get_transcript
Extract transcript from a YouTube video URL or ID
LABSCO SUMMARY
It saves watching a whole video to find the part that matters.
One tool and no credential: a URL goes in, text comes back, and the model can quote it rather than paraphrase a description. Turning timestamps on is what makes the quote checkable — you get the moment as well as the words, with the sponsor read already stripped out.
What it is
A single-tool server: hand it a YouTube URL, a Shorts URL or a bare video ID and it returns the video's captions as text. A second tool appears if you supply a TwelveLabs key, for videos where the captions are not the point.
What you get
- A transcript from a full watch URL, a Shorts URL or a bare video ID
- The caption language chosen with lang, falling back to whatever the video does have when your choice is missing
- Timestamps in the output when you ask for them, so a passage can be cited at the second it appears
- Sponsorships and promotional segments filtered out by default from the chapter markers — turn strip_ads off to get the raw captions
- An optional analyze_video call that reasons over what is shown on screen rather than said, for demos, gameplay and b-roll with little speech
Requirements
Node.js 18 or newer; no account and no API key for transcripts. The video-analysis tool is opt-in and needs TWELVELABS_API_KEY, and it takes a direct video file URL — a YouTube watch page serves HTML, not a video stream, so it will not work there. MIT licensed.
Setup effort
Add the configuration to your client
USE CASES
01
Summarising a talk you have not got an hour for
Pull the captions and work from the text, with the sponsor segments already removed.
02
Citing the exact moment something was said
Ask for timestamps in the output, so the quote comes with the point in the video to jump to.
03
Reading a video published in another language
Name the caption language you want; if the video does not carry it, the available one comes back instead of an error.
1 tool
Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
1 tool when we connected. analyze_video registers only when TWELVELABS_API_KEY is set, and it takes a direct video file URL, not a YouTube watch URL. strip_ads and include_timestamps are parameters of get_transcript, not tools.
Requires
- npx on PATH
- Node.js 18 or later
CONTEXT COST
Light Standing cost
Rated by the size of the one tool definition that rides along on every turn
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
MCP Clients
Claude Desktop
CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube-transcript": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript"
]
}
}
}Claude Desktop — Video analysis
CLAUDE DESKTOP — VIDEO ANALYSIS · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube-transcript": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript"
],
"env": {
"TWELVELABS_API_KEY": "<YOUR_TWELVELABS_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Any MCP client — mcp-get
ANY MCP CLIENT — MCP-GET · TERMINAL
npx @michaellatman/mcp-get@latest install @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript
