mcp-youtube-transcript

# MCP YouTube Transcript Server [](https://smithery.ai/server/@sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript) A Model Context Protocol server that enables retrieval of transcripts from YouTube videos. This server provides direct access to video transcripts through a simple interface, making it ideal for content analysis and processing. <a href="https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/@sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript"> <img width="380" height="200" src="https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/@sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript/badge" alt="mcp-youtube-transcript" /> </a> ## Table of Contents - [Features](#features) - [Getting Started](#getting-started) - [Prerequisites](#prerequisites) - [Installation](#installation) - [Usage](#usage) - [Basic Configuration](#basic-configuration) - [Testing](#testing) - [Troubleshooting and Maintenance](#troubleshooting-and-maintenance) - [API Reference](#api-reference) - [Development](#development) - [Contributing](#contributing) - [License](#license) ## Features ✨ Key capabilities: - Extract transcripts from YouTube videos - Support for multiple languages - Format text with continuous or paragraph mode - Retrieve video titles and metadata - Automatic paragraph segmentation - Text normalization and HTML entity decoding - Robust error handling - Timestamp and overlap detection ## Getting Started ### Prerequisites - Node.js 18 or higher ### Installation We provide two installation methods: #### Option 1: Manual Configuration (Recommended for Production) 1. Create or edit the Claude Desktop configuration file: - macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` - Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json` 2. Add the following configuration: ```json { "mcpServers": { "youtube-transcript": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript" ] } } } ``` Quick setup script for macOS: ```bash # Create directory if it doesn't exist mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude # Create or update config file cat > ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json << 'EOL' { "mcpServers": { "youtube-transcript": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript" ] } } } EOL ``` #### Option 2: Via Smithery (Development Only) ```bash npx -y @smithery/cli install @sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript --client claude ``` ⚠️ **Note**: This method is not recommended for production use as it relies on Smithery's proxy services. ## Usage ### Basic Configuration To use with Claude Desktop / Cursor / cline, ensure your configuration matches: ```json { "mcpServers": { "youtube-transcript": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript"] } } } ``` ### Testing #### With Claude App 1. Restart the Claude app after installation 2. Test with a simple command: ```plaintext https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJpK3YTTKZ4 Summarize this video ``` Example output:  #### With MCP Inspector ```bash # Clone and setup git clone https://github.com/sinco-lab/mcp-youtube-transcript.git cd mcp-youtube-transcript npm install npm run build # Launch inspector npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node "dist/index.js" # Access http://localhost:5173 and try these commands: # 1. List Tools: clink `List Tools` # 2. Test get_transcripts with: # url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJpK3YTTKZ4" # lang: "en" (optional) # enableParagraphs: false (optional) ``` ### Troubleshooting and Maintenance #### Checking Claude Logs To monitor Claude's logs, you can use the following command: ```bash tail -n 20 -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log ``` This will display the last 20 lines of the log file and continue to show new entries as they are added. > **Note**: Claude app automatically prefixes MCP server log files with `mcp-server-`. For example, our server's logs will be written to `mcp-server-youtube-transcript.log`. #### Cleaning the `npx` Cache If you encounter issues related to the `npx` cache, you can manually clean it using: ```bash rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx ``` This will remove the cached packages and allow you to start fresh. ## API Reference ### get_transcripts Fetches transcripts from YouTube videos. **Parameters:** - `url` (string, required): YouTube video URL or ID - `lang` (string, optional): Language code (default: "en") - `enableParagraphs` (boolean, optional): Enable paragraph mode (default: false) **Response Format:** ```json { "content": [{ "type": "text", "text": "Video title and transcript content", "metadata": { "videoId": "video_id", "title": "video_title", "language": "transcript_language", "timestamp": "processing_time", "charCount": "character_count", "transcriptCount": "number_of_transcripts", "totalDuration": "total_duration", "paragraphsEnabled": "paragraph_mode_status" } }] } ``` ## Development ### Project Structure ``` ├── src/ │ ├── index.ts # Server entry point │ ├── youtube.ts # YouTube transcript fetching logic ├── dist/ # Compiled output └── package.json ``` ### Key Components - `YouTubeTranscriptFetcher`: Core transcript fetching functionality - `YouTubeUtils`: Text processing and utilities ### Features and Capabilities - **Error Handling:** - Invalid URLs/IDs - Unavailable transcripts - Language availability - Network errors - Rate limiting - **Text Processing:** - HTML entity decoding - Punctuation normalization - Space normalization - Smart paragraph detection ## Contributing We welcome contributions! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests. ## License This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details. ## Related Projects - [mcp-servers](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers) - [MCP Inspector](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector)