Provides tools for searching videos, watching and summarizing, browsing channels and playlists, fetching transcripts, downloading video/audio, cutting clips, and building highlight reels from YouTube.
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@YouTube for AI Agents find me the best video on meditation techniques"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Ask "what's the best video on…?" and Claude finds it, watches it, and reports back. Drop a long podcast in chat — get the highlights in seconds. Cut clips, build reels, pull transcripts — all without opening a YouTube tab.
Quick Start · Try it · Discord · Demo
Click the image to watch the 1-minute walkthrough.
Related MCP server: youtube-mcp
1. Install the plugin — inside Claude Code, run:
/plugin marketplace add JCodesMore/jcodesmore-plugins
/plugin install youtube@jcodesmore-pluginsThen fully restart Claude Code (quit the app and reopen).
2. That's it. No API key, no signup. Just start asking.
Optional: run
/youtube:setupto sign in with your own YouTube cookies for personalized search and recommendations.
Talk to Claude like a friend:
"Watch this video and give me the recipe — I don't want to scroll the comments."
"Find me five highly-rated videos on Roman history."
"What are this channel's best uploads? Watch the top three and summarize."
"Pull the actionable takeaways from this 90-minute interview."
"Cut a 30-second clip starting at 2:15 from this video."
"Combine these three cooking videos into a single highlight reel."
The agent searches, watches, and reports back — no scrubbing, no scrolling.
Nine smart tools wrapped in two skills and one agent — search, watch, clip, and reel without leaving the chat.
Capability | Try saying |
Search videos, channels, playlists | "find me the top videos on…" |
Watch and summarize | "watch this and tell me what matters" |
Browse a channel or playlist | "what's worth watching from this YouTuber?" |
Pull a transcript | "grab the transcript around the 5-minute mark" |
Download video or audio | "save the audio of this video" |
Cut a clip | "clip 2:15 to 2:45 from this video" |
Build a highlight reel | "combine these clips into one reel" |
Discord — chat, help, show-and-tell · Issues — bugs & feature requests · Contribute · More plugins
By default, search runs anonymously — no login required. If you want personalized recommendations and search results, run /youtube:setup and follow the cookie-extraction wizard. Cookies stay on your machine in the plugin data directory; nothing is uploaded anywhere.
The MCP server is portable. Per-platform setup guides:
Clone and build it yourself:
git clone https://github.com/JCodesMore/youtube-for-ai-agents.git
cd youtube-for-ai-agents
npm install
npm run buildOr wire the published npm package directly into any MCP-compatible client:
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@jcodesmore/youtube-for-ai-agents"]
}
}
}Requirements: Node.js ≥ 18.
Model Context Protocol SDK — tool exposure to Claude
youtubei.js — YouTube InnerTube client (no API key needed)
youtube-transcript-plus — transcript fetching
ytdlp-nodejs — video and audio downloads
Zod — schema validation
Apache License 2.0 — © 2026 JCodesMore
Uses youtubei.js, an unofficial YouTube client. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with YouTube or Google.
Part of jcodesmore-plugins.
Extract one or more clips from a YouTube video by timestamp. Downloads the source video once at 720p, then cuts each clip. Each clip needs startTime and endTime (seconds, MM:SS, or HH:MM:SS) and an optional label for the filename. Uses fast keyframe-aligned cuts by default — do NOT set accurate: true unless the user explicitly asks for frame-perfect precision (it re-encodes and is much slower). Keep clips tight — 5-10 seconds each, capturing one key moment per clip. When 2+ clips are provided, automatically produces a per-video highlight reel alongside individual clips.
Inputs: clips (required), videoId (required), force, quality, +3 more.
Download a YouTube video or audio track to a local file. Defaults to 720p quality. Supports quality selection (720p/1080p/best/etc.), download type (video+audio/audio/video), and format. Videos over 30 minutes trigger a confirmation prompt — use force: true to bypass. For video+audio, automatically downloads and muxes separate streams.
Inputs: videoId (required), type, force, format, +2 more.
Get metadata for a YouTube channel — name, handle, description, subscriber count, country, and more. Accepts @handle, full URL, or channel ID.
Inputs: channelId (required).
List videos from a YouTube channel. Accepts @handle, full URL, or channel ID. Returns videos sorted by newest, popular, or oldest.
Inputs: channelUrl (required), sort, limit.
Get a YouTube playlist's metadata and its videos. Returns title, description, channel, video count, and the list of videos with their positions.
Inputs: playlistId (required), limit.
Get the transcript of a YouTube video. Control output size with: "format" — "text" (fullText only, smallest), "segments" (timestamps only), or "both" (default). Use "startTime"/"endTime" (seconds) to grab a specific section (pairs well with chapter timestamps from youtube_get_video_info). Use "maxSegments" to cap output for previewing long videos.
Inputs: videoId (required), format, endTime, language, +2 more.
Get metadata for a YouTube video. Use "detail" to control response size: "brief" (key stats only — title, channel, views, likes, duration), "standard" (default — most fields, truncated description, chapter count), or "full" (everything including full description, chapters, tags, thumbnail).
Inputs: videoId (required), detail.
Combine existing clip files into a single highlight reel. Pass file paths from previous youtube_clip results in your desired playback order. Use this after clipping multiple videos to create one combined reel across all sources. The order of the clips array determines playback order — arrange clips for narrative flow before calling.
Inputs: clips (required), label, outputDir.
Search YouTube for videos, channels, or playlists. Supports filtering by upload date (today/week/month/year), duration (short/medium/long), and sorting (relevance/date/views/rating). Returns results with metadata including title, channel, views, duration, and whether results are personalized.
Inputs: query (required), type, limit, sortBy, +2 more.
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Scored across 9 tools
Each tool targets a distinct resource and action: search, channel/video/playlist metadata retrieval, transcript extraction, video download, clip extraction, and highlight reel assembly. The only potential overlap is between youtube_clip and youtube_download, but clip is explicitly for extracting short segments while download fetches the full source. Descriptions make boundaries clear.
All tools use the youtube_ prefix and follow a predictable verb_noun pattern (get_channel_videos, get_video_info, get_transcript, search, download, clip). The only minor deviation is youtube_highlight_reel, which is a noun phrase, but it clearly implies a create action and fits the overall schema.
Nine tools are well-scoped for an agent consuming YouTube content, with no redundant or trivial entries. Each tool earns its place by covering a distinct step in the research, retrieval, or editing workflow.
The surface covers search, metadata, transcripts, downloads, clipping, highlight reels, playlists, and channels—core workflows for AI agents. Minor gaps exist, such as no direct tool to list all playlists for a channel or to retrieve comments/live stream info, but agents can work around these for most tasks.
YouTube for AI agents: transcripts, comments, video stats, channel monitor, Shorts captions.
YouTube transcripts, search, channel/playlist listings and upload tracking for AI agents.
Search YouTube videos, read transcripts and get public video information in your AI assistant.
YouTube transcripts, search, channels, playlists and bulk transcript jobs for AI agents. 14 tools.
