Overview

The YouTube Transcript MCP Server allows AI assistants to retrieve transcripts from YouTube videos, providing direct access to video captions and subtitles through a simple interface.

Installation Options

Using Smithery

To install the YouTube Transcript Server automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript --client claude

Using MCP-Get

You can also install using the mcp-get tool:

npx @michaellatman/mcp-get@latest install @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript

Manual Configuration

To use with Claude Desktop or other AI assistants, add this server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcript": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

get_transcript

This tool extracts transcripts from YouTube videos.

Parameters:

• url (string, required): YouTube video URL or video ID
• lang (string, optional, default: "en"): Language code for transcript (e.g., 'ko', 'en')

Usage Examples

Getting a Transcript by Video URL

await server.callTool("get_transcript", {
  url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
  lang: "en"
});

Getting a Transcript by Video ID

await server.callTool("get_transcript", {
  url: "VIDEO_ID",
  lang: "ko"
});

Using in Claude Desktop

Simply ask Claude to extract subtitles from a YouTube video by providing the URL:

Extract subtitles from this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/ODaHJzOyVCQ

Features

• Support for multiple video URL formats
• Language-specific transcript retrieval
• Detailed metadata in responses
• Robust error handling for common scenarios:
  • Invalid video URLs or IDs
  • Unavailable transcripts
  • Language availability issues
  • Network errors

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or higher
• npm or yarn

Setup for Development

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Build the server:

npm run build

3. For development with auto-rebuild:

npm run watch

Testing and Debugging

For testing:

npm test

For debugging (using MCP Inspector):

npm run inspector

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License.