YouTube MCP Server
Community MCP server for accessing YouTube data in a token-optimized, structured format for LLM applications. Enables AI agents to search YouTube videos, retrieve video metadata, access video transcripts/captions, and efficiently query YouTube data without overwhelming context with full API responses.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
Public YouTube API. Google Cloud API key. HTTPS. Monitor quota consumption.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
An AI agent needs to access YouTube video data — transcripts, metadata, search results — in a token-efficient format suitable for LLM context windows without overwhelming the model with raw YouTube API responses.
Avoid When
You need YouTube Studio management features, channel analytics, or video uploads. This server focuses on content retrieval and search.
Use Cases
- • Searching YouTube for educational content from research and learning agents
- • Retrieving video transcripts for content analysis and summarization agents
- • YouTube video metadata access for content curation and recommendation agents
- • Extracting spoken content from videos for knowledge extraction agents
Not For
- • Uploading or managing YouTube channel content (read-focused)
- • YouTube advertising and analytics (use Google Ads API for those)
- • Downloading video files (transcript/metadata access only)
Interface
Authentication
YouTube Data API key (via Google Cloud) required. Free quota: 10,000 units/day. Register at console.cloud.google.com.
Pricing
YouTube Data API is free up to 10K units/day (basic searches use 100 units each = ~100 searches/day free). MCP server is free open source.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ YouTube API quota (10K units/day free) is consumed quickly — search costs 100 units; monitor usage carefully
- ⚠ Token-optimized output is this server's key value — raw YouTube API responses are very large for LLMs
- ⚠ Transcript availability depends on video — not all videos have captions; handle gracefully
- ⚠ Community server (kirbah) — verify transcript extraction compatibility with current YouTube API
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-07.