YouTube MCP Server
by kevinwatt
# yt-dlp-mcp
An MCP server implementation that integrates with yt-dlp, providing video and audio content download capabilities (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, Tiktok, etc.) for LLMs.
## Features
* **Subtitles**: Download subtitles in SRT format for LLMs to read
* **Video Download**: Save videos to your Downloads folder with resolution control
* **Audio Download**: Save audios to your Downloads folder
* **Privacy-Focused**: Direct download without tracking
* **MCP Integration**: Works with Dive and other MCP-compatible LLMs
## Installation
### Prerequisites
Install `yt-dlp` based on your operating system:
```bash
# Windows
winget install yt-dlp
# macOS
brew install yt-dlp
# Linux
pip install yt-dlp
```
### With [Dive Desktop](https://github.com/OpenAgentPlatform/Dive)
1. Click "+ Add MCP Server" in Dive Desktop
2. Copy and paste this configuration:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"yt-dlp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@kevinwatt/yt-dlp-mcp"
]
}
}
}
```
3. Click "Save" to install the MCP server
## Tool Documentation
* **list_subtitle_languages**
* List all available subtitle languages and their formats for a video (including auto-generated captions)
* Inputs:
* `url` (string, required): URL of the video
* **download_video_subtitles**
* Download video subtitles in any available format. Supports both regular and auto-generated subtitles
* Inputs:
* `url` (string, required): URL of the video
* `language` (string, optional): Language code (e.g., 'en', 'zh-Hant', 'ja'). Defaults to 'en'
* **download_video**
* Download video to user's Downloads folder
* Inputs:
* `url` (string, required): URL of the video
* `resolution` (string, optional): Video resolution ('480p', '720p', '1080p', 'best'). Defaults to '720p'
* **download_audio**
* Download audio in best available quality (usually m4a/mp3 format) to user's Downloads folder
* Inputs:
* `url` (string, required): URL of the video
## Usage Examples
Ask your LLM to:
```
"List available subtitles for this video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
"Download a video from facebook: https://facebook.com/..."
"Download Chinese subtitles from this video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
"Download this video in 1080p: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
"Download audio from this YouTube video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
```
## Manual Start
If needed, start the server manually:
```bash
npx @kevinwatt/yt-dlp-mcp
```
## Requirements
* Node.js 20+
* `yt-dlp` in system PATH
* MCP-compatible LLM service
## Documentation
- [API Reference](./docs/api.md)
- [Configuration](./docs/configuration.md)
- [Error Handling](./docs/error-handling.md)
- [Contributing](./docs/contributing.md)
## License
MIT
## Author
Dewei Yen