YouTube Transcript Downloader MCP Server

by youtubetranscriptdownload Your server? Claim it

answering

YouTube Transcript Downloader is answering right now. Last checked 3 min ago. It exposes 4 tools.

Clean YouTube transcripts for agents: single videos, channels, playlists, plus AI caption cleanup.

Uptime history 47 days of history

47 days agonow

100.0%

Uptime 24h

92 of 92 checks

Tools

read from the server

411 ms

Response time

average over 24h

open, no key

Access

streamable-http

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check YouTube Transcript Downloader every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.

Connect this server

Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 3 min ago.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex Cursor VS Code

run in your terminal

claude mcp add transcripts --transport http https://youtubetranscriptdownload.com/api/mcp

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transcripts": {
      "url": "https://youtubetranscriptdownload.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.transcripts]
url = "https://youtubetranscriptdownload.com/api/mcp"

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transcripts": {
      "url": "https://youtubetranscriptdownload.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transcripts": {
      "url": "https://youtubetranscriptdownload.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools 4

Read directly from the server with tools/list, grouped by what they act on. If a tool disappears, we record the date.

channel

get_channel_transcripts

Get transcripts for a YouTube channel's most recent videos (newest first) as timestamped markdown, one section per video. Use for research across a creator's recent output; for one known video use get_transcript. Read-only; requires an API key. Charges 1 credit per video that returns a transcript, including repeat calls; videos without captions are skipped free. A 10-video call typically costs up to 10 credits, so start with a small limit. Rate limit: 5 requests per 10 seconds.

playlist

get_playlist_transcripts

Get transcripts for the videos in a YouTube playlist (in playlist order) as timestamped markdown, one section per video. Use for working through a course, series, or curated list; for one known video use get_transcript. Read-only; requires an API key. Charges 1 credit per video that returns a transcript, including repeat calls; videos without captions are skipped free. A 10-video call typically costs up to 10 credits, so start with a small limit. Rate limit: 5 requests per 10 seconds.

polish

polish_transcript

Get a cleaned-up transcript of a YouTube video's auto-generated captions: punctuation and capitalisation restored, filler and false starts removed, paragraphs added, misheard names fixed, faithful to what was said. Use when raw captions are too messy to read or quote; for a plain transcript use get_transcript. Read-only; requires an API key. Each call charges credits by transcript length (about 3 per 1,000 words, minimum 5), including repeat calls, so keep the result in context. Human-uploaded captions (already clean) and transcripts over ~7,000 words return an error without charging. Rate limit: 5 requests per 10 seconds.

transcript

get_transcript

Get the full transcript of a single YouTube video as timestamped markdown. Read-only: fetches existing captions, modifies nothing. Requires an API key; each successful call charges 1 credit, including repeat calls for the same video, so reuse a transcript already in context instead of re-fetching. Videos without captions return an error and cost nothing. Rate limit: 5 requests per 10 seconds.

Endpoints

URL	Transport	State	Latency	Checked
https://youtubetranscriptdownload.com/api/mcp	streamable-http	answering	398 ms	3 min ago

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YouTube Transcript Downloader — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

What can YouTube Transcript Downloader do?

It exposes 4 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: get_channel_transcripts, get_playlist_transcripts, get_transcript, polish_transcript. The full list with descriptions is on this page — we take it from the server itself via tools/list, not from a README. How MCP servers expose tools in the first place →

Is YouTube Transcript Downloader working right now?

We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 92 of 92 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 411 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.

How do I connect YouTube Transcript Downloader?

Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It is a remote server, so there is nothing to install — the client connects to the address.

Does YouTube Transcript Downloader need an API key?

No. YouTube Transcript Downloader completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 4 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.

How fast is YouTube Transcript Downloader?

It answers our handshake in 411 ms on average, which is faster than 36% of all working MCP servers we measure. The comparison comes from our own checks across the whole registry, every 15 minutes.