# YouTube MCP [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🌐 Social Media  
**Repository:** https://github.com/granitebps/youtube-mcp  
**GitHub Stars:** 0  
**Views:** 1  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/youtube-mcp-3

## Description
Read YouTube video metadata, transcripts, comments, and search results. No API key needed.

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **content** — short human-readable text for chat-style MCP clients
- **structuredContent** — JSON-shaped data for agents that need reliable fields

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "youtube-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","@granitebps/youtube-mcp"],
    "env": {
      "TRANSPORT": "",
      "PORT": "",
      "HOST": "",
      "YT_PROVIDER": "",
      "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": ""
    }
  }
}
```

**Requires environment variables:** `TRANSPORT`, `PORT`, `HOST`, `YT_PROVIDER`, `YOUTUBE_API_KEY` — the values above are empty placeholders; fill in real credentials before running (see the repository for what each one is for).

## Documentation

## What YouTube MCP does

The YouTube MCP MCP server gives MCP clients read access to several types of YouTube data. It can search for videos, retrieve video details, inspect comment threads, fetch manual or automatically generated captions, and list the caption languages available for a video. A separate server-information tool reports the running version, selected provider, and backend used by each tool.

Returned results include short text for chat-oriented clients and structured JSON-shaped data for agents that need to filter, transform, or chain results. For example, video metadata can include the title, channel, description, duration, view and like counts, upload date, and tags. Comment results include author details, likes, and replies included by YouTube.

## How it works

By default, metadata, comments, and search use the `innertube` provider through `youtubei.js`. Transcript requests use `youtube-transcript-plus`. These default paths do not require a YouTube account or API key. An optional official YouTube Data API provider can serve metadata, comments, and search when an API key is configured.

The YouTube MCP MCP server supports two transports. Stdio is intended for a local MCP client such as Claude, Codex, Cursor, or VS Code. Streamable HTTP runs the server as a persistent service, making it suitable for a VPS or another remote deployment. In HTTP mode, the MCP endpoint is exposed at `/mcp`; a reverse proxy can provide TLS for external access.

## Setup and configuration

Node.js 22 or newer is required. The published package can be launched without cloning the repository:

```bash
npx -y @granitebps/youtube-mcp
```

For a local checkout, install dependencies, build the project, and point the client at `dist/index.js`:

```bash
npm ci
npm run build
node /absolute/path/to/youtube-mcp/dist/index.js
```

The compiled entry point should be used for stdio. Running source files or a development command as the client process can write build output to stdout and interfere with MCP messages.

HTTP mode can be enabled with `--http` or with configuration such as `TRANSPORT=http`, `PORT=3000`, and `HOST=127.0.0.1`. A remote deployment can be kept running with a process manager such as systemd. The README also documents an Nginx reverse proxy configuration for TLS and a `/mcp` route.

## Tools and capabilities

- `search_youtube` searches videos with upload-date and popularity filters.
- `get_video_info` returns core metadata, including channel, duration, engagement counts, date, and tags.
- `get_video_comments` reads comment threads, author information, likes, and available replies.
- `get_video_transcript` retrieves caption text with timestamps, including manual and auto-generated captions.
- `get_transcript_languages` lists manual and auto-generated caption languages.
- `get_server_info` reports the version, active provider, and backend for each tool.

## Limitations and notes

The default provider can be affected by YouTube blocking datacenter IP addresses. In that situation, video-information requests may return an access-blocked error; the documented fallback is the official API provider with `YT_PROVIDER=api` and `YOUTUBE_API_KEY` configured. That provider is documented for metadata, comments, and search, while transcripts continue to use the transcript provider.

The YouTube MCP MCP server is read-only according to the documented tool set: the available operations search or retrieve information rather than publish, edit, or delete YouTube content. No API key is needed for the default setup, but remote HTTP deployments require their own hosting and network configuration.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/youtube-mcp-3/readme_