MCP server that fetches YouTube video transcripts and optionally summarizes them

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  • License Expression: MIT
    SPDX License Expression
  • Author: Zlatko Cajic
  • Tags mcp , model-context-protocol , summarize , transcript , youtube
  • Requires: Python >=3.13
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Project description

youtube-summarize

MCP server that fetches YouTube video transcripts and optionally summarizes them.

Demo — summarizing a YouTube video in Claude

Features

  • Fetch transcripts in multiple formats (text, JSON, SRT, WebVTT, pretty-print)
  • Video metadata — title, description, channel, upload date, duration, views, chapters (via yt-dlp)
  • Optional timestamps in plain-text transcripts
  • Summarize videos — returns transcript with the prompt clearly broken out for human review before the LLM acts on it
  • List playlist videos — fast enumeration of any public playlist with optional sorting
  • List available languages for any video's transcripts
  • Flexible URL parsing — accepts full YouTube URLs (youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, youtube.com/embed/, youtube.com/shorts/) or bare video IDs
  • Multi-language support — request transcripts in specific languages with fallback priority

Tools

get_transcript

Fetch a YouTube video's transcript. By default the response is prefixed with a [METADATA] block (title, channel, published, duration, views, description); pass include_metadata=false for transcript-only output.

Parameter Type Default Description
url string required YouTube video URL or video ID
languages string[] ["en"] Preferred languages in priority order
format string "text" Output format: text, json, pretty, webvtt, srt
preserve_formatting boolean false Keep HTML formatting tags in the transcript
include_timestamps boolean false When true with format="text", prefix each line with [HH:MM:SS]. Ignored for other formats (they already include timestamps).
include_metadata boolean true Prepend a [METADATA] block before the transcript. Pass false for transcript-only output.

summarize_transcript

Fetch a transcript and return it with summarization instructions. The response is structured into clearly-labeled sections ([INSTRUCTIONS], [PROMPT_SOURCE], [VIDEO], [METADATA], [TRANSCRIPT]) so a human can review the prompt before letting the LLM act on it.

Parameter Type Default Description
url string required YouTube video URL or video ID
prompt string (default prompt) Custom summarization instructions
languages string[] ["en"] Preferred languages in priority order
include_timestamps boolean false Prefix each transcript line with [HH:MM:SS].
include_metadata boolean true Include a [VIDEO] block with title, channel, published, duration, views, and description.

get_video_metadata

Fetch metadata (title, description, channel, upload date, duration, views, tags, chapters, etc.) for a YouTube video. Backed by yt-dlp.

Parameter Type Default Description
url string required YouTube video URL or video ID

list_playlist_videos

List the videos in a YouTube playlist (title, ID, channel, duration, views, URL). Per-video metadata is intentionally lean so the call stays fast even for large playlists; call get_video_metadata with a specific video ID for full detail.

Parameter Type Default Description
url string required YouTube playlist URL (with ?list=...) or bare playlist ID
limit integer 500 Maximum videos to return
sort_by string "index" One of: index (playlist order), title, duration, views. upload_date is not supported.
order string "asc" asc or desc

list_transcripts

List available transcript languages for a video.

Parameter Type Default Description
url string required YouTube video URL or video ID

Installation

Quick start (recommended)

uvx youtube-summarize

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-summarize": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["youtube-summarize"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add youtube-summarize -- uvx youtube-summarize

Other MCP clients

Run the server over stdio:

uvx youtube-summarize

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.13+
  • uv package manager

Development

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Launch the MCP inspector (web UI for testing tools)
uv run mcp dev main.py

License

MIT

mcp-name: io.github.zlatkoc/youtube-summarize

Project details

Verified details

These details have been verified by PyPI
Project links
GitHub Statistics
Maintainers
Avatar for zlatkoc from gravatar.com zlatkoc

Unverified details

These details have not been verified by PyPI
Meta
  • License Expression: MIT
    SPDX License Expression
  • Author: Zlatko Cajic
  • Tags mcp , model-context-protocol , summarize , transcript , youtube
  • Requires: Python >=3.13
Classifiers

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