October 2, 2026 · 4 min read

YouTube Transcript MCP Server for Claude, Cursor, and Codex

AI coding agents cannot watch YouTube, and fetching a watch page returns no transcript. An MCP server gives the agent a tool it can call instead: paste a video link, and it pulls the transcript itself. TranscriptYT hosts one at transcript-yt.com/mcp that uses the same API key and credits as the REST API.

Add it to Claude Code

Create a free key in the dashboard, then run one command. Replace ts_live_... with your key.

claude mcp add --transport http transcriptyt https://transcript-yt.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ts_live_..."

Add it to Cursor, VS Code, or Codex

Clients that read a JSON or TOML config take the server URL and an Authorization header. Cursor uses .cursor/mcp.json; VS Code uses .vscode/mcp.json with type "http"; Codex uses ~/.codex/config.toml. The docs have the exact snippet for each, plus Claude Desktop via mcp-remote.

// .cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transcriptyt": {
      "url": "https://transcript-yt.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ts_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

What the agent gets

The server exposes three tools:

get_transcript: a transcript by URL or ID, with optional language, translate_to, format (Markdown by default), and timestamps. 1 credit.
list_languages: the caption tracks a video has. Free.
get_usage: your remaining credits. Free.

Things to ask

Once connected, paste a link and ask in plain language. The agent decides when to call the tool.

Summarize this video in five bullets.
Turn this tutorial into a step-by-step checklist.
Build the app shown in this video.
List every product mentioned in this review, with timestamps.

MCP or the REST API?

Use the MCP server when a person is chatting with an agent and wants it to read videos on demand. Use the REST API when your own code needs transcripts in a pipeline, a backend, or a product feature. Both share the same key, credits, and video coverage, including AI transcription for videos without captions.