youtube-mcp-server

MCP.Pizza Chef: ZubeidHendricks

Ten read-only actions cover finding videos, fetching a video's transcript, looking up channels and their recent uploads, and listing what sits inside a playlist. Filters narrow a search by date, subscriber count, or how recently a channel posted, which is handy for research or for finding smaller creators. You supply a free YouTube data key from Google. Despite the project's headline, it cannot upload videos, make Shorts, or pull channel analytics — everything available is read-only.

Data
Web/Research

Use This MCP server To

Get a long video's transcript and summarize it Find recent videos on a topic I'm researching Look up a channel's size and latest upload List every video inside a playlist I saved Find smaller creators covering a specific subject Compare several channels side by side

README

YouTube MCP Server

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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

youtube-mcp-server FAQ

Do I need a key?
Yes. You create a free YouTube data key with Google and paste it into your settings.
Can it upload videos or create Shorts?
No. Despite the project's headline, the ten available actions only read public YouTube information.
Which apps does it work in?
Claude Desktop and VS Code are documented, and other apps that support MCP servers should work too.
Can I use this to summarize a video I don't have time to watch?
Yes — it fetches the transcript and your assistant summarizes from there.
How hard is the setup?
Install one package, create the free Google key, then paste a short block into your app's config file.
Are there usage limits?
Your Google key sets the limits rather than this project, so check the allowance on the key you create.
Can it read transcripts in other languages?
Yes. You can request a language code, and it falls back to English otherwise.