mcp-server-youtube-transcript

MCP.Pizza Chef: kimtaeyoon83

Give your assistant a YouTube link — a normal video, a Short, or just the video ID — and it fetches the captions so the text can be summarised, quoted or translated. You can ask for timestamps, request a particular language with an automatic fallback, and sponsor reads are filtered out by default. Getting started takes one short settings block and no account. A separate, entirely optional tool that describes what is shown on screen needs a free TwelveLabs key.

Web/Research

Writing

Use This MCP server To

Summarize a long video without watching it Pull quotes from a talk with timestamps Read a lecture as text instead of watching Translate a video's captions into another language Turn a tutorial into written step-by-step notes

README

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

Components

Tools

mcp-server-youtube-transcript FAQ

Which apps does this work in?

Claude Desktop is documented, and it installs into other MCP clients through Smithery or a short settings block.

Do I need a key?

Not for transcripts. A free TwelveLabs key is only needed for the optional tool that analyses the picture.

Can I use this to summarize a two-hour podcast?

Yes — it collects the captions and your assistant summarises the text.

What if the video has no captions?

Then there is nothing to fetch. The optional analysis tool can describe silent videos, but it needs a direct video file link rather than a YouTube page.

Does it work with Shorts?

Yes. Shorts links, ordinary links and bare video IDs are all accepted.

Will sponsor reads clutter the text?

They are stripped out by default, and you can switch that off if you want the raw version.