# YouTube Transcript MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides YouTube transcript fetching functionality. This server allows AI assistants to retrieve transcripts from YouTube videos.
## Features
- Fetch transcripts from YouTube videos using video ID
- Support for multiple languages with configurable preferences
- Simple MCP tool interface for easy integration
## Installation
### Prerequisites
- Python 3.8 or higher
- [uv](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) package manager (recommended) or pip
### Install with uv (recommended)
```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/arrrggghhh/youtube-transcript-mcp.git
cd youtube-transcript-mcp
# Install dependencies
uv sync
```
## Configuration
### Environment Variables
- `YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_FETCHER_LANGS`: Comma-separated list of language codes for transcript preferences (default: "ko,en")
- Example: `YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_FETCHER_LANGS=en,es,fr,de`
- The server will attempt to fetch transcripts in the order specified
## Adding to Claude Desktop
To use this MCP server with Claude Desktop, you need to add it to your configuration:
### 1. Locate your Claude Desktop 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. Edit the configuration file
Add the YouTube Transcript MCP server to the `mcpServers` section:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube-transcript-mcp": {
"command": "/path/to/uv",
"args": [
"run",
"--directory",
"/path/to/cloned/directory",
"--with",
"mcp[cli]",
"--with",
"youtube_transcript_api",
"mcp",
"run",
"/path/to/youtube-transcript-mcp.py"
]
}
}
}
```
**Important**: Replace `/path/to/uv` with the actual path to your uv executable, and `/path/to/youtube-transcript-mcp.py` with the actual path to the youtube-transcript-mcp.py file in your cloned repository.
### 3. Restart Claude Desktop
After saving the configuration file, restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect.
## Usage
Once the MCP server is added, you can use it in Claude Desktop by asking Claude to analyze YouTube videos:
```
"Summarize the YouTube video dQw4w9WgXcQ"
"What are the key points from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
"Give me a brief overview of the content in video ID dQw4w9WgXcQ"
```
The server will automatically extract the video ID, fetch the transcript in the configured languages, and Claude will analyze and summarize the content.
## Development
### Project Structure
```
youtube-transcript-mcp/
├── youtube-transcript-mcp.py # Main MCP server
├── transcript_fetcher.py # Core transcript fetching logic
├── pyproject.toml # Project configuration
├── uv.lock # Dependency lock file
└── README.md # This file
```
