A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for YouTube operations, demonstrating core MCP concepts including tools and logging.
If you want an AI assistant working directly with MCP Youtube Extract, the mcp youtube extract mcp server is the bridge. A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for YouTube operations, demonstrating core MCP concepts including tools and logging.
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for YouTube operations, demonstrating core MCP concepts including tools and logging.
Once connected, the assistant can call these 4 tools directly:
YOUTUBE_API_KEY — Your YouTube Data API key (optional, provides additional fallback for metadata extraction)Cost — $5 per 1,000 units after free tierNote — API key is only used as a fallback when yt-info-extract failsBuilding — The Building tool exposed by this serverThe server is distributed via PyPI as mcp-youtube-extract, so most clients can run it without a manual build step. Add it to your MCP client's configuration and restart the client to pick it up — the copy-paste configs for Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor are on this page.
Before the server will start you need to supply one environment variable: YOUTUBE_API_KEY. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than committing them.
Productivity servers pay off through capture: the tasks and notes that never get filed are the ones where opening the app is more friction than the thought is worth. MCP Youtube Extract sits in that group, and the shape of its toolset — YOUTUBE_API_KEY, Cost, Note among others — tells you what it is really for. Worth comparing against the other productivity servers in this directory before you commit to one, since several overlap in scope but differ sharply in setup cost and permissions.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| YOUTUBE_API_KEY | Your YouTube Data API key (optional, provides additional fallback for metadata extraction) |
| Cost | $5 per 1,000 units after free tier |
| Note | API key is only used as a fallback when yt-info-extract fails |
| Building | The Building tool exposed by this server. |
**With optional API key:**
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp_youtube_extract": {
"command": "mcp_youtube_extract",
"env": {
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key"
}
}
}
}Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| YOUTUBE_API_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
A knowledge graph your assistant keeps between sessions — entities, relations and observations that persist.
Kill hallucinated APIs — version-accurate, up-to-date library documentation injected straight into context.
Your workspace, on speaking terms with AI — search, read and write Notion pages and databases.
A structured scratchpad for hard problems — stepwise reasoning with revisions, branches and visible logic.
Symbol-level code navigation, refactoring and memory for coding agents — the IDE brain your assistant has been missing.
Chat with your second brain — search, read and write vault notes through the Local REST API.