YouTube Transcript Server

A Model Context Protocol server that enables retrieval of transcripts from YouTube videos. This server provides direct access to video captions and subtitles through a simple interface.

Installing via Smithery

To install YouTube Transcript Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx @smithery/cli install @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript --client claude

Components

Tools

• get_transcript
  • Extract transcripts from YouTube videos
  • Inputs:
    • url (string, required): YouTube video URL or video ID
    • lang (string, optional, default: “en”): Language code for transcript (e.g., ‘ko’, ‘en’)

Key Features

• Support for multiple video URL formats
• Language-specific transcript retrieval
• Detailed metadata in responses

Configuration

To use with Claude Desktop, add this server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcript": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript"]
    }
  }
}

Install via tool

mcp-get A command-line tool for installing and managing Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

npx @michaellatman/mcp-get@latest install @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript

Awesome-mcp-servers

awesome-mcp-servers A curated list of awesome Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or higher
• npm or yarn

Setup

Install dependencies:

npm install

Build the server:

npm run build

For development with auto-rebuild:

npm run watch

Testing

npm test

Debugging

Since MCP servers communicate over stdio, debugging can be challenging. We recommend using the MCP Inspector for development:

npm run inspector

Error Handling

The server implements robust error handling for common scenarios:

• Invalid video URLs or IDs
• Unavailable transcripts
• Language availability issues
• Network errors

Usage Examples

1. Get transcript by video URL:

await server.callTool("get_transcript", {
  url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
  lang: "en"
});

2. Get transcript by video ID:

await server.callTool("get_transcript", {
  url: "VIDEO_ID",
  lang: "ko"
});

3. How to Extract YouTube Subtitles in Claude Desktop App

chat: https://youtu.be/ODaHJzOyVCQ?si=aXkJgso96Deri0aB Extract subtitles

Security Considerations

The server:

• Validates all input parameters
• Handles YouTube API errors gracefully
• Implements timeouts for transcript retrieval
• Provides detailed error messages for troubleshooting

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.