YouTube Transcript MCP Server

MCP server for fetching YouTube video transcripts (subtitles). Works without authentication, supports automatic and manual subtitles.

Transport: HTTP — recommended for remote servers.

Running

docker compose up -d --build

Server will be available at http://<host>:8000/mcp

Proxy Configuration

The Dockerfile includes proxy settings for network environments that require them:

ENV http_proxy=http://proxy.server.com:8080
ENV https_proxy=http://proxy.server.com:8080
ENV no_proxy=localhost,127.0.0.1

If you don't need a proxy:

• Remove or comment out these lines in the Dockerfile

If you need different proxy settings:

• Update the proxy URLs in the Dockerfile to match your network configuration

Connecting to VS Code

Add to mcp.json (VS Code global settings):

{
  "servers": {
    "youtube-transcript": {
      "url": "http://<host>:8000/mcp",
      "type": "http"
    }
  }
}

Tool: get_transcript

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |-------------|--------|-------------|-----------------------------------------------| | video | string | — | Video ID or full URL | | languages | string | "en,ru" | Language priority, comma-separated | | timestamps| bool | true | Include timestamps |

Usage Examples

Get transcript for video https://youtube.com/shorts/6MIdV-qFjIc

Show subtitles for dQw4w9WgXcQ in Russian

Testing

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"initialize","id":1,"params":{"capabilities":{},"protocolVersion":"0.1.0","clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1.0"}}}'