channels_findCreators
Find creator channels from video mentions with subscriber band and recent activity filters in one call
LABSCO SUMMARY
It saves the manual pass of opening every channel to check its size and whether it is still active.
The subscriber-band and last-upload filters sit on search itself, so 'creators between two subscriber counts who posted recently' is one call rather than a list you prune by hand. Transcripts are in the same server, so finding a video and reading what it said do not need two integrations.
What it is
A local server over the YouTube Data API: video and channel lookup, video search with subscriber-band and publication-date filters, creator discovery, playlist listing and transcript extraction.
What you get
- Video search with filters that go beyond keywords — a subscriber band on the channel, published-after and published-before dates, the channel's own last-upload window, creators only, and one video per channel
- Results ordered by more than relevance: subscribers ascending or descending, recent activity, or an indie-priority ranking
- Creators found in one call, pulled out of the channels behind matching videos and filtered by size and recent activity
- Detail on demand — one video, one channel, or many channels at once with their latest upload included
- Channels searched by handle, name or query under the same subscriber and upload filters
- A channel's videos listed, and a playlist's information and contents
- A video's transcript in the language you name
Requirements
Node.js and a YouTube Data API key in YOUTUBE_API_KEY. YOUTUBE_API_KEY2 and YOUTUBE_API_KEY3 are fallbacks, and they matter more than they look: when a key runs out of daily quota the server retries the same request with the next one, which is the difference between research stopping at noon and continuing. At least one of the three has to be set. MIT licensed.
Setup effort
One command plus a key — npm install -g zubeid-youtube-mcp-server, then supply credentials
USE CASES
01
Building a list of creators to approach
Search on the topic with a subscriber band and a recent-activity window, creators only, and get the channels rather than the videos.
02
Seeing who is covering a subject right now
Search videos published since a date, one per channel, so the result is a map of the space rather than one channel's back catalogue.
03
Reading what a video actually said
Pull the transcript in the language you work in and quote it, instead of working from the title and description.
04
Sizing up a channel before you commit
Read the channel, then its recent uploads, to see whether the audience and the posting rhythm match the pitch.
05
Working through a playlist someone sent you
List its videos, then read the transcripts of the ones worth the time.
10 tools
Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.
channels_getChannel
Get information about a YouTube channel
channels_getChannels
Get information about multiple YouTube channels
channels_listVideos
Get videos from a specific channel
channels_searchChannels
Search for YouTube channels by handle, name, or query
playlists_getPlaylist
Get information about a YouTube playlist
playlists_getPlaylistItems
Get videos in a YouTube playlist
transcripts_getTranscript
Get the transcript of a YouTube video
videos_getVideo
Get detailed information about a YouTube video
videos_searchVideos
Search for videos on YouTube
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
10 tools when we connected. All ten are read-only: there is no upload, comment or playlist-edit tool. The three API-key variables are one key plus two fallbacks used when a key's quota runs out.
Requires
- npx on PATH
- YOUTUBE_API_KEY in your environment
Where it runs
All 4 documented setups run the server on your machine.
CONTEXT COST
Light Standing cost
Rated by the size of the 10 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
npm install -g zubeid-youtube-mcp-serverMCP Clients
Claude Desktop
CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"zubeid-youtube-mcp-server": {
"command": "zubeid-youtube-mcp-server",
"env": {
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "<YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY>",
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY2": "<YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY2>",
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY3": "<YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY3>"
}
}
}
}Claude Desktop — npx
CLAUDE DESKTOP — NPX · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"zubeid-youtube-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "<YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY>",
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY2": "<YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY2>",
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY3": "<YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY3>"
}
}
}
}VS Code
JSON
{
"inputs": [
{
"type": "promptString",
"id": "apiKey",
"description": "YouTube API Key",
"password": true
}
],
"servers": {
"youtube": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"zubeid-youtube-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "${input:apiKey}"
}
}
}
}
