Youtube Watch Later MCP Server

Retrieves YouTube video URLs from a specified Watch Later playlist within a given timeframe.

Local serverstdioTypeScript 11

What is the Youtube Watch Later MCP server?

Connect Youtube Watch Later to Claude, Cursor or any other MCP client and it stops being a tab you switch to. Retrieves YouTube video URLs from a specified Watch Later playlist within a given timeframe. The youtube watch later mcp server is what makes that connection.

What the server does

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to a custom YouTube playlist. The server exposes a simple tool to retrieve URLs of videos added to the specified playlist within a specified timeframe.

  • Get URLs of videos added to a custom playlist within a configurable number of days
  • Simple interface that returns just the video URLs
  • OAuth2 authentication for secure access to your YouTube data

Installation

Installation goes through your MCP client rather than a global install: point it at @smithery/cli on npm and it is fetched when the client starts. The copy-paste blocks for Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor are further down this page.

Credentials and setup notes

Configuration is passed through the environment: OAUTH_CLIENT_ID, OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET, OAUTH_REFRESH_TOKEN. 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.

Where it fits

This sits in the developer tooling group, where several servers overlap in what they claim to do but differ sharply once you actually set them up. It is maintained by rados10; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

This entry was verified against Youtube Watch Later's own documentation before publication; SyncDev keeps the directory reviewed rather than auto-generated.

Worth knowing first

  • It runs with your machine's permissions. That is convenient and also the reason to think about what you point it at before you approve a tool call.
  • Missing credentials fail quietly in some clients — if no tools show up, check the environment block first.
  • Keep per-call confirmation enabled while you learn its behaviour; it is the cheapest safeguard you have.

How to install the Youtube Watch Later MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-watch-later": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@smithery/cli"],
      "env": {
        "OAUTH_CLIENT_ID": "your-value",
        "OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-value",
        "OAUTH_REFRESH_TOKEN": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop.

Configuration

VariableDescriptionRequired
OAUTH_CLIENT_IDConfiguration value read at startup.Optional
OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRETCredential the server authenticates with.Yes
OAUTH_REFRESH_TOKENCredential the server authenticates with.Yes

Frequently asked questions

It's a tool that retrieves the URLs of videos from your YouTube Watch Later playlist within a specific timeframe you define. It returns a simple list of URLs.