mcp-server-youtube

A Rust MCP server for YouTube. Search videos, read channels, browse playlists, fetch comments, and get transcripts — all from your AI assistant.

Why this one?

• Full YouTube Data API v3 coverage — videos, channels, playlists, comments, categories, trending, search with all filters and sorting options
• Working transcripts — uses rustypipe (InnerTube API) for reliable subtitle/caption extraction, including auto-generated captions. No API key quota consumed for transcripts
• Single binary, zero runtime dependencies — written in Rust, starts instantly
• Typed filter enums — search filters (duration, definition, license, etc.) are exposed as typed enums in the JSON schema, so AI models know exactly which values are valid without guessing

Tools

Videos

Tool	Description
videos_getVideo	Get video details (snippet, statistics, content details)
videos_searchVideos	Search videos with filters for duration, definition, date range, region, captions, license, category, and more. Supports sorting by relevance, date, rating, or view count
videos_getCategories	List video categories for a region
videos_getTrending	Get trending/most popular videos for a region, optionally filtered by category

Channels

Tool	Description
channels_getChannel	Get channel info and statistics by channel ID
channels_getByHandle	Look up a channel by its handle (e.g. @shura_stone)
channels_search	Search for channels by name
channels_listVideos	List videos from a channel (by date) with pagination

Playlists

Tool	Description
playlists_getPlaylist	Get playlist info
playlists_getPlaylistItems	List videos in a playlist with pagination

Comments

Tool	Description
comments_getComments	Get comment threads on a video with pagination

Transcripts & Captions

Tool	Description
transcripts_getTranscript	Get video transcript/subtitles. Works with both auto-generated and manual captions. Returns plain text by default; set include_timestamps for per-segment timing. Uses rustypipe (InnerTube API) — no API key quota consumed
transcripts_getBatch	Fetch transcripts for multiple videos in one call with concurrent fetching. No API key quota consumed
transcripts_listLanguages	List available subtitle/caption languages for a video

Setup

Get a YouTube API Key

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a project (or select an existing one)
3. Enable the YouTube Data API v3
4. Create an API key under Credentials

Configuration

Environment Variable	CLI Flag	Default	Description
YOUTUBE_API_KEY	--youtube-api-key	required	YouTube Data API v3 key
YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG	--transcript-lang	en	Default transcript language
MCP_TRANSPORT	--transport	stdio	Transport: stdio or streamable-http
HOST	--host	127.0.0.1	HTTP bind address
PORT	--port	3000	HTTP port
YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_CONCURRENCY	--transcript-concurrency	50	Max concurrent transcript fetches for batch operations

The API key is stored as a SecretString and never appears in logs or debug output.

Usage

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

With uvx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-youtube"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

With rvx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "rvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-youtube"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

<details> <summary>Other installation methods</summary>

With Nix:

nix run github:vaporif/mcp-server-youtube

With cargo:

cargo install mcp-server-youtube

From releases:

Download a prebuilt binary from GitHub Releases.

</details>

HTTP Transport

YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_key mcp-server-youtube --transport streamable-http --port 3000

The server listens on http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp.

Debugging

Enable debug logging to see tool invocations:

RUST_LOG=debug mcp-server-youtube

Development

# Enter dev shell (requires Nix)
nix develop

# Build
cargo build

# Test
cargo test

# Lint
cargo clippy --workspace -- -D warnings

# Format
cargo fmt --all

License

GPL-3.0-or-later