Skip to main content
Glama
Sign In
Social Media Video Transcripts

Social Media Video Transcripts

Official
by TranscriptFetch
OverviewSchemaSourceRelated ServersDiscussionsAdmin
TypeScript
Hybrid

TranscriptFetch MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol server that gives any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, and others) access to the TranscriptFetch API: a production transcript API for YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, with AI transcription when captions are missing. Fetch transcripts, search videos, list channels and playlists, and check your credit balance.

Get an API key

  1. Create a free account at transcriptfetch.com. No card needed.

  2. Open Dashboard, then API keys and create a key. It starts with tf_live_.

  3. Put it in TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY in the client configuration below.

Every account gets 50 free credits a month. Failures are free: a fetch that returns no transcript is never charged.

Runs locally over stdio and calls the TranscriptFetch API with your key. Prefer a hosted, remote server? Point your client at https://transcriptfetch.com/mcp instead (OAuth or API key). The hosted server waits inline for short-form AI transcription, so no polling is needed there.

Related MCP server: YouTube Transcript MCP Server

Tools

Tool

What it does

get_transcript

Transcript for a video: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or a direct media URL. When a video has no captions but has speech, the audio is transcribed automatically; ai_fallback: true goes straight to the audio. Optional markdown (timestamped, linked paragraphs), chunks (about 500 tokens each, for a vector store) and timestamps: false for text only

search_videos

Search YouTube (default), TikTok or Instagram. On YouTube, filter by upload_date, duration and captions, and sort by views

search_channels

Find YouTube channels (default) or playlists by keyword

list_channel_videos

A YouTube channel's videos, Shorts or live streams (tab), sorted newest, popular or oldest, or searched with query; also a TikTok or Instagram profile

list_channel_playlists

A YouTube channel's playlists, or its podcasts

list_playlist_videos

A YouTube or TikTok playlist's videos

get_credits

Remaining credit balance for the key. Never billed

These are the same seven tools, with the same inputs, as the hosted server at https://transcriptfetch.com/mcp: npm run sync-tools regenerates them from its public card.

Pricing is per successful result: a caption fetch or a video list costs 1 credit, and AI transcription of the audio costs 1 credit per started 5 minutes of audio, charged only on delivery. Failed, blocked and empty results are never charged, which matters on short-form video where many clips have no speech at all.

Install

No install needed. Run it on demand with npx:

TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY=tf_live_... npx -y transcriptfetch-mcp

Or install globally:

npm install -g transcriptfetch-mcp

Requires Node 18+.

Run from source

git clone https://github.com/TranscriptFetch/mcp-server
cd mcp-server && npm install && npm run build

Then point your client at the built entrypoint with "command": "node" and "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-server/dist/index.js"].

Client configuration

Claude Desktop

Add this to claude_desktop_config.json (Settings then Developer then Edit Config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transcriptfetch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "transcriptfetch-mcp"],
      "env": { "TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY": "tf_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add the same block under mcpServers in your Cursor MCP settings.

Restart the client, and the five tools appear.

Example

Once connected, ask your assistant naturally:

Get the transcript for https://youtu.be/aircAruvnKk and summarize the key points.

Search YouTube for "how transformers work" and list the top 5 videos.

List the latest videos from @lexfridman and pull the transcript of the newest one.

How many TranscriptFetch credits do I have left?

The assistant picks the matching tool and works from the returned transcript or video list.

Configuration

Env var

Required

Default

TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY

yes

none

TRANSCRIPTFETCH_BASE_URL

no

https://transcriptfetch.com

Docker

The server speaks MCP over stdio, so there is no port to expose. -i is required: without an attached stdin the transport closes immediately and the container looks like it crashed.

docker build -t transcriptfetch-mcp .
docker run --rm -i -e TRANSCRIPTFETCH_API_KEY=tf_live_... transcriptfetch-mcp

Links

License

MIT

Available Tools

5 tools
get_creditsAInspect

Check the remaining TranscriptFetch credit balance for the current API key. Free: this call is never billed.

Inputs: no named parameters.

get_transcriptAInspect

Fetch the full transcript for a video. Accepts a YouTube video ID or URL, plus TikTok and Instagram video URLs and direct media file URLs. If no transcript comes back, the result says whether captions definitively do not exist (aiFallback.captionsUnavailable) and whether transcribing the audio would still work (aiFallback.available). When it does, call this tool again with ai_fallback: true.

Inputs: video (required), ai_fallback.

list_channel_videosAInspect

List recent videos for a YouTube channel. Accepts a channel handle (@name), channel ID (UC...), or URL.

Inputs: channel (required), limit.

list_playlist_videosAInspect

List the videos in a YouTube playlist. Accepts a playlist ID or URL.

Inputs: playlist (required), limit.

search_videosAInspect

Search YouTube for videos matching a query. Returns titles, IDs, and URLs.

Inputs: query (required), limit.

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Loading tool schema changelog…

    Deploy Server
    One endpoint for every MCP toolRayrun runs every MCP server behind one URL and holds the credentials. Each call is decided per client, tool, and argument, then recorded.ray.runAd

    TDQS

    A4.1/5.0

    Scored across 5 tools

    Disambiguation5/5

    Each tool targets a distinct resource: credit balance, channel video listing, playlist video listing, search results, and transcript fetching. The three discovery tools (search_videos, list_channel_videos, list_playlist_videos) are cleanly separated by their input source, so an agent can easily pick the right one.

    Naming Consistency5/5

    All five tools follow a consistent verb_noun snake_case pattern (get_credits, list_channel_videos, list_playlist_videos, search_videos, get_transcript). No deviations or mixed conventions.

    Tool Count5/5

    Five tools is well-scoped for a transcript-fetching service, covering discovery, retrieval, and account status without redundancy. Every tool earns its place.

    Completeness4/5

    Core workflow (discover videos via search/channel/playlist, then fetch transcript) is fully covered, plus a credits check and a documented AI-fallback path. Minor gap: no dedicated video-details/metadata tool, though get_transcript partially compensates by accepting IDs/URLs.

    Maintenance

    ActivityMaintained
    ResponsivenessNo recent community issues

    Resources

    Related MCP Connectors

    Related MCP Servers