# YouTube MCP Server (`seemuapps/youtube-mcp`) Actor MCP server exposing YouTube tools. Transcript, metadata, thumbnails, video and audio download, channel email. For any AI agent or LLM client. - **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/youtube-mcp.md - **Developed by:** [Andrew](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community) - **Categories:** Agents, MCP servers, Social media - **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.00005 / actor start This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## YouTube MCP Server The all-in-one MCP server for YouTube. Plug any AI agent — Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, VS Code, or your own — into a single endpoint and pull live data from any YouTube video or channel: transcripts, metadata, thumbnails, full video and MP3 downloads, and channel contact emails. ### What you get - **Full transcripts** — text plus timestamped segments in any available language, manual or auto-generated, with language fallback and a list of every track the video offers - **Video metadata** — title, description, uploader and channel info, duration, view/like/comment counts, upload date, language, age limit, live status, categories, tags, chapters, top thumbnails - **Thumbnail downloads** — every available size (maxres, sd, hq, mq, default) saved as JPGs in the run's storage - **MP4 video downloads** — pick 360p, 720p, 1080p, 1440p, or "best available", saved straight to the run's storage - **MP3 audio rips** — 128, 192, or 320 kbps, saved straight to the run's storage - **Channel contact emails** — scans the About page plus recent video descriptions, deduplicates, filters out no-reply/fake addresses, and reports the source for every email - **Bulk lookups** — query up to 10 videos in a single transcript or metadata call, up to 20 thumbnails, up to 10 channels for emails - **One endpoint, six tools** — no glue code, no per-tool integrations, no scraping infrastructure to maintain ### Use cases - AI agents and assistants that need YouTube data without building a custom scraper - Podcast and content research — pull a transcript and metadata for any video in seconds - Content reuse — turn a long video into a transcript, MP3, and thumbnail set ready for a blog post or social clip - Archival and offline access — back up videos you have permission to use as MP4 or MP3 - Creator outreach and lead generation — pull contact emails from creators in a niche - Competitor monitoring — track view counts, descriptions, and chapters across a list of videos ### Tools exposed | Tool | Returns | |------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `get-transcript` | Transcript text + timestamped segments for up to 10 videos per call | | `get-metadata` | Title, description, uploader, channel, duration, counts, chapters, thumbnails, tags | | `get-thumbnail` | JPG thumbnails saved to the run's Key-Value Store (up to 20 videos, 5 sizes each) | | `download-video` | A single MP4 saved to the run's Key-Value Store (single video per call, up to 2 GB) | | `download-mp3` | A single MP3 saved to the run's Key-Value Store (single video per call, up to 500 MB) | | `get-email` | Contact emails extracted from channel + recent video descriptions, up to 10 channels per call | All saved files (thumbnails, MP4, MP3) come back as `fileUrl` fields in the response — fetch them with the same Apify API token you used to call the MCP server. ### How to use Use Apify's hosted MCP gateway — it generates ready-to-paste config snippets for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT, and any other MCP-compatible client: **[mcp.apify.com/?tools=seemuapps/youtube-mcp](https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=seemuapps/youtube-mcp)** Open the link, sign in, and copy the snippet for your client. #### Where to get your Apify API token Go to **[console.apify.com/settings/integrations](https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations)** and copy your **Personal API token**. (Sign in or create a free account if you haven't already.) The token authorizes calls to the MCP server, lets you fetch saved thumbnails / MP4s / MP3s from the run's Key-Value Store, and is what Apify uses to bill you for tool calls. ### Pricing (pay-per-event) | Tool | Event | Charged | |------------------|------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | `get-transcript` | `transcript-extracted` | Once per video where a transcript was successfully returned | | `get-metadata` | `metadata-extracted` | Once per video where metadata was successfully returned | | `get-thumbnail` | `thumbnails-fetched` | Once per video where at least one thumbnail size was saved | | `download-video` | `video-downloaded` | Once per MP4 successfully saved | | `download-mp3` | `audio-converted` | Once per MP3 successfully saved | | `get-email` | `channel-scanned` | Once per channel scanned | | `get-email` | `email-found` | Once per unique email returned | Failed calls are not charged. Partial failures (e.g. one bad URL in a batch) are reported per-item without aborting the whole call. ### File size and download notes - **Thumbnails** are tiny (a few KB to ~150 KB) and stored as JPGs. - **Video downloads** are capped at 2 GB per file and 1 hour per video by default. Override `maxDurationSeconds` (set 0 to disable) for longer content. Higher resolutions and longer videos take longer — a 1440p hour-long video can take several minutes to fetch. - **MP3 downloads** are capped at 500 MB per file and 1 hour per video by default. A typical 10-minute video at 192 kbps is ~14 MB. - All saved files are stored in the run's default Key-Value Store. Each tool response includes a `fileUrl` you fetch with your Apify API token to retrieve the bytes. ### Notes - Only **public** YouTube videos and channels are supported. - Auto-generated captions are used when manual captions are not available; toggle `preferManualCaptions` on `get-transcript` to invert this. - The default proxy mode is `residential`, which works for most YouTube content. Switch to `auto` if you want to try without a proxy first. # Actor input Schema ## `tool` (type: `string`): Pick a tool to run and save results to the dataset, or leave empty to start the actor as an MCP Standby server. ## `videoUrl` (type: `string`): Single YouTube video URL — required by download-video and download-mp3. ## `videoUrls` (type: `array`): YouTube video URLs — used by get-transcript, get-metadata, get-thumbnail, and (optionally) get-email. ## `channelUrls` (type: `array`): YouTube channel URLs or @handles — used by get-email. Up to 10 per call. ## `languages` (type: `array`): BCP-47 language codes for get-transcript, in preference order (e.g. en, es, fr). ## `preferManualCaptions` (type: `boolean`): get-transcript: when both manual and auto-generated captions exist for a language, use the human-written ones. ## `videoQuality` (type: `string`): download-video: maximum resolution. The actor picks the highest MP4 available at or below this height. ## `audioQuality` (type: `string`): download-mp3: MP3 bitrate. Higher = larger file, better quality. ## `maxDurationSeconds` (type: `integer`): download-video / download-mp3: skip videos longer than this. Default 3600 (1 hour). Set 0 to disable. ## `maxVideosToScan` (type: `integer`): get-email: number of recent videos to scan per channel for emails (0 = scan only the channel description). ## `proxyMode` (type: `string`): Residential is the default and works for most YouTube content. Auto tries no proxy first, then datacenter, then residential. ## Actor input object example ```json { "tool": "", "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw", "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" ], "channelUrls": [ "@mkbhd" ], "languages": [ "en" ], "preferManualCaptions": true, "videoQuality": "720", "audioQuality": "192", "maxDurationSeconds": 3600, "maxVideosToScan": 5, "proxyMode": "residential" } ```` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Records produced by the selected tool: transcripts (get-transcript), metadata (get-metadata), thumbnail manifests (get-thumbnail), download manifests (download-video, download-mp3), or channel email lookups (get-email). One record per row. ## `keyValueStore` (type: `string`): Thumbnails (get-thumbnail), MP4 video files (download-video), and MP3 audio files (download-mp3) are saved here. Each result record includes the file URL. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw", "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" ], "channelUrls": [ "@mkbhd" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-mcp").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw", "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"], "channelUrls": ["@mkbhd"], } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-mcp").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw", "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw" ], "channelUrls": [ "@mkbhd" ] }' | apify call seemuapps/youtube-mcp --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=seemuapps/youtube-mcp", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "YouTube MCP Server", "description": "MCP server exposing YouTube tools. Transcript, metadata, thumbnails, video and audio download, channel email. For any AI agent or LLM client.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "fDPyoQbOKVkeV4oYj" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/seemuapps~youtube-mcp/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-seemuapps-youtube-mcp", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/seemuapps~youtube-mcp/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-seemuapps-youtube-mcp", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/seemuapps~youtube-mcp/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-seemuapps-youtube-mcp", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "tool": { "title": "Tool", "enum": [ "", "get-transcript", "get-metadata", "get-thumbnail", "download-video", "download-mp3", "get-email" ], "type": "string", "description": "Pick a tool to run and save results to the dataset, or leave empty to start the actor as an MCP Standby server.", "default": "" }, "videoUrl": { "title": "Video URL", "type": "string", "description": "Single YouTube video URL — required by download-video and download-mp3." }, "videoUrls": { "title": "Video URLs", "type": "array", "description": "YouTube video URLs — used by get-transcript, get-metadata, get-thumbnail, and (optionally) get-email.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "channelUrls": { "title": "Channel URLs or Handles", "type": "array", "description": "YouTube channel URLs or @handles — used by get-email. Up to 10 per call.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "languages": { "title": "Languages (preference order)", "type": "array", "description": "BCP-47 language codes for get-transcript, in preference order (e.g. en, es, fr).", "default": [ "en" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "preferManualCaptions": { "title": "Prefer Human-Written Captions", "type": "boolean", "description": "get-transcript: when both manual and auto-generated captions exist for a language, use the human-written ones.", "default": true }, "videoQuality": { "title": "Video Quality", "enum": [ "360", "720", "1080", "1440", "best" ], "type": "string", "description": "download-video: maximum resolution. The actor picks the highest MP4 available at or below this height.", "default": "720" }, "audioQuality": { "title": "Audio Quality", "enum": [ "128", "192", "320" ], "type": "string", "description": "download-mp3: MP3 bitrate. Higher = larger file, better quality.", "default": "192" }, "maxDurationSeconds": { "title": "Max Video Duration (seconds)", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "download-video / download-mp3: skip videos longer than this. Default 3600 (1 hour). Set 0 to disable.", "default": 3600 }, "maxVideosToScan": { "title": "Max Videos to Scan", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 20, "type": "integer", "description": "get-email: number of recent videos to scan per channel for emails (0 = scan only the channel description).", "default": 5 }, "proxyMode": { "title": "Proxy Mode", "enum": [ "residential", "auto", "none", "datacenter" ], "type": "string", "description": "Residential is the default and works for most YouTube content. Auto tries no proxy first, then datacenter, then residential.", "default": "residential" } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```