YouTube MCP Server (data)

What it does

A high-efficiency MCP server returning structured, token-minimized data from the YouTube Data API v3 (claims up to 87% token reduction vs raw API). Covers video details, search, transcripts (at zero quota cost), channel statistics, trending, and outlier-channel discovery — the research side of distribution: study what works before you publish.

Connect

claude mcp add youtube -e YOUTUBE_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY -- npx -y @kirbah/mcp-youtube

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@kirbah/mcp-youtube"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@kirbah/mcp-youtube"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YOUTUBE_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools you'll see

Field notes

MIT, pushed Jun 2026 — the most actively maintained YouTube data MCP. Read-only (no upload — pair with yutu). Higher-starred alternative: ZubeidHendricks/youtube-mcp-server (530 stars, multi-key quota fallback, ~2.5 months stale).

Pairs well with

Airtable MCP ServerAirtable Official

Official hosted Airtable MCP: query, create, and update production-tracking bases.

base-search · schema-inspectionremote · freemium

Dropbox MCP ServerDropbox Official

Dropbox's official remote MCP (beta) for dailies, footage folders, and file ops.

file-search · upload-downloadremote · freemium

Google Drive MCPGoogle Official

Google's official remote Drive MCP: search, read, and create files with Workspace governance.

file-search · file-readremote · freemium