TranscriptFetch

TranscriptFetch MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol server that gives any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, and others) access to the TranscriptFetch API: fetch transcripts from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and direct media file URLs, search videos, enumerate channels and playlists, and check your credit balance.

Runs locally over stdio and calls the TranscriptFetch API with your key. Prefer a hosted, remote server? Point your client at https://transcriptfetch.com/mcp instead (OAuth or API key). The hosted server waits inline for short-form AI transcription, so no polling is needed there.

Tools

Tool	What it does
get_transcript	Transcript for a video. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or a direct media URL. Set ai_fallback: true to transcribe the audio when no captions exist (typically ~30 seconds for short videos, longer for long ones)
search_videos	Search YouTube by keyword (YouTube only)
list_channel_videos	List a channel's videos (handle, ID, or URL)
list_playlist_videos	List a playlist's videos (ID or URL)
get_credits	Remaining credit balance for the key. Never billed

Each successful fetch costs 1 credit. Failed, blocked and empty results are never charged, which matters on short-form video where many clips have no speech at all. Get a key at the dashboard. Accounts start with 100 free credits and are topped back up to 100 at the start of each month.

Install

No install needed. Run it on demand with npx:

TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY=tf_live_... npx -y transcriptfetch-mcp

Or install globally:

npm install -g transcriptfetch-mcp

Requires Node 18+.

Run from source

git clone https://github.com/TranscriptFetch/mcp-server
cd mcp-server && npm install && npm run build

Then point your client at the built entrypoint with "command": "node" and "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-server/dist/index.js"].

Client configuration

Claude Desktop

Add this to claude_desktop_config.json (Settings then Developer then Edit Config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transcriptfetch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "transcriptfetch-mcp"],
      "env": { "TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY": "tf_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add the same block under mcpServers in your Cursor MCP settings.

Restart the client, and the five tools appear.

Example

Once connected, ask your assistant naturally:

Get the transcript for https://youtu.be/aircAruvnKk and summarize the key points.

Search YouTube for "how transformers work" and list the top 5 videos.

List the latest videos from @lexfridman and pull the transcript of the newest one.

How many TranscriptFetch credits do I have left?

The assistant picks the matching tool and works from the returned transcript or video list.

Configuration

Env var	Required	Default
TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY	yes	none
TRANSCRIPTFETCH_BASE_URL	no	https://transcriptfetch.com

Docker

The server speaks MCP over stdio, so there is no port to expose. -i is required: without an attached stdin the transport closes immediately and the container looks like it crashed.

docker build -t transcriptfetch-mcp .
docker run --rm -i -e TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY=tf_live_... transcriptfetch-mcp

Links

• API docs: https://transcriptfetch.com/docs
• MCP docs: https://transcriptfetch.com/docs/mcp
• Node SDK: https://github.com/TranscriptFetch/node-sdk
• Python SDK: https://github.com/TranscriptFetch/python-sdk

License

MIT