YouTube
Provides distraction-free access to YouTube by allowing AI assistants to retrieve subscribed channels, latest videos, and transcripts without algorithmic recommendations. It enables searching within subscriptions and direct reading of video content t
What is YouTube?
YouTube is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to provides distraction-free access to youtube by allowing ai assistants to retrieve subscribed channels, latest videos, and transcripts without algorithmic recommendations. it enables searching within s...
Provides distraction-free access to YouTube by allowing AI assistants to retrieve subscribed channels, latest videos, and transcripts without algorithmic recommendations. It enables searching within subscriptions and direct reading of video content t
This server falls under the Search & Data Extraction category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- Provides distraction-free access to YouTube by allowing AI a
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
NPM
npx -y zubeid-youtube-mcp-serverManual Installation
npx -y zubeid-youtube-mcp-serverConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use YouTube
The YouTube MCP Server connects AI assistants to YouTube video content by downloading and exposing subtitles and transcripts using yt-dlp under the hood. It lets you ask Claude to summarize, analyze, or extract information from any YouTube video by URL, providing distraction-free access to video content without needing to watch the video or deal with the YouTube recommendation algorithm. No YouTube API key is required — it works via yt-dlp's subtitle extraction.
Prerequisites
- yt-dlp installed and available on your PATH (brew install yt-dlp on macOS or winget install yt-dlp on Windows)
- Node.js 18+ for running the npx-based server
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop
Install yt-dlp
yt-dlp is a required dependency for downloading YouTube subtitles. Install it using your system package manager and verify it is accessible on your PATH.
# macOS
brew install yt-dlp
# Windows
winget install yt-dlp
# Verify
yt-dlp --versionTest the server manually
Run the package once via npx to confirm it starts without errors. The server should initialize and wait for MCP connections.
npx -y zubeid-youtube-mcp-serverAdd the server to your MCP client
Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) and add the youtube entry under mcpServers.
Restart Claude Desktop
Quit and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new server configuration. The YouTube server should connect automatically on startup.
Test with a YouTube URL
Paste a YouTube video URL into your Claude Desktop conversation and ask for a summary. Claude will use yt-dlp to fetch the transcript and return an AI-generated summary.
YouTube Examples
Client configuration
Add this block to your claude_desktop_config.json. No API keys or environment variables are needed.
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server"]
}
}
}Prompts to try
Paste a real YouTube URL and use prompts like these to get value from video content without watching.
- "Summarize this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
- "What are the key takeaways from this talk? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
- "Extract all action items mentioned in this tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
- "Create a structured outline of the topics covered in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
- "What timestamps cover the section about X in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"Troubleshooting YouTube
Error: 'yt-dlp not found' or subtitle download fails
Ensure yt-dlp is installed and on your PATH. Run 'which yt-dlp' (macOS/Linux) or 'where yt-dlp' (Windows) to confirm. If Claude Desktop's shell environment differs from your terminal, provide the full path to yt-dlp or add it to /etc/paths on macOS.
No subtitles available for a video
Not all YouTube videos have subtitles or auto-generated captions. yt-dlp will fail to extract a transcript if the video has no subtitle track. Try videos from major channels that typically enable auto-captions, or videos where the uploader has added manual subtitles.
npx times out or hangs on first run
The first run downloads the package from npm which may be slow. Run 'npx -y zubeid-youtube-mcp-server' once in your terminal to cache it, then restart Claude Desktop. Ensure your network is not blocking npm registry access.
Frequently Asked Questions about YouTube
What is YouTube?
YouTube is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides distraction-free access to youtube by allowing ai assistants to retrieve subscribed channels, latest videos, and transcripts without algorithmic recommendations. it enables searching within subscriptions and direct reading of video content t It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install YouTube?
Install via npm with the command: npx -y zubeid-youtube-mcp-server. Then add the server configuration to your AI client's JSON config file (e.g., claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json).
Which AI clients work with YouTube?
YouTube works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is YouTube free to use?
Yes, YouTube is open source and available under the MIT License license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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Set Up YouTube in Your Editor
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Quick Config Preview
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json
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