
• Create summaries of video content
• Search for specific content within videos

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "youtube-translate" '{"command":"youtube-translate-mcp","args":[],"env":{"YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY":"YOUR_API_KEY"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "youtube-translate": {
            "command": "youtube-translate-mcp",
            "args": [],
            "env": {
                "YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

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

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "youtube-translate": {
            "command": "youtube-translate-mcp",
            "args": [],
            "env": {
                "YOUTUBE_TRANSLATE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect