youtube-summarize

MCP server that fetches YouTube video transcripts and optionally summarizes them.

Demo — summarizing a YouTube video in Claude

Features

Fetch transcripts in multiple formats (text, JSON, SRT, WebVTT, pretty-print)
Video metadata — title, description, channel, upload date, duration, views, chapters (via yt-dlp)
Optional timestamps in plain-text transcripts
Summarize videos — returns transcript with the prompt clearly broken out for human review before the LLM acts on it
List playlist videos — fast enumeration of any public playlist with optional sorting
Search videos — clean ranked results with sort and filter options, without the ads, Shorts shelves, and personalized recommendations of the YouTube website
List available languages for any video's transcripts
Flexible URL parsing — accepts full YouTube URLs (youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, youtube.com/embed/, youtube.com/shorts/) or bare video IDs
Multi-language support — request transcripts in specific languages with fallback priority

Tools

`get_transcript`

Fetch a YouTube video's transcript. By default the response is prefixed with a [METADATA] block (title, channel, published, duration, views, description); pass include_metadata=false for transcript-only output.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`url`	string	required	YouTube video URL or video ID
`languages`	string[]	`["en"]`	Preferred languages in priority order
`format`	string	`"text"`	Output format: `text`, `json`, `pretty`, `webvtt`, `srt`
`preserve_formatting`	boolean	`false`	Keep HTML formatting tags in the transcript
`include_timestamps`	boolean	`false`	When `true` with `format="text"`, prefix each line with `[HH:MM:SS]`. Ignored for other formats (they already include timestamps).
`include_metadata`	boolean	`true`	Prepend a `[METADATA]` block before the transcript. Pass `false` for transcript-only output.

`summarize_transcript`

Fetch a transcript and return it with summarization instructions. The response is structured into clearly-labeled sections ([INSTRUCTIONS], [PROMPT_SOURCE], [VIDEO], [METADATA], [TRANSCRIPT]) so a human can review the prompt before letting the LLM act on it.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`url`	string	required	YouTube video URL or video ID
`prompt`	string	(default prompt)	Custom summarization instructions
`languages`	string[]	`["en"]`	Preferred languages in priority order
`include_timestamps`	boolean	`false`	Prefix each transcript line with `[HH:MM:SS]`.
`include_metadata`	boolean	`true`	Include a `[VIDEO]` block with title, channel, published, duration, views, and description.

`get_video_metadata`

Fetch metadata (title, description, channel, upload date, duration, views, tags, chapters, etc.) for a YouTube video. Backed by yt-dlp.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`url`	string	required	YouTube video URL or video ID

`list_playlist_videos`

List the videos in a YouTube playlist (title, ID, channel, duration, views, URL). Per-video metadata is intentionally lean so the call stays fast even for large playlists; call get_video_metadata with a specific video ID for full detail.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`url`	string	required	YouTube playlist URL (with `?list=...`) or bare playlist ID
`limit`	integer	`500`	Maximum videos to return
`sort_by`	string	`"index"`	One of: `index` (playlist order), `title`, `duration`, `views`. `upload_date` is not supported.
`order`	string	`"asc"`	`asc` or `desc`

`search_videos`

Search YouTube for videos and return a clean ranked list (title, ID, channel, duration, views, URL) — only actual videos, with no ads, recommendation shelves, or personalization. Relevance ordering still comes from YouTube's backend. Pair with get_transcript or summarize_transcript on a result's ID or URL.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	required	Search terms
`limit`	integer	`10`	Maximum results to return
`sort_by`	string	`"relevance"`	One of: `relevance`, `date` (newest first), `views`, `rating`
`uploaded`	string	`"any"`	Filter by upload time: `any`, `hour`, `today`, `week`, `month`, `year`
`duration`	string	`"any"`	Filter by length: `any`, `short` (<4 min), `medium` (4–20 min), `long` (>20 min)

`list_transcripts`

List available transcript languages for a video.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`url`	string	required	YouTube video URL or video ID

Installation

Quick start (recommended)

bash

uvx youtube-summarize

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-summarize": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["youtube-summarize"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Terminal

claude mcp add youtube-summarize -- uvx youtube-summarize

Other MCP clients

Run the server over stdio:

bash

uvx youtube-summarize

Prerequisites

Python 3.13+
uv package manager

Development

bash

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Launch the MCP inspector (web UI for testing tools)
uv run mcp dev main.py

License

MIT

mcp-name: io.github.zlatkoc/youtube-summarize