YouTube Crawler Server
FreeNot checkedEnables YouTube data crawling and AI-powered summarization of videos, including channel metadata retrieval, time-range queries, and automatic transcription with
About
Enables YouTube data crawling and AI-powered summarization of videos, including channel metadata retrieval, time-range queries, and automatic transcription with multi-language support.
README
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for YouTube data crawling with AI-powered summarization. Built with FastMCP for easy deployment as both local and remote MCP server.
✨ Features
- Channel metadata retrieval
- AI video summaries with automatic transcription (Whisper API)
- Time-range queries for videos
- Supports videos with/without subtitles
- Multi-language support with smart language detection
- Dual transport: stdio (local) and Streamable HTTP (remote)
- Cloud-ready: Deploy to AWS, Google Cloud Run, Fly.io, etc.
🚀 Quick Start
Local Usage (stdio)
# Install dependencies
pip install -e .
# Configure environment
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_youtube_key
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_key
export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=your_deepseek_key
# Run with stdio (for Claude Desktop)
python main.py stdio
Remote Server (Streamable HTTP)
# Run HTTP server
python main.py streamable-http
# Server will start on http://0.0.0.0:8080
# Use with Claude API, Lambda, or other cloud agents
Docker
# Build
docker build -t youtube-crawler-mcp .
# Run
docker run -p 8080:8080 \
-e YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_key \
-e OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key \
-e DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=your_key \
youtube-crawler-mcp
MCP Tools
1. Get Channel Metadata
{
"username": "@channel_name"
}
2. Get Latest Videos Summary
{
"username": "@channel_name",
"n": 5,
"include_transcript": false
}
3. Get Videos by Time Range
{
"username": "@channel_name",
"start_date": "2024-01-01",
"end_date": "2024-01-31",
"max_videos": 10
}
Configuration
AI Providers
- DeepSeek (recommended): $0.28/1M tokens input, $0.42/1M output
- OpenAI: GPT-4 models
- Anthropic: Claude models
Set AI_PROVIDER in .env to switch providers.
Transcription
Uses OpenAI Whisper API ($0.006/minute) with automatic language detection from YouTube metadata.
Claude Desktop Integration
Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"youtube-crawler": {
"command": "python",
"args": ["-m", "src.server"],
"cwd": "/path/to/youtubeCrawlerMcp"
}
}
}
Docker Deployment
Build and Run Locally
# Build image
docker build -t youtube-crawler-mcp .
# Run with docker-compose
docker-compose up
Deploy to AWS Fargate
See DEPLOY.md for detailed AWS Fargate deployment instructions.
Testing
# Test with specific channel
python test_m2story.py
Cost Estimates
- Transcription: ~$0.18 per 30-min video (Whisper API)
- Summary: ~$0.004 per video (DeepSeek)
- Total: ~$0.184 per video
License
MIT
Installing YouTube Crawler Server
This server has no published package — it is built from source. Open the repository and follow its README.
▸ github.com/glennlzl/youtube-crawler-mcpFAQ
Is YouTube Crawler Server MCP free?
Yes, YouTube Crawler Server MCP is free — one-click install via Unyly at no cost.
Does YouTube Crawler Server need an API key?
No, YouTube Crawler Server runs without API keys or environment variables.
Is YouTube Crawler Server hosted or self-hosted?
Self-hosted: the server runs locally on your machine via the install command above.
How do I install YouTube Crawler Server in Claude Desktop, Claude Code or Cursor?
Open YouTube Crawler Server on unyly.org, pick your client tab (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor) and press Install — the config is generated automatically, no JSON editing.
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