What is Serpapi Youtube Mcp Server

The serpapi-youtube-mcp-server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed for extracting YouTube video transcripts and comments. It provides tools for analysis and summarization of YouTube content.

Use cases

Use cases include analyzing YouTube video content, summarizing video transcripts, gathering audience feedback through comments, and conducting sentiment analysis on viewer interactions.

How to use

To use the serpapi-youtube-mcp-server, clone the repository, install dependencies, configure your SerpAPI key in a .env file, build the project, and run the server. You can then integrate it with Claude to fetch transcripts and comments from YouTube videos.

Key features

Key features include extracting subtitles/transcripts from YouTube videos, retrieving basic video information, fetching comments, and getting replies to specific comments.

Where to use

The serpapi-youtube-mcp-server can be used in fields such as data analysis, content summarization, video research, and social media monitoring.

YouTube Data MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for extracting YouTube video transcripts and comments. This server provides tools to get transcripts and comments from YouTube videos for analysis and summarization.

Features

• getTranscript: Extract subtitles/transcripts from YouTube videos
• getVideoInfo: Get basic information about a YouTube video
• getReplies: Fetch comments for YouTube videos (using SerpAPI)
• getCommentReplies: Get replies to specific YouTube comments

Requirements

• Node.js 16+
• TypeScript
• SerpAPI API key (for comments functionality)

Installation(for Developer)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/diasm3/serpapi-youtube-mcp-server.git
cd youtube-data-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

Configuration

Create a .env file in the root directory with your SerpAPI key:

SERPAPI_KEY=your_serpapi_key_here

You can get a SerpAPI key by signing up at SerpAPI.

Build and Run

# Build the project
npm run build

# Run the server
npm start

The server will start running and listening for commands via stdin/stdout.

Using with Claude

To use this MCP server with Claude:

1. Add the server to your Claude configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "youtube-data-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SERPAPI_KEY": "your_serpapi_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Restart Claude to apply the configuration.

3. Now you can ask Claude to:

   • “Get the transcript for this YouTube video: [URL]”
   • “Show me the comments for this YouTube video: [URL]”
   • “Get replies to specific comments”

API Tools

searchYoutube

Search for videos, channels, and playlists on YouTube.

Parameters:

• query: Search query for YouTube (required)
• limit: Maximum number of results to return (optional, default: 10)
• gl: Country code for search results (optional, e.g., ‘us’, ‘kr’, ‘jp’)
• hl: Language code for search results (optional, e.g., ‘en’, ‘ko’, ‘ja’)
• sp: Special parameter for filtering or pagination (optional)
• pageToken: Token for pagination from previous response (optional)

Example (via Claude):

Search for "JavaScript tutorial" on YouTube and show me the top 5 results

getVideoInfo

Retrieve basic information about a YouTube video.

Parameters:

• url: YouTube video URL or video ID (required)

Returns:

• videoId: The video’s ID
• title: The video’s title
• viewCount: Number of views
• publishDate: Date when the video was published
• channelName: Name of the channel that published the video
• commentCount: Number of comments on the video
• commentsNextPageToken: Token for fetching comments
• commentsSortingTokens: Tokens for different comment sorting options

Example (via Claude):

Get information about this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

getTranscript

Extracts transcripts/subtitles from YouTube videos.

Parameters:

• url: YouTube video URL or video ID (required)
• lang: Language code for transcript (optional, default: ‘en’)

Example (via Claude):

Please get the transcript for this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

getReplies

Retrieves comments from a YouTube video using SerpAPI.

Parameters:

• url: YouTube video URL or video ID (required for initial page, optional for pagination)
• limit: Maximum number of comments to retrieve (optional, default: 100)
• sort: Sort order for comments (‘relevance’ or ‘time’, optional, default: ‘relevance’)
• pageToken: Token for pagination from previous response (optional)

Example (via Claude):

Show me comments for this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

getCommentReplies

Gets replies for a specific YouTube comment.

Parameters:

• pageToken: Reply token from a comment to get its replies (required)

This function is typically used programmatically after getting the repliesToken from a comment.

Understanding SerpAPI Integration

This MCP server uses SerpAPI’s YouTube Search API and YouTube Video API to fetch search results, comments, and other data. SerpAPI provides a way to scrape YouTube data without directly using YouTube’s official API.

Key points about SerpAPI usage:

• The server uses the youtube_video engine with the v parameter (YouTube video ID)
• Comments are paginated using tokens returned in the API response
• Comment replies are fetched separately using their specific tokens
• API calls are limited by your SerpAPI subscription plan

Troubleshooting

• If you encounter a 400 Bad Request error, verify your SerpAPI key is valid and properly set in the .env file
• Check the server logs for detailed error messages and debugging information
• For comment-related issues, ensure SerpAPI still supports the YouTube Video API format used

License

MIT