YouTube MCP Server

A comprehensive Model Context Protocol server for the YouTube Data API v3, Analytics API, and Reporting API. Gives AI assistants full access to your YouTube channel — analytics, video management, comments, and more.

40 tools covering:

• Channel & video data
• YouTube Analytics (performance, audience, retention, revenue)
• Video publishing & playlist management
• Transcript extraction
• YouTube SEO (search suggestions, trending)
• Comments
• Bulk reporting

Why This Server?

Existing YouTube MCP servers focus narrowly on transcript scraping or basic search. This server covers three YouTube APIs and is the only open-source MCP server that provides:

• YouTube Analytics API — channel performance, top videos/Shorts, audience retention curves, traffic sources, demographics, revenue, day-of-week analysis
• YouTube Reporting API — schedule and download bulk CSV reports
• Full Data API coverage — not just read, but also upload videos, manage playlists, post comments, set thumbnails
• YouTube SEO tools — autocomplete suggestions, trending videos, category discovery
• Dual transcript strategy — official captions API for your own videos, youtube-transcript-api fallback for any public video
• Quota tracking — client-side tracking with hard-fail protection so you don't silently exhaust your daily quota

Feature	This server	Others
Analytics API (watch time, retention, CTR)	Yes	No
Reporting API (bulk CSV exports)	Yes	No
Video upload & management	Yes	Rare
Playlist management	Yes	Rare
Comments (read + write)	Yes	No
SEO / trending / suggestions	Yes	No
Transcript extraction	Yes	Yes
Quota tracking	Yes	No
Total tools	40	1-5

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• A Google Cloud project with YouTube APIs enabled
• OAuth 2.0 credentials

Google Cloud Setup

1. Create a Google Cloud Project

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or use an existing one)

2. Enable APIs

Enable all three APIs in APIs & Services > Library:

• YouTube Data API v3
• YouTube Analytics API
• YouTube Reporting API

3. Configure OAuth Consent Screen

1. Go to APIs & Services > OAuth consent screen
2. Set User Type to External
3. Fill in the app name and required fields
4. Add the Google account that owns your YouTube channel as a test user

Important: You must sign in with the Google account that owns the YouTube channel, not a manager. Only the owner account can access Analytics data.

4. Create OAuth Credentials

1. Go to APIs & Services > Credentials
2. Click Create Credentials > OAuth client ID
3. Application type: Desktop app
4. Download the JSON file
5. Save it as ~/.youtube-mcp/client_secret.json

Alternatively, set the YOUTUBE_MCP_CLIENT_SECRET environment variable to the path of your credentials file.

Installation

pip install youtube-studio-mcp

Or with uv:

uv pip install youtube-studio-mcp

MCP Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "youtube-studio-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "youtube-studio-mcp"
    }
  }
}

With environment variables

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube": {
      "command": "youtube-studio-mcp",
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_MCP_CLIENT_SECRET": "/path/to/client_secret.json",
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-for-public-data"
      }
    }
  }
}

First Run

On first use, the server will open a browser window for Google OAuth consent. Sign in with the account that owns your YouTube channel and grant the requested permissions. The token is saved to ~/.youtube-mcp/token.json and auto-refreshes.

Tools Reference

Auth & Setup (2 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_auth	Initiate OAuth 2.0 flow
youtube_auth_status	Check auth state and quota usage

Channel & Video (3 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_get_channel	Get channel details by ID, handle, or mine=True
youtube_list_videos	List videos from a channel or playlist
youtube_get_video	Get detailed video metadata and stats

Search & SEO (4 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_search	Search YouTube (100 quota units per call)
youtube_search_suggestions	Get autocomplete suggestions (no quota cost)
youtube_trending	Get trending videos by region/category
youtube_get_categories	List video categories for a region

Transcripts (2 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_get_transcript	Get video transcript (official API or scraping fallback)
youtube_list_captions	List caption tracks for own videos

Analytics — Performance (4 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_analytics_overview	Channel summary (views, watch time, subs, likes)
youtube_analytics_top_videos	Top videos by views (excludes Shorts)
youtube_analytics_top_shorts	Top Shorts by views
youtube_analytics_video_detail	Daily metrics for a specific video

Analytics — Audience (3 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_analytics_traffic_sources	Traffic source breakdown
youtube_analytics_demographics	Age and gender breakdown
youtube_analytics_geography	Views by country

Analytics — Schedule & Reach (3 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_analytics_daily	Daily performance over time
youtube_analytics_day_of_week	Average performance by weekday
youtube_analytics_content_type_breakdown	Shorts vs long-form vs live comparison

Analytics — Revenue & Retention (3 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_analytics_revenue	Revenue breakdown (requires YouTube Partner Program)
youtube_analytics_revenue_by_video	Per-video revenue
youtube_analytics_retention	Audience retention curve for a video

Publishing (4 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_upload_video	Upload a video (1,600 quota units)
youtube_update_video	Update video metadata
youtube_set_thumbnail	Upload custom thumbnail
youtube_delete_video	Delete a video

Playlists (4 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_list_playlists	List playlists for a channel
youtube_create_playlist	Create a new playlist
youtube_add_to_playlist	Add a video to a playlist
youtube_remove_from_playlist	Remove a video from a playlist

Comments (3 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_list_comments	List comments on a video
youtube_post_comment	Post a top-level comment
youtube_reply_to_comment	Reply to a comment

Bulk Reporting (5 tools)

Tool	Description
youtube_reporting_list_types	List available report types
youtube_reporting_create_job	Schedule a daily report job
youtube_reporting_list_jobs	List active reporting jobs
youtube_reporting_list_reports	List generated reports for a job
youtube_reporting_download	Download a report CSV

Quota Management

The YouTube Data API v3 has a default daily quota of 10,000 units. This server tracks quota usage client-side and hard-fails when the quota is exhausted.

Key costs:

• Most read operations: 1 unit
• Search: 100 units
• Write operations: 50 units
• Video upload: 1,600 units

Use youtube_auth_status to check current quota usage.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
YOUTUBE_MCP_CLIENT_SECRET	Path to client_secret.json
YOUTUBE_MCP_CONFIG_DIR	Config directory (default: ~/.youtube-mcp)
YOUTUBE_API_KEY	API key for public-only operations

Development

git clone https://github.com/pauling-ai/youtube-studio-mcp.git
cd youtube-studio-mcp
uv venv && uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv/bin/python -m pytest tests/ -v

License

MIT