YouTube MCP

YouTube MCP

Connect AI assistants to YouTube: search, transcripts, metadata, and more.

---

What can it do?

Once connected, your AI can:

• Extract clean, word-for-word video transcripts. No credentials required.
• Search YouTube by keyword, date range, duration, quality, and region.
• Fetch trending videos for any country and category.
• Retrieve video stats, metadata, comments, captions, and channel details.
• Look up channels by @handle (e.g. @MrBeast).
• Access your own subscriptions, members, and membership tiers via OAuth.

---

Getting Started

The server supports three access tiers. Pick the one that fits your use case.

Guest Mode (No Setup)

Works out of the box. The get_video_transcript tool uses yt-dlp to extract transcripts without any API credentials.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mrsknetwork/ytmcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

---

API Key (Recommended)

Unlocks all public data tools. Best for search, metadata, comments, trending videos, and transcripts.

1. Get a Google API Key

1. Open the Google Cloud Console.
2. Enable YouTube Data API v3 for your project.
3. Go to Credentials and create an API Key.

2. Add to your MCP client config or .env file

Pass GOOGLE_API_KEY via env in your MCP client config, or place GOOGLE_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY inside a .env file in the project directory.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mrsknetwork/ytmcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_GOOGLE_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

---

OAuth 2.0

1. Create an OAuth 2.0 Client

1. Open the Google Cloud Console.
2. Enable YouTube Data API v3 for your project.
3. Go to Credentials > Create Credentials > OAuth 2.0 Client ID.
4. Set Application type to Web application.
5. Add this exact Redirect URI: http://localhost:31415/oauth2callback.
6. Go to OAuth Consent Screen > Test Users and add your Gmail address.

2. Add to your MCP client config

Credentials are passed securely via environment variables in the MCP config. They are never stored in files.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mrsknetwork/ytmcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id.apps.googleusercontent.com",
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-client-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. First-time login

On your first tool call, the AI will share a login link. Click it, authorize the app in your browser, then tell the AI you are done. Your session is saved. You will not need to log in again unless you revoke access.

4. Signing out

Ask your AI to call revoke_oauth_token to sign out and delete your stored credentials at any time.

---

Available Tools

Tool	Auth	Description
get_video_transcript	None	Download a full spoken transcript using yt-dlp. Specify language_code (e.g. en, es) and whether to prefer manual or auto-generated captions. Returns source metadata with the text.
search_content	API Key	Search YouTube for videos, channels, or playlists. Filter by order, published_after, published_before, video_duration, video_definition, and region_code. Supports pagination.
get_video_metadata	API Key	Fetch title, description, tags, duration, and stats (views, likes, comments) for one or more videos by ID.
get_channel_metadata	API Key	Fetch channel profile, subscriber count, video count, and uploads playlist ID. Accepts a channel ID or @handle.
list_trending_videos	API Key	Fetch the most popular videos on YouTube for a given region_code and optional category_id. Supports pagination.
list_playlists	API Key	List playlists for a channel, or fetch specific playlists by ID. Returns title, description, and item count.
list_playlist_items	API Key	List all videos inside a playlist in order. Returns title, position, and video ID for each entry.
list_video_comments	API Key	Fetch top-level comment threads for a video or channel. Filter by keyword with search_terms. Supports pagination.
list_comment_replies	API Key	Fetch replies to a specific comment thread by parent_comment_id. Supports pagination.
list_video_captions	API Key	List available caption tracks for a video, including language code and type (manual or auto-generated).
list_video_categories	API Key	List YouTube video category names and IDs for a given region. Use the IDs with search_content or list_trending_videos.
list_channel_activities	API Key	Fetch a channel's recent activity feed, including uploads and playlist additions.
list_channel_sections	API Key	List the shelf sections displayed on a channel's page, in order.
list_supported_languages	API Key	List all languages supported by YouTube, with language codes and localized names.
list_supported_regions	API Key	List all regions supported by YouTube, with region codes and names.
list_subscriptions	API Key / OAuth	List public subscriptions for a channel by channel_id (API Key), or your own subscriptions with mine=true (OAuth).
list_channel_members	OAuth	List current paying members of your channel. Requires an active memberships program.
list_membership_levels	OAuth	List the membership tier names and levels configured for your channel.
revoke_oauth_token	OAuth	Sign out and permanently delete your stored Google credentials from the server.

---

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/mrsknetwork/ytmcp.git
cd ytmcp
npm install
npm run build
cp .env.example .env # Set GOOGLE_API_KEY inside .env
node build/server/index.js

---

License

Licensed under the MIT License.