u-transcript max

YouTube transcripts, AI translation and downloads for Python — with zero dependencies. Its MCP server lets Claude, Codex and other AI assistants use them too.

Alpha. The API can still change before 0.1.0. The design lives in docs/design.

• Transcripts of any video, playlist or channel: every language, written by people or generated, as SRT, WebVTT, JSON or text.
• AI translation that keeps every timing (Claude, OpenAI and compatible servers such as Ollama, Gemini, OpenRouter), and bilingual subtitles.
• Downloads in the best quality a file holds: AV1 or H.264 up to 8K, HDR and 60 fps in .mp4 (also .mov, .m4a, .mp3), with subtitles as switchable tracks and the original audio of dubbed videos. Parallel and resumable; no ffmpeg needed except for .mp3.
• A drop-in replacement for youtube-transcript-api.
• An MCP server for Claude, Codex and other AI assistants.

Install

From PyPI, on Python 3.11 or newer:

pip install u-transcript-max          # the library, no dependencies
pip install "u-transcript-max[mcp]"   # plus the MCP server, utmax-mcp

AI translation calls the provider's official SDK with your own API key: add the claude, openai, gemini or openrouter extra, or ai for all of them.

Quickstart

import utmax

transcript = utmax.fetch("https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ")  # the spoken language, manual first
transcript.save("rick.srt")  # also .vtt, .json and .txt

turkish = utmax.translate(transcript, "tr", model="claude=claude-opus-5-5")  # needs [claude]
utmax.bilingual(transcript, turkish).save("rick.en+tr.srt")

utmax.download("dQw4w9WgXcQ", "rick.mp4")  # the best picture (AV1 up to 8K), English subtitles
utmax.download("dQw4w9WgXcQ", "rick-720.mp4", resolution=720)  # at most 720p
utmax.download("dQw4w9WgXcQ", "rick.mp4", quality="compat")  # H.264 up to 1080p, plays anywhere
utmax.download("dQw4w9WgXcQ", "rick.m4a")  # the audio only
print([f.label for f in utmax.list_formats("dQw4w9WgXcQ") if f.kind == "video"])

videos = utmax.list_videos("@RickAstleyYT", kind="videos", limit=20)
utmax.fetch_many(videos, out_dir="subs")  # one .srt per video

Coming from youtube-transcript-api? Change one import:

from utmax.compat import YouTubeTranscriptApi

MCP server

utmax-mcp gives an AI assistant six tools: list_tracks, get_transcript, list_formats, list_videos, download and save_subtitles. It needs no API key. Ask it to download a video and the assistant asks which file type, which of the video's resolutions and which subtitles (original or translated) you want; ask for a translation and it translates the subtitles itself. Things to ask:

• "Download https://youtu.be/ZcDFZzsp3_Y in the highest resolution with Turkish subtitles." The assistant finds 2160p, translates the English subtitles itself and downloads a 4K .mp4 with English and Turkish tracks (Turkish on by default) plus .srt files.
• "Save the subtitles of this video, translated into German."
• "List the last 20 videos of @RickAstleyYT and summarize the newest one."

Files go to ~/Downloads/utmax. The commands below start the server with uvx from uv, which installs it from PyPI; @latest makes it move to each new release the next time the client starts the server.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user utmax -- uvx --from "u-transcript-max[mcp]@latest" utmax-mcp

claude mcp get utmax should say Connected; inside Claude Code, /mcp lists the server.

Codex

codex mcp add utmax -- uvx --from "u-transcript-max[mcp]@latest" utmax-mcp

A long download can outlast Codex's default tool timeout, and the first start installs the server, so give it more time in ~/.codex/config.toml (the CLI and the IDE extension share this file):

[mcp_servers.utmax]
command = "uvx"
args = ["--from", "u-transcript-max[mcp]@latest", "utmax-mcp"]
startup_timeout_sec = 60
tool_timeout_sec = 1800

Claude Desktop

Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config, add the server to claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "utmax": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "u-transcript-max[mcp]@latest", "utmax-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

If Claude Desktop cannot find uvx, put its full path in command (which uvx, or where uvx on Windows).

Other clients and settings

Any MCP client that starts stdio servers can run the same command, or utmax-mcp after pip install "u-transcript-max[mcp]". Environment variables change the defaults:

Set them with -e NAME=value in Claude Code, --env NAME=value in Codex, or an "env" object in Claude Desktop.

License

MIT