YouTube MCP Server Implementation
YouTube MCP Server Implementation. That is what the youtube data mcp server brings to an AI assistant: the same capability, reachable through the Model Context Protocol rather than a separate app or dashboard.
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation utilizing the YouTube Data API. It allows AI language models to interact with YouTube content through a standardized interface.
The server publishes 9 tools. What each one is for:
getVideoDetails — Get detailed information about multiple YouTube videos including metadata, statistics, and content detailssearchVideos — Search for videos based on a query stringgetTranscripts — Retrieve transcripts for multiple videosgetRelatedVideos — Get videos related to a specific video based on YouTube's recommendation algorithmgetChannelStatistics — Retrieve detailed metrics for multiple channels including subscriber count, view count, and video countgetChannelTopVideos — Get the most viewed videos from a specific channelgetVideoEngagementRatio — Calculate engagement metrics for multiple videos (views, likes, comments, and engagement ratio)getTrendingVideos — Get currently popular videos by region and categorycompareVideos — Compare statistics across multiple videosThe server ships on npm as @smithery/cli, so your MCP client can launch it on demand — there is no separate build step. Add the server block to your client's configuration, restart it, and the tools register themselves.
Configuration is passed through the environment: YOUTUBE_API_KEY, YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG. 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. Youtube Data's toolset — getVideoDetails, searchVideos, getTranscripts and 6 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by icraft2170; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.
This entry was verified against Youtube Data's own documentation before publication; SyncDev keeps the directory reviewed rather than auto-generated.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| getVideoDetails | Get detailed information about multiple YouTube videos including metadata, statistics, and content details |
| searchVideos | Search for videos based on a query string |
| getTranscripts | Retrieve transcripts for multiple videos |
| getRelatedVideos | Get videos related to a specific video based on YouTube's recommendation algorithm |
| getChannelStatistics | Retrieve detailed metrics for multiple channels including subscriber count, view count, and video count |
| getChannelTopVideos | Get the most viewed videos from a specific channel |
| getVideoEngagementRatio | Calculate engagement metrics for multiple videos (views, likes, comments, and engagement ratio) |
| getTrendingVideos | Get currently popular videos by region and category |
| compareVideos | Compare statistics across multiple videos |
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "youtube-data-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
"YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG": "ko"
}
}
}
}Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| YOUTUBE_API_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| YOUTUBE_TRANSCRIPT_LANG | Configuration value read at startup. | Optional |
Kill hallucinated APIs — version-accurate, up-to-date library documentation injected straight into context.
Microsoft's official browser automation server — drive a real browser through the accessibility tree, no screenshots needed.
GitHub's official server — repos, issues, pull requests, Actions and code security, straight from your assistant.
Issue tracking at the speed of conversation — Linear's official hosted server with OAuth and zero install.
Local repository surgery — status, diffs, commits, branches and history for any repo on disk.
Timezone sanity for AI — current time anywhere and correct conversions, without the model doing date math.