YouTube Transcript Server

A Model Context Protocol server that enables retrieval of transcripts from YouTube videos. This server provides direct access to video captions and subtitles through a simple interface.

Installing via Smithery

To install YouTube Transcript Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

Components

Tools

• get_transcript

  • Extract transcripts from YouTube videos

  • Inputs:

    • url (string, required): YouTube video URL or video ID

    • lang (string, optional, default: "en"): Language code for transcript (e.g., 'ko', 'en')

Related MCP server: mcp-server-youtube-transcript

Key Features

• Support for multiple video URL formats

• Language-specific transcript retrieval

• Detailed metadata in responses

Configuration

To use with Claude Desktop, add this server configuration:

Install via tool

mcp-get A command-line tool for installing and managing Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

Awesome-mcp-servers

awesome-mcp-servers A curated list of awesome Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or higher

• npm or yarn

Setup

Install dependencies:

Build the server:

For development with auto-rebuild:

Testing

Debugging

Since MCP servers communicate over stdio, debugging can be challenging. We recommend using the MCP Inspector for development:

Error Handling

The server implements robust error handling for common scenarios:

• Invalid video URLs or IDs

• Unavailable transcripts

• Language availability issues

• Network errors

Usage Examples

1. Get transcript by video URL:

2. Get transcript by video ID:

3. How to Extract YouTube Subtitles in Claude Desktop App

Security Considerations

The server:

• Validates all input parameters

• Handles YouTube API errors gracefully

• Implements timeouts for transcript retrieval

• Provides detailed error messages for troubleshooting

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.