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YouTube MCP Server Enhanced

by aranej
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JavaScript
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YouTube MCP Server Enhanced

Enhanced fork of with fixes and improvements.

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for YouTube, enabling AI language models to interact with YouTube content through a standardized interface.

What's Enhanced

  • All video responses include direct YouTube URLs (url and videoId fields)

  • Shared utilities architecture (single source of truth)

  • Lazy initialization for better performance

  • 90% code deduplication

  • Better error handling

  • Works reliably with Claude Code CLI on Windows

Features

Video Information

  • Get video details (title, description, duration, etc.) with direct URLs

  • List channel videos with direct URLs

  • Get video statistics (views, likes, comments)

  • Search videos across YouTube with direct URLs

  • NEW: Enhanced video responses include url and videoId fields for easy integration

Transcript Management

  • Retrieve video transcripts

  • Support for multiple languages

  • Get timestamped captions

  • Search within transcripts

Direct Resources & Prompts

  • Resources:

    • youtube://transcript/{videoId}: Access transcripts directly via resource URIs

    • youtube://info: Server information and usage documentation (Smithery discoverable)

  • Prompts:

    • summarize-video: Automated workflow to get and summarize video content

    • analyze-channel: Comprehensive analysis of a channel's content strategy

  • Annotations: All tools include capability hints (read-only, idempotent) for better LLM performance

Channel Management

  • Get channel details

  • List channel playlists

  • Get channel statistics

  • Search within channel content

Playlist Management

  • List playlist items

  • Get playlist details

  • Search within playlists

  • Get playlist video transcripts

Installation

Local Installation (Recommended)

  1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/aranej/youtube-mcp-enhanced.git cd youtube-mcp-enhanced npm install npm run build

  1. Add to your Claude Desktop or Claude Code configuration:

Claude Desktop (%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{ "mcpServers": { "youtube": { "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/youtube-mcp-enhanced/dist/cli.js"], "env": { "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here" } } } }

Claude Code CLI (~/.claude.json):

{ "mcpServers": { "youtube": { "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/youtube-mcp-enhanced/dist/cli.js"], "env": { "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here" } } } }

Configuration

Set the following environment variables:

  • YOUTUBE_API_KEY: Your YouTube Data API key (required)

  • YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG: Default language for transcripts (optional, defaults to 'en')

YouTube API Setup

  1. Go to Google Cloud Console

  2. Create a new project or select an existing one

  3. Enable the YouTube Data API v3

  4. Create API credentials (API key)

  5. Copy the API key for configuration

Examples

Managing Videos

// Get video details (now includes URL) const video = await youtube.videos.getVideo({ videoId: "dQw4w9WgXcQ" }); // Enhanced response now includes: // - video.url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" // - video.videoId: "dQw4w9WgXcQ" // - All original YouTube API data // Get video transcript const transcript = await youtube.transcripts.getTranscript({ videoId: "video-id", language: "en" }); // Search videos (results now include URLs) const searchResults = await youtube.videos.searchVideos({ query: "search term", maxResults: 10 }); // Each search result includes: // - result.url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={videoId}" // - result.videoId: "{videoId}" // - All original YouTube search data

Managing Channels

// Get channel details const channel = await youtube.channels.getChannel({ channelId: "channel-id" }); // List channel videos const videos = await youtube.channels.listVideos({ channelId: "channel-id", maxResults: 50 });

Managing Playlists

// Get playlist items const playlistItems = await youtube.playlists.getPlaylistItems({ playlistId: "playlist-id", maxResults: 50 }); // Get playlist details const playlist = await youtube.playlists.getPlaylist({ playlistId: "playlist-id" });

Enhanced Response Structure

Video Objects with URLs

All video-related responses now include enhanced fields for easier integration:

interface EnhancedVideoResponse { // Original YouTube API fields kind?: string; etag?: string; id?: string | YouTubeSearchResultId; snippet?: YouTubeSnippet; contentDetails?: any; statistics?: any; // NEW: Enhanced fields url: string; // Direct YouTube video URL videoId: string; // Extracted video ID }

Example Enhanced Response

{ "kind": "youtube#video", "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ", "snippet": { "title": "Never Gonna Give You Up", "channelTitle": "Rick Astley", "description": "Official video for \"Never Gonna Give You Up\"" }, "statistics": { "viewCount": "1.5B", "likeCount": "15M" }, // Enhanced fields: "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ", "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ" }

Benefits

  • Easy URL Access: No need to manually construct URLs

  • Consistent Structure: Both search and individual video responses include URLs

  • Backward Compatible: All existing YouTube API data is preserved

  • Type Safe: Full TypeScript support available

Development

# Install dependencies npm install # Build TypeScript to JavaScript npm run build # Development mode with auto-rebuild and hot reload npm run dev # Start the server (requires YOUTUBE_API_KEY) npm start # Publish to npm (runs build first) npm run prepublishOnly

Architecture

This project uses a dual-architecture service-based design with the following features:

  • Shared Utilities: Single source of truth for all MCP server configuration (src/server-utils.ts)

  • Modern McpServer: Updated from deprecated Server class to the new McpServer

  • Dynamic Version Management: Version automatically read from package.json

  • Type-Safe Tool Registration: Uses zod schemas for input validation

  • ES Modules: Full ES module support with proper .js extensions

  • Enhanced Video Responses: All video operations include url and videoId fields

  • Lazy Initialization: YouTube API client initialized only when needed

  • Code Deduplication: Eliminated 90% code duplication through shared utilities (407 → 285 lines)

Project Structure

src/ ├── server-utils.ts # 🆕 Shared MCP server utilities (single source of truth) ├── index.ts # Smithery deployment entry point ├── server.ts # CLI deployment entry point ├── services/ # Core business logic │ ├── video.ts # Video operations (search, getVideo) │ ├── transcript.ts # Transcript retrieval │ ├── playlist.ts # Playlist operations │ └── channel.ts # Channel operations ├── types.ts # TypeScript interfaces └── cli.ts # CLI wrapper for standalone execution

Key Features

  • Smithery Optimized: Achieved 90%+ Smithery quality score with comprehensive resources, prompts, and configuration

  • Shared Utilities Architecture: Eliminated 90% code duplication with single source of truth

  • Enhanced Video Responses: All video objects include direct YouTube URLs

  • Flexible Configuration: Optional config via Smithery UI or environment variables

  • Type-Safe Development: Full TypeScript support with zod validation

  • Modern MCP Tools: Uses registerTool instead of manual request handlers

  • Comprehensive Resources: Discoverable resources and prompts for better LLM integration

  • Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling with descriptive messages

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for information about contributing to this repository.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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