YouTube MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for YouTube, enabling AI language models to interact with YouTube content through a standardized interface. Optimized for 90% Smithery quality score with comprehensive resources, prompts, and flexible configuration.

Features

Video Information

• Get video details (title, description, duration, etc.) with direct URLs

• List channel videos with direct URLs

• Get video statistics (views, likes, comments)

• Search videos across YouTube with direct URLs

• NEW: Enhanced video responses include url and videoId fields for easy integration

Transcript Management

• Retrieve video transcripts

• Support for multiple languages

• Get timestamped captions

• Search within transcripts

Direct Resources & Prompts

• Resources:

  • youtube://transcript/{videoId}: Access transcripts directly via resource URIs

  • youtube://info: Server information and usage documentation (Smithery discoverable)

• Prompts:

  • summarize-video: Automated workflow to get and summarize video content

  • analyze-channel: Comprehensive analysis of a channel's content strategy

• Annotations: All tools include capability hints (read-only, idempotent) for better LLM performance

Channel Management

• Get channel details

• List channel playlists

• Get channel statistics

• Search within channel content

Playlist Management

• List playlist items

• Get playlist details

• Search within playlists

• Get playlist video transcripts

Installation

Quick Setup for Claude Desktop

1. Install the package:

npm install -g @sfiorini/youtube-mcp

1. Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-mcp": {
      "command": "youtube-mcp",
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternative: Using NPX (No Installation Required)

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@sfiorini/youtube-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Installing via Smithery

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

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @sfiorini/youtube-mcp --client claude

Configuration

Set the following environment variables:

• YOUTUBE_API_KEY: Your YouTube Data API key (required)

• YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG: Default language for transcripts (optional, defaults to 'en')

Using with VS Code

For one-click installation, click one of the install buttons below:

Manual Installation

If you prefer manual installation, first check the install buttons at the top of this section. Otherwise, follow these steps:

Add the following JSON block to your User Settings (JSON) file in VS Code. You can do this by pressing Ctrl + Shift + P and typing Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON).

{
  "mcp": {
    "inputs": [
      {
        "type": "promptString",
        "id": "apiKey",
        "description": "YouTube API Key",
        "password": true
      }
    ],
    "servers": {
      "youtube": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "@sfiorini/youtube-mcp"],
        "env": {
          "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "${input:apiKey}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Optionally, you can add it to a file called .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "apiKey",
      "description": "YouTube API Key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@sfiorini/youtube-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "${input:apiKey}"
      }
    }
  }
}

YouTube API Setup

1. Go to Google Cloud Console

2. Create a new project or select an existing one

3. Enable the YouTube Data API v3

4. Create API credentials (API key)

5. Copy the API key for configuration

Examples

Managing Videos

// Get video details (now includes URL)
const video = await youtube.videos.getVideo({
  videoId: "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
});

// Enhanced response now includes:
// - video.url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
// - video.videoId: "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
// - All original YouTube API data

// Get video transcript
const transcript = await youtube.transcripts.getTranscript({
  videoId: "video-id",
  language: "en"
});

// Search videos (results now include URLs)
const searchResults = await youtube.videos.searchVideos({
  query: "search term",
  maxResults: 10
});

// Each search result includes:
// - result.url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={videoId}"
// - result.videoId: "{videoId}"
// - All original YouTube search data

Managing Channels

// Get channel details
const channel = await youtube.channels.getChannel({
  channelId: "channel-id"
});

// List channel videos
const videos = await youtube.channels.listVideos({
  channelId: "channel-id",
  maxResults: 50
});

Managing Playlists

// Get playlist items
const playlistItems = await youtube.playlists.getPlaylistItems({
  playlistId: "playlist-id",
  maxResults: 50
});

// Get playlist details
const playlist = await youtube.playlists.getPlaylist({
  playlistId: "playlist-id"
});

Enhanced Response Structure

Video Objects with URLs

All video-related responses now include enhanced fields for easier integration:

interface EnhancedVideoResponse {
  // Original YouTube API fields
  kind?: string;
  etag?: string;
  id?: string | YouTubeSearchResultId;
  snippet?: YouTubeSnippet;
  contentDetails?: any;
  statistics?: any;

  // NEW: Enhanced fields
  url: string;           // Direct YouTube video URL
  videoId: string;       // Extracted video ID
}

Example Enhanced Response

{
  "kind": "youtube#video",
  "id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "snippet": {
    "title": "Never Gonna Give You Up",
    "channelTitle": "Rick Astley",
    "description": "Official video for \"Never Gonna Give You Up\""
  },
  "statistics": {
    "viewCount": "1.5B",
    "likeCount": "15M"
  },
  // Enhanced fields:
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "videoId": "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

Benefits

• Easy URL Access: No need to manually construct URLs

• Consistent Structure: Both search and individual video responses include URLs

• Backward Compatible: All existing YouTube API data is preserved

• Type Safe: Full TypeScript support available

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build TypeScript to JavaScript
npm run build

# Development mode with auto-rebuild and hot reload
npm run dev

# Start the server (requires YOUTUBE_API_KEY)
npm start

# Publish to npm (runs build first)
npm run prepublishOnly

Architecture

This project uses a dual-architecture service-based design with the following features:

• Shared Utilities: Single source of truth for all MCP server configuration (src/server-utils.ts)

• Modern McpServer: Updated from deprecated Server class to the new McpServer

• Dynamic Version Management: Version automatically read from package.json

• Type-Safe Tool Registration: Uses zod schemas for input validation

• ES Modules: Full ES module support with proper .js extensions

• Enhanced Video Responses: All video operations include url and videoId fields

• Lazy Initialization: YouTube API client initialized only when needed

• Code Deduplication: Eliminated 90% code duplication through shared utilities (407 → 285 lines)

Project Structure

src/
├── server-utils.ts        # 🆕 Shared MCP server utilities (single source of truth)
├── index.ts              # Smithery deployment entry point
├── server.ts             # CLI deployment entry point
├── services/             # Core business logic
│   ├── video.ts         # Video operations (search, getVideo)
│   ├── transcript.ts    # Transcript retrieval
│   ├── playlist.ts      # Playlist operations
│   └── channel.ts       # Channel operations
├── types.ts             # TypeScript interfaces
└── cli.ts               # CLI wrapper for standalone execution

Key Features

• Smithery Optimized: Achieved 90%+ Smithery quality score with comprehensive resources, prompts, and configuration

• Shared Utilities Architecture: Eliminated 90% code duplication with single source of truth

• Enhanced Video Responses: All video objects include direct YouTube URLs

• Flexible Configuration: Optional config via Smithery UI or environment variables

• Type-Safe Development: Full TypeScript support with zod validation

• Modern MCP Tools: Uses registerTool instead of manual request handlers

• Comprehensive Resources: Discoverable resources and prompts for better LLM integration

• Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling with descriptive messages

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for information about contributing to this repository.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.