Content
# YouTube Transcript MCP Server
A high-performance, serverless implementation of a YouTube transcript extraction service using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), deployed on Cloudflare Workers.
## Overview
This MCP server enables AI assistants to retrieve transcripts from YouTube videos through a simple API. The implementation combines the lightweight transcript extraction capabilities seen in [kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript](https://github.com/kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript) with the remote MCP server architecture from [Cloudflare AI demos](https://github.com/cloudflare/ai/tree/main/demos/remote-mcp-server).
## Features
- **Serverless Deployment**: Runs on Cloudflare's global edge network for minimal latency
- **YouTube URL Flexibility**: Supports multiple URL formats and direct video IDs
- **Language Selection**: Retrieve transcripts in different languages (defaults to English)
- **Edge-optimized**: Ultra-fast response times (typically 400-800ms)
- **Minimal Implementation**: Less than 300 lines of code for easy maintenance
- **SSE Transport**: Implements Server-Sent Events for streaming connections
## Available Tools
| Tool | Description | Parameters |
|------|-------------|------------|
| `get_transcript` | Extract transcripts from YouTube videos | `url` (required): YouTube video URL or ID<br>`lang` (optional, default: "en"): Language code |
## Usage with Claude Desktop
### Installation
1. Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings > Developer > Edit Config
2. Update your configuration file:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube-transcript": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://your-deployed-worker.workers.dev/sse"
]
}
}
}
```
3. Restart Claude Desktop
### Example Prompts
```
Can you show me the transcript of this YouTube video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
```
```
Extract the transcripts from this TED talk and summarize the key points: https://youtu.be/8S0FDjFBj8o
```
## Local Development
### Prerequisites
- Node.js 18 or higher
- Wrangler CLI (`npm install -g wrangler`)
### Setup
```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/youtube-transcript-mcp-server.git
cd youtube-transcript-mcp-server
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Run locally
wrangler dev
```
### Testing with MCP Inspector
1. Install the MCP Inspector:
```bash
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
```
2. In the inspector:
- Set Transport Type to `SSE`
- Enter `http://localhost:8787/sse` as the URL
- Click "Connect"
3. Try out the `get_transcript` tool with different YouTube URLs
## Deployment to Cloudflare
```bash
# Deploy to Cloudflare Workers
wrangler deploy
```
## Technical Implementation
The server is built with a minimal, high-efficiency codebase:
- **YouTubeTranscriptMCPSqlite**: Core MCP agent implementation with transcript extraction capabilities
- **McpServer**: Handles MCP protocol interactions
- **MCP Protocol Integration**: Complete implementation of the Model Context Protocol
### Key optimizations:
1. Efficient URL parsing and validation
2. Minimal external dependencies
3. Proper error handling with detailed error messages
4. Streaming support through SSE
## Credits
- Built with [@modelcontextprotocol/sdk](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/sdk)
- Uses [youtube-captions-scraper](https://github.com/algolia/youtube-captions-scraper) for transcript extraction
- Inspired by:
- [kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript](https://github.com/kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript)
- [Cloudflare AI Remote MCP Server demo](https://github.com/cloudflare/ai/tree/main/demos/remote-mcp-server)
## License
MIT
MCP Store