YouTube Insights MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that extracts valuable insights from YouTube videos including transcripts, metadata, and summaries.

Features

• Extract Transcripts: Get full video transcripts in multiple languages
• Video Metadata: Retrieve title, author, thumbnail, and other metadata
• Comprehensive Insights: Combined transcript, metadata, and auto-generated summaries
• Multiple URL Formats: Supports youtube.com, youtu.be, shorts, and direct video IDs

Installation

# Install dependencies
uv sync

Usage

Running the Server

python main.py

Available Tools

1. get_youtube_transcript

Extracts the full transcript from a YouTube video.

Parameters:

• url (required): YouTube video URL or video ID
• languages (optional): Array of preferred language codes (default: ["en"])

Example:

{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "languages": ["en", "es"]
}

2. get_youtube_metadata

Gets metadata for a YouTube video.

Parameters:

• url (required): YouTube video URL or video ID

Example:

{
  "url": "https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ"
}

3. get_youtube_insights

Gets comprehensive insights including transcript, metadata, and summary.

Parameters:

• url (required): YouTube video URL or video ID
• languages (optional): Array of preferred language codes (default: ["en"])
• summary_sentences (optional): Number of sentences for summary (default: 5)

Example:

{
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "languages": ["en"],
  "summary_sentences": 5
}

Supported URL Formats

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
• https://youtu.be/VIDEO_ID
• https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID
• https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID
• Direct video ID: VIDEO_ID

Configuration for Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config file:

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-insights": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "C:\\Users\\TejasBorate\\Desktop\\Youtube-Video-Insights\\youtube_insights_mcp",
        "run",
        "python",
        "main.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• mcp
• youtube-transcript-api
• requests

Error Handling

The server handles various error cases:

• Transcripts disabled for video
• No transcript available
• Video unavailable
• Invalid URL format
• Network errors

All errors are returned in a structured JSON format with descriptive messages.