YouTube to Sheets MCP server

The YouTube to Google Sheets MCP Server allows you to search YouTube videos and automatically save results to Google Sheets. It integrates with Claude and other AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol, making it easy to automate video research and data collection.

Features

• Search YouTube videos using the YouTube Data API v3
• Save search results to Google Sheets automatically
• Configurable search parameters (query, max results)
• Results include video title, URL, channel name, and publish date

Prerequisites

Before installing the server, you need to set up the necessary API access:

YouTube Data API Setup

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project
3. Enable YouTube Data API v3
4. Create an API key

Google Sheets API Setup

1. In the same project, enable Google Sheets API
2. Create a service account
3. Download the service account key (JSON format)
4. Share your target Google Sheet with the service account email

Installation

Install the package using npm:

npm install @rikukawa/youtube-sheets-server

Configuration

Add the server to your MCP settings file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-sheets": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["path/to/youtube-sheets-server/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your-youtube-api-key",
        "SPREADSHEET_ID": "your-spreadsheet-id"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "alwaysAllow": []
    }
  }
}

Make sure to replace:

• path/to/youtube-sheets-server/build/index.js with the actual path
• your-youtube-api-key with your YouTube Data API key
• your-spreadsheet-id with your Google Sheets ID (found in the sheet URL)

Usage

When the server is properly configured, you can use it with your AI assistant. For example, ask your AI assistant:

"Search for YouTube videos with 'ChatGPT usage' and retrieve 10 videos"

The server will:

1. Process the search query
2. Fetch the requested number of videos from YouTube
3. Automatically save the results to your configured Google Sheet

Output Format

The tool saves the following information to your Google Sheet:

• Video Title
• Video URL
• Channel Name
• Publish Date

This data is organized in columns for easy reference and further processing.

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-sheets" '{"command":"node","args":["path/to/youtube-sheets-server/build/index.js"],"env":{"YOUTUBE_API_KEY":"your-youtube-api-key","SPREADSHEET_ID":"your-spreadsheet-id"},"disabled":false,"alwaysAllow":[]}'

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-sheets": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "path/to/youtube-sheets-server/build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your-youtube-api-key",
                "SPREADSHEET_ID": "your-spreadsheet-id"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "alwaysAllow": []
        }
    }
}

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-sheets": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "path/to/youtube-sheets-server/build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your-youtube-api-key",
                "SPREADSHEET_ID": "your-spreadsheet-id"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "alwaysAllow": []
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect