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YouTube Studio MCP

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🎬 YouTube Studio MCP

A high-performance, zero-dependency Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for full YouTube Studio management, video publishing, playlists, community interaction, and deep analytics directly from AI agents.

License: MIT Python: 3.10+ MCP Protocol: 2024-11-05 Google APIs: Data v3 + Analytics v2 Zero Dependencies Open Source Live Showcase

# 1. Clone & Setup
git clone https://github.com/hygef-v4/youtube-studio-mcp.git
cd youtube-studio-mcp && python scripts/auth.py auth

# 2. Ask your AI Assistant (Claude Desktop / Cursor / Antigravity):
> "Audit my last 5 videos, optimize SEO tags, and summarize 28-day traffic sources."

🌟 Why YouTube Studio MCP?

Most YouTube automation tools either require heavy external dependencies or force you to route channel tokens through third-party cloud proxies. YouTube Studio MCP is designed from the ground up to be:

  • 🛡️ 100% Local & Private: Direct Google OAuth 2.0 PKCE authentication. All access tokens stay strictly on your local machine (secrets/).

  • ⚡ Zero Runtime Dependencies: Built entirely on Python 3.10+ standard libraries (urllib, http.server, json, dataclasses, secrets). No pip dependencies, no version drift, instant startup.

  • 🔄 Autonomous Token Renewal: Transparent background OAuth token refresh ensures long-running agent conversations are never interrupted.

  • 🧰 Comprehensive Toolset (31 MCP Tools): Complete coverage of YouTube channel operations from video uploads and full spoken transcript extraction to viewer demographics.

Related MCP server: YouTube MCP Server

🗺️ System Architecture

 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │                      AI MCP CLIENT                     │
 │          (Claude Desktop / Cursor / Antigravity)       │
 └───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                             │ stdio (JSON-RPC 2.0)
                             ▼
 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │              YOUTUBE STUDIO MCP SERVER                 │
 │                                                        │
 │   ┌───────────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────────┐  │
 │   │      McpServer        │  │     AuthConfig       │  │
 │   │  (29 Tools Dispatcher)│  │ (OAuth Token Manager)│  │
 │   └───────────┬───────────┘  └──────────┬───────────┘  │
 │               │                         │              │
 │               ▼                         ▼              │
 │   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
 │   │                 YouTubeClient                   │  │
 │   │ (Zero-dependency HTTPS REST Engine via urllib)  │  │
 │   └───────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘  │
 └───────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┘
                         │ HTTPS / TLS 1.3
                         ▼
 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │                 GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM                  │
 │  • Google OAuth 2.0 Token Server                       │
 │  • YouTube Data API v3                                 │
 │  • YouTube Analytics API v2                            │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

🚀 Quick Start (5 Minutes)

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/hygef-v4/youtube-studio-mcp.git
cd youtube-studio-mcp
mkdir -p secrets

2. Configure Google Cloud OAuth Client

  1. Create a project in Google Cloud Console.

  2. Enable YouTube Data API v3 and YouTube Analytics API.

  3. Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID with application type Desktop app.

  4. Download the JSON credential file and save it locally as:

    secrets/client_secret.json

(See the step-by-step Google OAuth Setup Guide for screenshots and troubleshooting).

3. Authenticate Locally

Run the interactive loopback authentication helper:

python scripts/auth.py auth

Approve the permissions in your browser. Upon success, your credentials are encrypted locally in secrets/token.json.

⚙️ MCP Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-studio": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["F:/code/git/youtube-studio-mcp/scripts/server.py"],
      "cwd": "F:/code/git/youtube-studio-mcp",
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRETS": "F:/code/git/youtube-studio-mcp/secrets/client_secret.json",
        "YOUTUBE_TOKEN_FILE": "F:/code/git/youtube-studio-mcp/secrets/token.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor IDE

In Cursor Settings > Features > MCP, click Add New MCP Server:

  • Name: youtube-studio

  • Type: command

  • Command: python F:/code/git/youtube-studio-mcp/scripts/server.py

(See MCP Client Configuration Guide for VS Code, Codex, and other clients).

🧰 Complete Directory of 32 MCP Tools

Category

Tool Name

Description

Auth & Setup

youtube_auth_status

Check local OAuth secret and token existence.

youtube_start_auth

Generate browser authorization URL and local command.

Channel & Videos

youtube_channel_overview

Fetch channel subscriber count, views, branding, and uploads playlist ID.

youtube_list_videos

Retrieve recent uploads with combined metadata and public metrics.

youtube_get_video

Inspect full snippet, statistics, and status for one video.

youtube_update_video

Update title, description, tags list, category, language, or privacy status.

youtube_delete_video

Permanently delete a video from your channel.

youtube_upload_thumbnail

Upload a local image file as a custom high-res video thumbnail.

youtube_upload_video

Resumable upload of a local video file (.mp4, .mov, .mkv) directly to YouTube.

Playlists

youtube_list_playlists

List all playlists on the authenticated channel.

youtube_get_playlist

List all video items inside a specific playlist.

youtube_create_playlist

Create a brand new playlist (public, unlisted, or private).

youtube_update_playlist

Modify playlist title, description, or visibility status.

youtube_delete_playlist

Delete a playlist from your channel.

youtube_add_to_playlist

Add a video to a specific playlist at a defined position.

youtube_remove_from_playlist

Remove a video entry from a playlist.

Community & Comments

youtube_list_comments

List top-level comment threads ordered by relevance.

youtube_post_comment

Post a top-level comment on one of your videos.

youtube_reply_comment

Reply directly to an audience comment.

youtube_delete_comment

Delete a comment by its unique ID.

Deep Analytics

youtube_channel_analytics

Aggregate channel performance (views, watch time, subs) over custom date ranges.

youtube_video_analytics

Daily time-series retention and watch time metrics for a specific video.

youtube_analytics_traffic_sources

Breakdown of views by traffic origin (Search, Suggested, Browse, External).

youtube_analytics_demographics

Audience demographics breakdown by age group, gender, or geographic country.

youtube_analytics_top_videos

Rank top performing videos by views and watch time.

Search & Research

youtube_search_videos

Search videos by keywords to analyze competitor titles, tags, and views.

youtube_search_channels

Search YouTube channels by topic or niche keyword.

Captions & Transcripts

youtube_list_captions

Inspect available caption and subtitle tracks for a video.

youtube_get_transcript

Extract full spoken transcript, summary-ready text, or timestamped segments.

youtube_bulk_get_transcripts

Bulk extract transcripts from a list of video IDs, a playlist, or recent uploads.

youtube_download_caption

Download raw caption file (SRT, VTT, SBV) by caption ID.

youtube_delete_caption

Delete a caption track by ID.

(For full input schemas, type definitions, and parameters, see docs/tools.md).

💡 Example Conversational Prompts

"Show my channel overview and summarize the public statistics of my last 5 videos."
"Inspect video VIDEO_ID, generate 15 high-converting SEO tags, and update its description with chapter timestamps."
"Upload the image at 'C:/thumbnails/hero.png' as the thumbnail for video VIDEO_ID."
"Analyze where my channel views came from over the last 28 days and break down the traffic sources by percentage."
"Create a new public playlist titled 'Valorant Highlights' and add my latest video to it."

🧪 Testing

Run the built-in test suite (no third-party test runners required):

python -m unittest discover tests

🔒 Security Policy

  • Credentials (secrets/client_secret.json and secrets/token.json) are strictly git-ignored.

  • No network requests are sent to any domain other than googleapis.com and accounts.google.com.

  • See SECURITY.md for reporting guidelines.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! Feel free to check the issues page.

📄 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

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