YouTube Content Management MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides YouTube Data API v3 integration for content discovery and management. This server enables AI assistants to search for YouTube videos, channels, and perform various content-related operations.

Features

Current Tools

🎥 search_videos: Search YouTube for videos with advanced filtering options
📺 search_channels: Find YouTube channels based on search queries
📋 More tools coming soon: Playlist management, video analytics, comment retrieval, and more!

Planned Features

Video analytics and statistics
Playlist creation and management
Comment retrieval and analysis
Channel analytics
Video upload and management (with proper authentication)
Trending videos by region
Video transcription access

Prerequisites

Python 3.8 or higher
YouTube Data API v3 key
VSCode with MCP extension (for VSCode usage)

Getting Your YouTube API Key

Go to the Google Cloud Console
Create a new project or select an existing one
Enable the YouTube Data API v3:
- Navigate to "APIs & Services" > "Library"
- Search for "YouTube Data API v3"
- Click on it and press "Enable"
Create credentials:
- Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
- Click "Create Credentials" > "API Key"
- Copy the generated API key
(Recommended) Restrict the API key:
- Click on the API key to edit it
- Under "API restrictions", select "Restrict key"
- Choose "YouTube Data API v3"
- Save the changes

Installation

Clone or download this repository

git clone https://github.com/NastyRunner13/youtube-content-management-mcp
cd youtube-content-management-mcp

Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Or if using uv:

uv install

Set up your environment (Optional) Create a .env file in the project root:
```
YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_youtube_api_key_here
```

Usage

With VSCode (Recommended)

Install the MCP extension in VSCode

Configure the MCP server by adding this to your VSCode settings.json:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "youtube-content-management": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/youtube-content-management-mcp/main.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternative using uv:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "youtube-content-management": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/youtube-content-management-mcp",
        "run",
        "main.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart VSCode or reload the window
Use the tools through the MCP panel or by asking your AI assistant

With Claude Desktop

Add this configuration to your Claude Desktop config file:

Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-content-management": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/youtube-content-management-mcp/main.py"],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_youtube_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

With Other MCP Clients

The server implements the standard MCP protocol and should work with any compatible MCP client. Refer to your client's documentation for configuration instructions.

Available Tools

search_videos

Search YouTube for videos with advanced filtering options.

Parameters:

query (string, required): Search query
max_results (integer, optional): Maximum number of results (1-50, default: 25)
order (string, optional): Sort order - "relevance", "date", "rating", "viewCount" (default: "relevance")
duration (string, optional): Video duration - "any", "short", "medium", "long" (default: "any")
published_after (string, optional): RFC 3339 timestamp (e.g., "2023-01-01T00:00:00Z")

Example usage:

Search for Python tutorials uploaded in the last year, sorted by view count

search_channels

Find YouTube channels based on search queries.

Parameters:

query (string, required): Search query for channels
max_results (integer, optional): Maximum number of results (1-50, default: 25)
order (string, optional): Sort order - "relevance", "viewCount", "date" (default: "relevance")

Example usage:

Find coding tutorial channels

Example Interactions

Once the MCP server is configured, you can interact with it through your AI assistant:

Video Search:

"Search for machine learning tutorials from the last 6 months, sorted by popularity"

Channel Discovery:

"Find top cooking channels on YouTube"

Advanced Filtering:

"Show me short Python tutorials (under 4 minutes) uploaded this year"

Security Notes

Never commit your API key to version control
Consider using environment variables instead of hardcoding API keys
Regularly rotate your API keys
Monitor your API usage in Google Cloud Console
Set up API key restrictions to limit usage to YouTube Data API v3

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"YouTube API key is not set"
- Ensure your API key is properly configured in the environment variables
- Check that the key is valid and has YouTube Data API v3 enabled
"quotaExceeded" errors
- You've hit your daily API quota limit
- Wait until the quota resets (daily) or increase your quota in Google Cloud Console
"keyInvalid" errors
- Your API key is invalid or has been revoked
- Generate a new API key and update your configuration
MCP server not starting
- Check that all dependencies are installed
- Verify the Python path in your configuration is correct
- Check the MCP extension logs for detailed error messages

Debug Mode

To enable debug logging, add this to your environment:

"env": {
  "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "your_key_here",
  "DEBUG": "true"
}

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Areas where you can help:

Additional YouTube API endpoints (comments, playlists, analytics)
Better error handling and validation
Performance optimizations
Documentation improvements
Testing and bug reports

API Limits

YouTube Data API v3: 10,000 units per day (default)
Search operations: 100 units per request
Rate limiting: Be mindful of making too many requests in quick succession

Support

Create an issue for bugs or feature requests
Check the YouTube Data API documentation for API-specific questions
Review MCP protocol documentation for integration issues

MCP Servers