youtube-mcp

FastMCP server for YouTube — videos, channels, playlists, comments, and analytics.

Covers the YouTube Data API v3 and YouTube Analytics API with 25 tools.

Setup

1. Enable APIs in GCP Console

• YouTube Data API v3
• YouTube Analytics API

2. Configure credentials

mkdir -p ~/.config/youtube-mcp
cp ~/.config/google-docs-mcp/credentials.json ~/.config/youtube-mcp/credentials.json

3. Run OAuth flow

cd ~/youtube-mcp && uv run python -m youtube_mcp.auth

This opens a browser for consent. The token is saved to ~/.config/youtube-mcp/token.json.

4. Register with Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user youtube -- uvx --from ~/youtube-mcp youtube-mcp

5. Restart Claude Code

The youtube server should appear with 25 tools.

Tools (25)

Videos (6)

Tool	Quota	Description
search_videos	100	Search YouTube by query
get_video_details	1	Get metadata for video(s) by ID
upload_video	1600	Upload video file with metadata
update_video	50	Update video title/description/tags
delete_video	50	Delete a video
get_captions	200	List caption tracks for a video

Channels (2)

Tool	Quota	Description
get_my_channel	1	Get authenticated channel info
list_channel_videos	100	List videos on a channel

Playlists (6)

Tool	Quota	Description
list_playlists	1	List playlists (mine or by channel)
create_playlist	50	Create new playlist
update_playlist	50	Update playlist metadata
delete_playlist	50	Delete a playlist
list_playlist_items	1	List videos in a playlist
add_to_playlist	50	Add video to playlist

Comments (4)

Tool	Quota	Description
list_comments	1	List comments on a video
add_comment	50	Post a top-level comment
reply_to_comment	50	Reply to a comment
delete_comment	50	Delete a comment

Subscriptions (3)

Tool	Quota	Description
list_subscriptions	1	List my subscriptions
subscribe	50	Subscribe to a channel
unsubscribe	50	Unsubscribe

Analytics (2)

Tool	Quota	Description
get_channel_analytics	—	Channel-level metrics (views, watch time, subs)
get_video_analytics	—	Per-video metrics

Misc (2)

Tool	Quota	Description
list_categories	1	List video categories for a region
set_thumbnail	50	Upload custom thumbnail

Quota

YouTube Data API daily quota is 10,000 units. Key costs:

• Search: 100 units per call
• Upload: 1,600 units per call
• List operations: 1 unit
• Insert/Update/Delete: 50 units

License

MIT