YouTube Transcript MCP Server

A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides YouTube transcript fetching capabilities using yt-dlp CLI for reliable subtitle extraction. Uses browser impersonation and a JS runtime to reduce YouTube rate limiting.

Status: Production Ready

• CLI-Based: Uses yt-dlp subprocess with browser impersonation to reduce HTTP 429 rate limiting

• FastMCP 2.14.5: Tool annotations, context logging, progress reporting, prompt templates

• GHCR CI/CD: Multi-arch Docker images (amd64/arm64) built on every push

• Universal Compatibility: Time parameters work across all MCP clients

• Advanced Analytics: Enhanced transcript summary with content analysis

• Multi-Language: 100+ languages with auto-generated and manual transcripts

Related MCP server: ytmcp

Features

• Fetch transcripts from YouTube videos with metadata and timestamps

• Time filtering - extract specific segments by start/end times

• Search functionality - find text within transcripts with context

• Advanced analytics - speaking pace, filler words, engagement metrics, top words

• Language detection - list available transcript languages

• Prompt templates - pre-built prompts for video summarization and topic search

• Transcript caching - 10-minute TTL cache avoids redundant YouTube requests

• Retry with backoff - automatic retries on timeouts and transient errors

• Universal format support - handles both video IDs and full YouTube URLs

• Dual transport - STDIO and HTTP transport modes

• Docker support - containerized deployment via GHCR with health checks

Installation

Docker (Recommended)

# Pull from GHCR and run
docker run -d -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/suckerfish/yttranscript_mcp:latest

# Or use docker compose
docker compose up -d

# Health check
curl http://localhost:8080/health

Local Development

# Install dependencies
uv pip install -e .

# Run server (STDIO mode)
python src/server.py

# Run server (HTTP mode)
uvicorn src.server:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Usage

Available Tools

All tools are read-only (readOnlyHint=True) and tagged read.

1. get_transcript - Fetch video transcripts with optional time filtering

2. search_transcript - Search for specific text within transcripts

3. get_transcript_summary - Advanced analytics and content insights

4. get_available_languages - List available transcript languages

Prompt Templates

• summarize_video(video_id, language_code) - Summarize a YouTube video transcript

• search_topic_in_video(video_id, topic) - Search for and analyze a topic within a video

Testing Commands

# Discover tools
mcp tools .venv/bin/python src/server.py

# Basic transcript
mcp call get_transcript --params '{"video_id":"jNQXAC9IVRw"}' .venv/bin/python src/server.py

# Time-filtered transcript
mcp call get_transcript --params '{"video_id":"jNQXAC9IVRw", "start_time": 10, "end_time": 60}' .venv/bin/python src/server.py

# Search within transcript
mcp call search_transcript --params '{"video_id":"jNQXAC9IVRw", "query":"example"}' .venv/bin/python src/server.py

# Advanced analytics
mcp call get_transcript_summary --params '{"video_id":"jNQXAC9IVRw"}' .venv/bin/python src/server.py

# Available languages
mcp call get_available_languages --params '{"video_id":"jNQXAC9IVRw"}' .venv/bin/python src/server.py

MCP Client Configuration

HTTP Transport (Production)

{
  "yttranscript": {
    "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp"
  }
}

STDIO Transport (Development)

{
  "yttranscript": {
    "command": "uv",
    "args": [
      "run",
      "--directory", "/path/to/yttranscript_mcp",
      "src/server.py"
    ]
  }
}

Key Features

Universal Parameter Compatibility

Time filtering parameters accept multiple formats:

• Integers: {"start_time": 10}

• Floats: {"start_time": 10.5}

• Strings: {"start_time": "10"}

• Nulls: {"start_time": null} or {"start_time": "null"}

Advanced Analytics

The get_transcript_summary tool provides:

• Speaking pace analysis (words per minute with descriptive labels)

• Filler word detection (um, uh, like, etc.) with percentages

• Content indicators (conversational, formal, high energy)

• Top frequent words (excluding stop words)

• Engagement metrics (questions, exclamations)

• Reading time estimates at multiple speeds

CLI Implementation Benefits

• Fewer rate limits - browser impersonation, a JS runtime, and backoff retries on HTTP 429

• Reliable extraction - uses yt-dlp's robust parsing

• Automatic retries - backoff on timeouts and transient errors

• Format flexibility - handles VTT, JSON3, and other subtitle formats

Configuration

Environment Variables

YT_TRANSCRIPT_SERVER_PORT=8080    # Server port (default: 8080)
YT_TRANSCRIPT_SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0 # Server host (default: 0.0.0.0)
YT_TRANSCRIPT_DEBUG=false         # Debug mode

Dependencies

• fastmcp>=2.14.5,<3.0.0 - MCP server framework

• yt-dlp - YouTube transcript extraction via CLI

• pydantic>=2.0.0 - Data validation and models

• uvicorn>=0.24.0 - ASGI server for HTTP transport

This project uses uv for package management.

Deployment

Docker images are built by GitHub Actions on every push to main and published to GHCR:

ghcr.io/suckerfish/yttranscript_mcp:latest

Multi-arch support: linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.

Troubleshooting

• Tool not found: Verify @mcp.tool() decorator in tool definitions

• Validation errors: Video IDs must be 11 characters, time values must be non-negative

• Time filtering issues: Parameters accept multiple formats (int/float/string/null)

• Transport issues: Use uvicorn for HTTP mode, python src/server.py for STDIO

• No transcript available: Check with get_available_languages first

• Missing session ID: Server uses stateless_http=True for clients without session management

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.