ytmcp 1.0.1
YouTube Transcript MCP Server - Fetch YouTube transcripts with timestamps via Model Context Protocol
License: MIT
Requires Python: >=3.8
Keywords: youtube, transcript, mcp, ai, claude, subtitles, captions

# YTMcp - YouTube Transcript MCP Server

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A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants like Claude to fetch YouTube video transcripts with precise timestamps. Built on top of the excellent [youtube-transcript-api](https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api) by @jdepoix.

## 🎯 Features

- 🎥 **Fetch YouTube transcripts** with start/end timestamps
- 🌍 **Multi-language support** with automatic fallback
- ⏱️ **Time-range filtering** for specific video segments  
- 📋 **List available languages** for any video
- 🔍 **Smart URL parsing** - works with any YouTube URL format
- 🤖 **MCP compatible** - works with Claude Desktop and other MCP clients
- 🚀 **Zero external dependencies** - bundled with transcript API
- 🛡️ **Comprehensive error handling** for robust operation

## 📦 Installation

```bash
pip install ytmcp
```

## 🚀 Quick Start

### 1. Run as MCP Server

```bash
ytmcp
```

The server will start and listen for MCP requests via stdio.

### 2. Configure with Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

**macOS:** `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`  
**Windows:** `%APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcript": {
      "command": "ytmcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### 3. Test Installation

```bash
# Test the server functionality
ytmcp --test

# Test with a specific video
ytmcp --test --video-id dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Check version
ytmcp --version
```

### 4. Use with Claude

Once configured, you can ask Claude natural language questions like:

- *"Get the transcript for this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"*
- *"What transcript languages are available for this video?"*
- *"Get me the transcript from 2:30 to 5:00 in this video"*
- *"Summarize the key points from this YouTube video's transcript"*

## 🛠️ Available Tools

### `get_transcript`
Fetch complete video transcript with timestamps.

**Parameters:**
- `video_url_or_id` (required): YouTube URL or video ID
- `languages` (optional): Array of language codes in priority order (default: ["en"])
- `preserve_formatting` (optional): Keep HTML formatting (default: false)
- `include_timestamps` (optional): Include start/end times (default: true)

**Example Usage:**
```json
{
  "name": "get_transcript",
  "arguments": {
    "video_url_or_id": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "languages": ["en", "es"],
    "include_timestamps": true
  }
}
```

**Example Response:**
```json
{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "English",
  "language_code": "en",
  "is_generated": true,
  "transcript_count": 142,
  "transcript": [
    {
      "text": "We're no strangers to love",
      "start": 15.5,
      "duration": 2.3,
      "end": 17.8
    },
    {
      "text": "You know the rules and so do I",
      "start": 17.8,
      "duration": 2.1,
      "end": 19.9
    }
  ]
}
```

### `list_available_transcripts`
List all available transcript languages for a video.

**Parameters:**
- `video_url_or_id` (required): YouTube URL or video ID

**Example Usage:**
```json
{
  "name": "list_available_transcripts",
  "arguments": {
    "video_url_or_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
  }
}
```

**Example Response:**
```json
{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "manually_created_transcripts": [
    {
      "language": "English",
      "language_code": "en",
      "is_translatable": true
    }
  ],
  "auto_generated_transcripts": [
    {
      "language": "English (auto-generated)",
      "language_code": "en",
      "is_translatable": true
    }
  ],
  "total_transcripts": 2
}
```

### `get_transcript_with_time_range`
Get transcript for specific time range.

**Parameters:**
- `video_url_or_id` (required): YouTube URL or video ID
- `start_time` (required): Start time in seconds
- `end_time` (required): End time in seconds
- `languages` (optional): Language preferences (default: ["en"])
- `preserve_formatting` (optional): Keep HTML formatting (default: false)

**Example Usage:**
```json
{
  "name": "get_transcript_with_time_range",
  "arguments": {
    "video_url_or_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
    "start_time": 30.0,
    "end_time": 90.0,
    "languages": ["en"]
  }
}
```

**Example Response:**
```json
{
  "video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
  "language": "English",
  "language_code": "en",
  "is_generated": true,
  "time_range": {
    "start": 30.0,
    "end": 90.0
  },
  "filtered_transcript": [
    {
      "text": "Never gonna give you up",
      "start": 32.1,
      "duration": 1.8,
      "end": 33.9
    }
  ],
  "snippet_count": 15
}
```

## 🔧 Configuration Options

### Language Codes
YTMcp supports all language codes that YouTube provides. Common ones include:

- `en` - English
- `es` - Spanish  
- `fr` - French
- `de` - German
- `it` - Italian
- `pt` - Portuguese
- `ru` - Russian
- `ja` - Japanese
- `ko` - Korean
- `zh` - Chinese

### URL Format Support
YTMcp automatically extracts video IDs from various YouTube 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/watch?v=VIDEO_ID&t=120s`
- Or just the video ID directly: `VIDEO_ID`

## ⚠️ Error Handling

YTMcp provides comprehensive error handling for various scenarios:

### Common Error Types
- **Invalid Video ID**: Invalid URL or video ID format
- **No Transcript Found**: No transcripts available in requested languages
- **Transcripts Disabled**: Video has disabled subtitles/captions
- **Video Unavailable**: Video is private, deleted, or restricted
- **Request Blocked**: IP blocked by YouTube (consider using proxies)
- **Age Restricted**: Video requires authentication

### Error Response Format
```json
{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "Error: No transcript found for languages: ['de']"
    }
  ]
}
```

## 🔄 Advanced Usage

### Running as Python Module
```bash
python -m ytmcp
```

### Development Mode
```bash
# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Run tests
ytmcp --test

# Test with verbose output
ytmcp --test --video-id dQw4w9WgXcQ
```

### Proxy Support
If you encounter IP blocking issues, you can extend the server by modifying the YouTube API configuration to use proxies. See the [youtube-transcript-api documentation](https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api) for proxy configuration options.

## 📚 Use Cases

### Content Analysis
- **Video Summarization**: Extract transcripts for AI-powered summaries
- **Content Research**: Analyze video content programmatically
- **Educational Tools**: Create study materials from lecture videos

### Accessibility
- **Transcript Generation**: Provide text alternatives for video content
- **Translation**: Use with translation APIs for multilingual access
- **Search & Discovery**: Make video content searchable

### Development
- **API Integration**: Embed transcript functionality in applications
- **Data Pipeline**: Process video transcripts in bulk
- **AI Training**: Use transcripts as training data

## 🐛 Troubleshooting

### Installation Issues
```bash
# If you get import errors
pip install --upgrade ytmcp

# If command not found
pip install --force-reinstall ytmcp

# Check installation
ytmcp --version
```

### Common Problems

**1. Video Not Found**
- Verify the video ID/URL is correct
- Check if the video is public and available
- Ensure the video has captions enabled

**2. Language Not Available**
- Use `list_available_transcripts` to see available languages
- Try fallback languages like `["en", "auto"]`
- Some videos only have auto-generated transcripts

**3. Rate Limiting**
- YouTube may temporarily block requests from your IP
- Consider using proxy configuration for high-volume usage
- Space out your requests to avoid hitting rate limits

**4. Permission Errors**
- Check file permissions if running on Unix systems
- Ensure Python has permission to execute the script
- Try running with appropriate user privileges

## 🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

### Development Setup
```bash
git clone https://github.com/shubhamshnd/ytmcp.git
cd ytmcp
pip install -e ".[dev]"
```

### Running Tests
```bash
pytest tests/
```

### Code Style
```bash
black ytmcp/
flake8 ytmcp/
mypy ytmcp/
```

### Submitting Changes
1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

## 📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.

## 🙏 Credits

This project is built on top of the excellent [youtube-transcript-api](https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api) by [@jdepoix](https://github.com/jdepoix). All core transcript fetching functionality is provided by this library.

**Key Dependencies:**
- **[youtube-transcript-api](https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api)** - Core YouTube transcript fetching (bundled)
- **[requests](https://requests.readthedocs.io/)** - HTTP library for API calls
- **[defusedxml](https://github.com/tiran/defusedxml)** - Secure XML parsing

## 🔗 Related Projects

- **[Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/)** - The protocol specification
- **[Claude Desktop](https://claude.ai/)** - AI assistant that supports MCP
- **[youtube-transcript-api](https://github.com/jdepoix/youtube-transcript-api)** - Original transcript API

## 📞 Support

- **Issues**: [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/shubhamshnd/ytmcp/issues)
- **Discussions**: [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/shubhamshnd/ytmcp/discussions)
- **Documentation**: [README](https://github.com/shubhamshnd/ytmcp#readme)

## 🚀 Roadmap

- [ ] **Translation Support**: Automatic transcript translation
- [ ] **Batch Processing**: Handle multiple videos simultaneously  
- [ ] **Caching**: Cache transcripts for improved performance
- [ ] **WebSocket Support**: Real-time transcript streaming
- [ ] **Export Formats**: SRT, VTT, and other subtitle formats
- [ ] **Search**: Full-text search within transcripts
- [ ] **Webhooks**: Notification system for transcript updates

---

**Made with ❤️ for the MCP and AI community**

*If you find this project useful, please consider giving it a ⭐ on GitHub!*