youtube-research

An MCP server for YouTube integration with Claude Code — search videos, get metadata, fetch transcripts, explore channels, and more.

| Tool | Description | API Quota | |---|---|---| | youtube_search(query, max_results) | Search videos by query | 100 + 1 | | youtube_video_info(video_url_or_id) | Get video metadata by URL or ID | 1 | | youtube_transcript(video_url_or_id, lang) | Fetch video subtitles with timestamps | 0 (no API) | | youtube_channel_info(channel_url_or_id) | Get channel stats (subscribers, views, etc.) | 1 | | youtube_channel_videos(channel_url_or_id, max_results) | List recent videos from a channel | 2 | | youtube_playlist(playlist_url_or_id, max_results) | List videos in a playlist | 2 | | youtube_comments(video_url_or_id, max_results) | Get top comments for a video | 1 | | youtube_trending(region_code, max_results) | Get trending videos by country | 1 |

> YouTube Data API v3 free quota: 10,000 units/day. youtube_search is the most expensive at ~101 units per call.

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a project (or select an existing one)
3. Navigate to APIs & Services → Library
4. Find and enable YouTube Data API v3
5. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials
6. Click Create Credentials → API Key
7. Copy the key

cd /path/to/youtube_research
uv sync

Copy the example config and add your API key:

cp .mcp.json.example ~/.claude/.mcp.json

Edit ~/.claude/.mcp.json — replace /path/to/youtube_research and YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with actual values.

> Important: .mcp.json contains your API key — do not commit it to git.

Alternatively, place .mcp.json in the project root — the server will only be available when working from that directory.

Restart Claude Code — all 8 tools will become available.