YouTube Transcript MCP Server

An MCP server that gives Claude access to YouTube video transcripts. Extract full transcripts, search for keywords with timestamps, and get direct YouTube links to matching moments.

Tools

get_transcript

Extract the full timestamped transcript from any YouTube video.

Title: Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Video)
Channel: Rick Astley
Duration: 3:33
Source: captions | Language: en | Segments: 60
---
[0:01] [♪♪♪]
[0:18] ♪ We're no strangers to love ♪
[0:22] ♪ You know the rules and so do I ♪
...

search_transcript

Keyword search across a video's transcript. Matches are grouped, marked with >>>, and include a YouTube link to jump to that moment.

Search: "give you up" in Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Matches: 9 hits in 2 group(s)

--- Group 1 (1 hit(s)) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=43 ---
     [0:40] ♪ Gotta make you understand ♪
 >>> [0:43] ♪ Never gonna give you up ♪
     [0:45] ♪ Never gonna let you down ♪

Install

git clone https://github.com/yunlinwu/youtube-transcript-mcp.git
cd youtube-transcript-mcp
pip install -e .

For Whisper fallback (transcribes videos without captions):

pip install -e ".[whisper]"

Setup

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcript": {
      "command": "/path/to/youtube-transcript-mcp/.venv/bin/youtube-transcript-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcript": {
      "command": "/path/to/youtube-transcript-mcp/.venv/bin/youtube-transcript-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then restart Claude Desktop or Claude Code to pick up the server.

How it works

1. You ask Claude about a YouTube video
2. Claude calls get_transcript or search_transcript via MCP
3. The server uses yt-dlp to fetch captions (or Whisper to transcribe audio as a fallback)
4. Claude gets back a compact, readable transcript and can summarize, search, or analyze it

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• yt-dlp (installed automatically)
• FFmpeg (only needed for Whisper fallback)

Development

python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

License

MIT