MCP proxy for SubDownload — YouTube knowledge base for AI agents
MCP proxy for SubDownload — YouTube knowledge base for AI agents. That is what the subdownload mcp mcp server brings to an AI assistant: the same capability, reachable through the Model Context Protocol rather than a separate app or dashboard.
SubDownload exposes YouTube as an MCP-native data source. Connect once via OAuth and your AI agent gets tools to summarize videos, fetch full transcripts (including videos without captions, via AI ASR), search channels and playlists, and save everything into a per-user knowledge base for cross-session recall.
The server publishes 13 tools. What each one is for:
search_youtube — Keyword search across YouTubefetch_video_info — Video metadata (title, channel, duration, view count)fetch_transcript — Full transcript with timestampstranscribe_video — Generate a transcript with AI ASR for videos that have no captionsget_asr_task — Poll an in-progress AI transcription jobresolve_channel — Look up a channel by handle, URL, or IDlist_channel_videos — List videos on a channelget_channel_latest_videos — Latest videos for a channelsearch_channel_videos — Search within a single channellist_playlist_videos — List the contents of a playlistsave_to_library — Save a video summary or transcript to your personal knowledge baselist_library — Browse your saved knowledge baseBecause this one is hosted, setup is mostly authentication — you point your client at the endpoint and approve access. Nothing runs on your machine, so there is no runtime to keep patched.
Configuration is passed through the environment: SUBDOWNLOAD_API_KEY, YOUR_API_KEY. Treat anything key-shaped as a real credential — scope it to the minimum the server needs, and rotate it if it ever lands in a shared config.
Among the developer tooling options, the useful question is rarely "what can it do" but "what does it cost you to run" — permissions, credentials, and how much of your context its toolset consumes. Subdownload MCP's toolset — search_youtube, fetch_video_info, fetch_transcript and 10 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by subdownload; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.
This entry was verified against Subdownload MCP's own documentation before publication; SyncDev keeps the directory reviewed rather than auto-generated.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| search_youtube | Keyword search across YouTube |
| fetch_video_info | Video metadata (title, channel, duration, view count) |
| fetch_transcript | Full transcript with timestamps |
| transcribe_video | Generate a transcript with AI ASR for videos that have no captions |
| get_asr_task | Poll an in-progress AI transcription job |
| resolve_channel | Look up a channel by handle, URL, or ID |
| list_channel_videos | List videos on a channel |
| get_channel_latest_videos | Latest videos for a channel |
| search_channel_videos | Search within a single channel |
| list_playlist_videos | List the contents of a playlist |
| save_to_library | Save a video summary or transcript to your personal knowledge base |
| list_library | Browse your saved knowledge base |
| get_library_item | Fetch a single saved item |
{
"mcpServers": {
"subdownload": {
"url": "https://api.subdownload.com/mcp"
}
}
}Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| SUBDOWNLOAD_API_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| YOUR_API_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
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