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YouTube Transcript DL MCP Server

by jedarden
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TypeScript
MIT License
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🎬 YouTube Transcript DL MCP Server

A comprehensive MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for extracting YouTube video transcripts with support for multiple transports (stdio, SSE, HTTP), Docker deployment, and npm package distribution.

✨ Features

  • 🎯 Multiple Transport Support: stdio, Server-Sent Events (SSE), and HTTP

  • 📹 Comprehensive Transcript Extraction: Single videos, bulk processing, and playlists

  • 🌍 Multi-language Support: Extract transcripts in different languages

  • 📝 Multiple Output Formats: Text, JSON, and SRT subtitle formats

  • 🚀 High Performance: Built-in caching and rate limiting

  • 🐳 Docker Ready: Full containerization support

  • 📦 npm Package: Easy installation and distribution

  • 🧪 Test-Driven Development: Comprehensive test suite with 90%+ coverage

  • 🔧 TypeScript: Full type safety and modern JavaScript features

📦 Installation

🔧 As an npm package

npm install -g yt-transcript-dl-mcp

🛠️ From source

git clone <repository-url> cd yt-transcript-dl-repo npm install npm run build

🐳 Docker

# From GitHub Container Registry (recommended) docker pull ghcr.io/jedarden/yt-transcript-dl-mcp:latest docker run -p 3001:3001 -p 3002:3002 ghcr.io/jedarden/yt-transcript-dl-mcp:latest --multi-transport # Build from source docker build -t yt-transcript-dl-mcp . docker run -p 3001:3001 -p 3002:3002 yt-transcript-dl-mcp --multi-transport

🚀 Usage

🖥️ MCP Server

Start the MCP server in different modes:

# Stdio mode (default) yt-transcript-dl-mcp start # SSE mode yt-transcript-dl-mcp start --transport sse --port 3000 # HTTP mode yt-transcript-dl-mcp start --transport http --port 3000 # With verbose logging yt-transcript-dl-mcp start --verbose

💻 CLI Tool

Test the server with a sample video:

# Test with a YouTube video yt-transcript-dl-mcp test dQw4w9WgXcQ # Test with different language yt-transcript-dl-mcp test dQw4w9WgXcQ --language es # Test with different format yt-transcript-dl-mcp test dQw4w9WgXcQ --format srt

🔧 Programmatic Usage

import { YouTubeTranscriptService } from 'yt-transcript-dl-mcp'; const service = new YouTubeTranscriptService(); // Extract single video transcript const result = await service.getTranscript('dQw4w9WgXcQ', 'en', 'json'); console.log(result); // Bulk processing const bulkResult = await service.getBulkTranscripts({ videoIds: ['dQw4w9WgXcQ', 'jNQXAC9IVRw'], outputFormat: 'json', language: 'en' }); console.log(bulkResult);

🛠️ MCP Tools

The server provides the following MCP tools:

get_transcript

Extract transcript from a single YouTube video.

Parameters:

  • videoId (required): YouTube video ID or URL

  • language (optional): Language code (default: 'en')

  • format (optional): Output format - 'text', 'json', or 'srt' (default: 'json')

get_bulk_transcripts

Extract transcripts from multiple YouTube videos.

Parameters:

  • videoIds (required): Array of YouTube video IDs or URLs

  • language (optional): Language code (default: 'en')

  • outputFormat (optional): Output format - 'text', 'json', or 'srt' (default: 'json')

  • includeMetadata (optional): Include metadata in response (default: true)

get_playlist_transcripts

Extract transcripts from all videos in a YouTube playlist.

Parameters:

  • playlistId (required): YouTube playlist ID or URL

  • language (optional): Language code (default: 'en')

  • outputFormat (optional): Output format - 'text', 'json', or 'srt' (default: 'json')

  • includeMetadata (optional): Include metadata in response (default: true)

format_transcript

Format existing transcript data into different formats.

Parameters:

  • transcript (required): Transcript data array

  • format (required): Output format - 'text', 'json', or 'srt'

get_cache_stats

Get cache statistics and performance metrics.

clear_cache

Clear the transcript cache.

⚙️ Configuration

🌍 Environment Variables

# Server configuration PORT=3000 HOST=0.0.0.0 MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio # CORS settings CORS_ENABLED=true CORS_ORIGINS=* # Rate limiting RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW=900000 # 15 minutes in ms RATE_LIMIT_MAX=100 # Caching CACHE_ENABLED=true CACHE_TTL=3600 # 1 hour in seconds CACHE_MAX_SIZE=1000 # Logging LOG_LEVEL=info LOG_FORMAT=simple

📝 Configuration File

Create a config.json file:

{ "port": 3000, "host": "0.0.0.0", "cors": { "enabled": true, "origins": ["*"] }, "rateLimit": { "windowMs": 900000, "max": 100 }, "cache": { "enabled": true, "ttl": 3600, "maxSize": 1000 }, "logging": { "level": "info", "format": "simple" } }

🐳 Docker Deployment

🐙 Docker Compose

version: '3.8' services: yt-transcript-mcp: build: . ports: - "3000:3000" environment: - NODE_ENV=production - PORT=3000 - LOG_LEVEL=info restart: unless-stopped healthcheck: test: ["CMD", "node", "dist/health-check.js"] interval: 30s timeout: 10s retries: 3

Health Checks

The Docker container includes built-in health checks:

# Check container health docker ps docker exec <container-id> node dist/health-check.js

Development

Setup

git clone <repository-url> cd yt-transcript-dl-repo npm install

Running Tests

# Run all tests npm test # Run tests with coverage npm run test:coverage # Run specific test suites npm run test:unit npm run test:integration npm run test:e2e # Watch mode npm run test:watch

Building

# Build TypeScript npm run build # Development mode with watch npm run dev # Linting npm run lint npm run lint:fix

Testing the MCP Server

# Test stdio transport ./scripts/test-stdio.sh # Test with sample video npm run test:sample

API Documentation

Response Format

All transcript responses follow this structure:

interface TranscriptResponse { videoId: string; title?: string; language: string; transcript: TranscriptItem[]; metadata?: { extractedAt: string; source: string; duration?: number; error?: string; }; } interface TranscriptItem { text: string; start: number; duration: number; }

Error Handling

The server handles various error scenarios:

  • Video not found: Returns empty transcript with error in metadata

  • Private videos: Graceful error handling with descriptive messages

  • Rate limiting: Built-in delays and retry logic

  • Network errors: Automatic retries with exponential backoff

Performance

Benchmarks

  • Single video extraction: < 5 seconds

  • Bulk processing: < 2 seconds per video

  • Concurrent requests: 90%+ success rate for 10 concurrent requests

  • Memory usage: < 512MB under normal load

  • Cache hit ratio: 70%+ for repeated requests

Optimization

  • LRU Cache: Configurable TTL and size limits

  • Rate Limiting: Prevents API abuse

  • Concurrent Processing: Optimized for bulk operations

  • Memory Management: Efficient garbage collection

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Video not found: Check if video is public and has captions

  2. Rate limiting: Reduce concurrent requests or increase delays

  3. Memory issues: Reduce cache size or clear cache regularly

  4. Network errors: Check internet connection and firewall settings

Debug Mode

Enable debug logging:

export LOG_LEVEL=debug yt-transcript-dl-mcp start --verbose

Logs

Check logs in the logs/ directory:

tail -f logs/combined.log tail -f logs/error.log

Contributing

  1. Fork the repository

  2. Create a feature branch

  3. Write tests for new functionality

  4. Ensure all tests pass

  5. Submit a pull request

Code Style

  • Use TypeScript for all code

  • Follow ESLint configuration

  • Write comprehensive tests

  • Add JSDoc comments for public APIs

  • Use conventional commit messages

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Support

Changelog

v1.0.0

  • Initial release

  • MCP server with stdio, SSE, and HTTP transports

  • Single video and bulk transcript extraction

  • Docker containerization

  • Comprehensive test suite

  • TypeScript support

  • Caching and rate limiting

  • Multiple output formats (text, JSON, SRT)

Deploy Server
A
security – no known vulnerabilities
A
license - permissive license
A
quality - confirmed to work

How are these scores calculated?

Tools

A comprehensive MCP server for extracting YouTube video transcripts with support for multiple transports, languages, and output formats.

  1. ✨ Features
    1. 📦 Installation
      1. 🔧 As an npm package
      2. 🛠️ From source
      3. 🐳 Docker
    2. 🚀 Usage
      1. 🖥️ MCP Server
      2. 💻 CLI Tool
      3. 🔧 Programmatic Usage
    3. 🛠️ MCP Tools
      1. get_transcript
      2. get_bulk_transcripts
      3. get_playlist_transcripts
      4. format_transcript
      5. get_cache_stats
      6. clear_cache
    4. ⚙️ Configuration
      1. 🌍 Environment Variables
      2. 📝 Configuration File
    5. 🐳 Docker Deployment
      1. 🐙 Docker Compose
      2. Health Checks
    6. Development
      1. Setup
      2. Running Tests
      3. Building
      4. Testing the MCP Server
    7. API Documentation
      1. Response Format
      2. Error Handling
    8. Performance
      1. Benchmarks
      2. Optimization
    9. Troubleshooting
      1. Common Issues
      2. Debug Mode
      3. Logs
    10. Contributing
      1. Code Style
    11. License
      1. Support
        1. Changelog
          1. v1.0.0

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