What is youtube_mcp?
youtube_mcp is a MCP server by format37 that transcribe YouTube videos to text using yt-dlp for audio and OpenAI Whisper for transcription, with chunked output for long videos. It is listed under Browser & web and has 32 GitHub stars.
| Type | Mcp server |
|---|---|
| Author | format37 |
| Repository | format37/youtube_mcp |
| Popularity | 32 GitHub stars |
| Category | Browser & web |
| Security | Low risk (84/100) |
| Rank | #1,063 of 4,418 MCP servers; #103 in Browser & web |
| Last commit | 2025-07-21 |
| Runs | Cloud service |
| Language | Python |
Is youtube_mcp safe to install?
youtube_mcp scores 84/100 on the MCPMods security check: Low risk. Things to review: sends your data to a cloud service. It passed 4 of 6 checks.
MCP server results come from listing signals: who publishes it, where your data goes and what it can do. The code itself is not scanned yet.
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| Community-built server | Note |
| Sends your data to a cloud service | Review |
| No credentials mentioned | Pass |
| Read-only by description | Pass |
| No code execution | Pass |
| Source on GitHub | Pass |
How do I install youtube_mcp?
- Find the launch command. The README says how the server starts (npx, uvx, docker or a remote URL) and which API keys it needs.
https://github.com/format37/youtube_mcp
- Add it to Claude Code. Replace the part after -- with the command from the README. Remote servers use --transport http with a URL.
claude mcp add youtube-mcp -- <command from README> claude mcp add --transport http youtube-mcp <server-url>
- Check it connected. This lists your MCP servers and their status.
claude mcp list
Or ask Claude to set it up
Paste this into Claude Code and it installs youtube_mcp for you:
Add the "youtube_mcp" MCP server from https://github.com/format37/youtube_mcp to Claude Code. Read its README for the launch command and any API keys I need, run claude mcp add, then check that it connects.