Uses Google Cloud OAuth 2.0 for authentication to securely access YouTube data
Allows access to a user's YouTube playlists to retrieve URLs of videos added to a specified playlist within a configurable timeframe
YouTube Watch Later MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to a custom YouTube playlist. The server exposes a simple tool to retrieve URLs of videos added to the specified playlist within a specified timeframe.
Features
Get URLs of videos added to a custom playlist within a configurable number of days
Simple interface that returns just the video URLs
OAuth2 authentication for secure access to your YouTube data
Related MCP server: MCP YouTube Server
Installation
Installing via Smithery
To install YouTube Watch Later for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
Manual Installation
Clone this repository:
Install dependencies:
Build the project:
Setup
1. Create Google Cloud Project
Go to Google Cloud Console
Create a new project or select an existing one
Enable the YouTube Data API v3
Go to Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth 2.0 Client ID
Set Application Type to "Web application"
Add "http://localhost:3000/oauth2callback" to Authorized redirect URIs
Copy your Client ID and Client Secret
2. Get Refresh Token
Run the provided script with your Google Cloud credentials:
The script will:
Open your default browser to the Google authorization page
Ask you to sign in and authorize the application
Display your refresh token in the terminal
3. Configure MCP Settings
Add the server configuration to your MCP settings file:
For VSCode (Claude Dev Extension):
~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
For Claude Desktop App:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Usage
The server provides a single tool get_watch_later_urls that accepts an optional daysBack parameter:
The server will return an array of YouTube URLs for the matching videos:
Token Refresh
The refresh token doesn't expire unless you explicitly revoke access. You only need to get a new one if you:
Revoke the application's access in your Google Account settings
Reset your Google account's security settings
The token becomes invalid for any other reason
To get a new refresh token, simply run the get-refresh-token.js script again as described in the Setup section.
Development
The server is built with:
TypeScript
@modelcontextprotocol/sdk
googleapis (YouTube Data API v3)
To modify the server:
Make your changes in
src/index.tsRun
npm run buildto compileRestart the MCP server to apply changes