YouTube Research & Transcription
Search YouTube, get video/channel info, and fetch transcripts using YouTube Data API v3.
Features
- 📹 Video details (title, description, stats, publish date)
- 📝 Transcripts with timestamps
- 📺 Channel info and recent videos
- 🔍 Search within YouTube
- 🎬 Playlist info
Setup
1. Install dependencies
MCP Server (primary method):
npm install -g zubeid-youtube-mcp-server
Fallback tool (if MCP fails):
# yt-dlp for transcript extraction
pip install yt-dlp
2. Get YouTube API Key
- Go to Google Cloud Console
- Create/select a project (e.g., "YouTube Research")
- Enable the API:
- Menu → "APIs & Services" → "Library"
- Search: "YouTube Data API v3"
- Click "Enable"
- Create credentials:
- "APIs & Services" → "Credentials"
- "Create Credentials" → "API Key"
- Copy the key
- Optional - Restrict:
- Click the created key
- "API restrictions" → Select only "YouTube Data API v3"
- Save
3. Configure API Key
Option A: Clawdbot config (recommended)
Add to ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json:
{
"skills": {
"entries": {
"youtube": {
"apiKey": "AIzaSy..."
}
}
}
}
Option B: Environment variable
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY="AIzaSy..."
4. Setup MCP Server
The skill will use mcporter to call the YouTube MCP server:
# Build from source (if installed package has issues)
cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/ZubeidHendricks/youtube-mcp-server
cd youtube-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build
Usage
Search Videos
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
search_videos query="ClawdBot AI" maxResults:5
Returns video IDs, titles, descriptions, channel info.
Get Channel Info
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
channels_info channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA"
List Recent Videos from Channel
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
channels_listVideos channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA" maxResults:5
Get Video Details
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
videos_details videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
Get Transcript (Primary)
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
transcripts_getTranscript videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
Get Transcript (Fallback with yt-dlp)
If MCP transcript fails (empty or unavailable), use yt-dlp:
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --sub-format vtt \
--output "/tmp/%(id)s.%(ext)s" \
"https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FRe5AKmCU"
Then read the .vtt file from /tmp/.
Or get transcript directly:
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --print "%(subtitles)s" \
"https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" 2>&1 | grep -A1000 "WEBVTT"
Common Workflows
1. Find Latest Episode from a Podcast
Example: Lex Fridman Podcast
# Get channel ID (Lex Fridman: UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA)
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
channels_listVideos channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA" maxResults:1
Returns most recent video with title, ID, publish date.
2. Get Transcript for Research
# Step 1: Get video ID from search or channel listing
# Step 2: Try MCP transcript first
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
transcripts_getTranscript videoId="VIDEO_ID"
# Step 3: If empty, fallback to yt-dlp
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en \
--output "/tmp/%(id)s.%(ext)s" \
"https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
cat /tmp/VIDEO_ID.en.vtt
3. Search for Topics
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
search_videos query="Laravel AI productivity 2025" maxResults:10
Filter results for relevant channels or dates.
Channel IDs Reference
Keep frequently used channels here for quick access:
- Lex Fridman Podcast:
UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA - Indie Hackers: (add when needed)
- Laravel: (add when needed)
To find a channel ID:
- Go to channel page
- View page source
- Search for
"channelId":or"externalId"
Or use search and extract from results.
API Quota Limits
YouTube Data API v3 has daily quotas:
- Default: 10,000 units/day
- Search: 100 units per call
- Video details: 1 unit per call
- Transcript: 0 units (uses separate mechanism)
Tip: Use transcript lookups liberally (no quota cost), be conservative with search.
Troubleshooting
MCP Server Not Working
Symptom: Connection closed or YOUTUBE_API_KEY environment variable is required
Fix: Build from source:
cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/ZubeidHendricks/youtube-mcp-server
cd youtube-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build
# Test
YOUTUBE_API_KEY="your_key" node dist/cli.js
Empty Transcripts
Symptom: Transcript returned but content is empty
Cause: Video may not have captions, or MCP can't access them
Fix: Use yt-dlp fallback (see above)
yt-dlp Not Found
pip install --user yt-dlp
# or
pipx install yt-dlp
Security Note
The YouTube API key is safe to use with this MCP server:
- ✅ Key only used to authenticate with official YouTube Data API
- ✅ No third-party servers involved
- ✅ All network calls go to
googleapis.com - ✅ Code reviewed (no data exfiltration)
However:
- 🔒 Keep the key in Clawdbot config (not in code/scripts)
- 🔒 Restrict API key to YouTube Data API v3 only (in Google Cloud Console)
- 🔒 Don't commit the key to git repositories
Examples
Research Podcast for LinkedIn Post Ideas
# 1. Find latest Lex Fridman episode
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
channels_listVideos channelId="UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA" maxResults:1
# 2. Get video details
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
videos_details videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
# 3. Get transcript
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
transcripts_getTranscript videoId="Z-FRe5AKmCU"
# If transcript empty, use yt-dlp
yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en \
--output "/tmp/%(id)s.%(ext)s" \
"https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FRe5AKmCU"
# 4. Analyze transcript for interesting topics
# (read /tmp/Z-FRe5AKmCU.en.vtt and extract key themes)
Find Videos About a Trending Topic
# Search for recent videos
mcporter call --stdio "node /tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js" \
search_videos query="ClawdBot security concerns" maxResults:10
# Pick relevant ones, get transcripts
# Analyze sentiment and technical claims
Notes
- MCP server path:
/tmp/youtube-mcp-server/dist/cli.js - Always pass API key via environment:
YOUTUBE_API_KEY="key" node ... - Or set globally in shell/Clawdbot config
- Transcripts may be auto-generated (check accuracy for quotes)
- yt-dlp can also download audio if you need it (
--extract-audio --audio-format mp3)