4 min read
Find and read YouTube videos on your topic with your AI agent
Ask your agent which YouTube videos cover your topic, then have it read one. A real run: the search, the top videos and a competitor's video read in full.
YouTube MCP server
Search YouTube, read channels and videos, and pull comments and transcripts from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. Hosted, with no Google Cloud project or API key of your own.
What your agent can do on YouTube
What each tool returns, and what a call costs.
YouTube tools in the docsGet a YouTube channel
One YouTube channel: subscribers, total views and when it joined.
youtube_get_channelFrom 1 creditGet a channel's videos
The videos on one YouTube channel, newest or most viewed first.
youtube_get_videosFrom 1 creditGet a YouTube video
One YouTube video with its views, likes, comments and length.
youtube_get_videoFrom 1 creditGet a video's comments
The comments on one YouTube video, most liked first.
youtube_get_commentsFrom 1 creditSearch YouTube videos
YouTube videos matching a keyword, ranked by YouTube's own search.
youtube_search_videosFrom 1 creditGet a video's transcript
The transcript of one YouTube video, as text.
youtube_get_transcriptFrom 1 credit
Things to ask
Plain questions in any connected client. The agent picks the tools.
Find the most-watched videos on cold email from the last year and summarise how each one opens.
Pull the transcript of this video and list every tool it mentions: [video URL]
What do commenters ask most under our competitor’s latest video?
How often does this channel post, and which of its videos did best? [channel URL]
Find YouTube creators who review CRMs and list their subscriber counts.
Turn this webinar recording into a blog outline: [video URL]
Transcripts without a Google Cloud project
YouTube’s Data API needs a Google Cloud project, a key and a daily quota, and it only downloads captions for videos you own. Manifold is one URL. For every option, from open-source servers to hosted ones, see the best YouTube MCP servers.
| Open-source servers | YouTube Data API | Manifold | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needs a Google API key | Usually | Yes | No |
| Transcript of any public video | Some, by scraping | Your own videos only | Yes |
| Search, channels and comments | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Daily quota to manage | Yours | 10,000 units a day | None, pay per call |
| Works in Claude.ai and ChatGPT | Rarely, local only | No | Yes, hosted |
| Setup | Install and key | Cloud project | Paste one URL |
Pay per call. Start free.
One balance pays for every tool, with nothing else to subscribe to. Every account gets 250 free credits a month, and an answer already in the cache costs 25% of the price or less.
- Get a YouTube channel
- From 1 credit
- Get a channel's videos
- From 1 credit
- Get a YouTube video
- From 1 credit
- The same answer again, from the cache
- 25% or less
Pairs well with YouTube
The same server URL and credit balance reach every source. Switch off what you don’t need.
All MCP servers- TikTok MCPVideos, creators, transcripts and audiences.
- Instagram MCPAccounts, posts, reels and hashtags.
- Reddit MCPThreads, comments and subreddits.
- Facebook MCPPages, posts, groups and comments.
- SEO MCPKeywords, rankings, backlinks and audits.
- LinkedIn MCPPosts, profiles and company pages.
- AI visibility MCPWhat ChatGPT, Gemini and others say and cite.
Questions about the YouTube MCP
Can it get the transcript of any YouTube video?
Any public video with speech. Your agent gets what is said as text, which it can summarise, quote or search. It is one of the cheapest calls on the server. YouTube tools in the docs
Do I need a YouTube or Google API key?
No. Manifold is hosted and reads YouTube through a data provider, so there is no Google Cloud project, no key and no daily quota to watch. Google does not publish a YouTube MCP server of its own.
What can my agent look up on YouTube?
A channel and its videos, any single video, a video’s comments and transcript, and videos that match a search.
Which clients does it work with?
Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Grok, OpenCode and any other client that connects to a remote MCP server. Sign in with OAuth, or use an API key from the dashboard for scripts. Setup guides for every client
Does it work for Shorts?
Yes. Shorts are YouTube videos, so search, comments, stats and transcripts work the same way. For short video on other platforms, the TikTok and Instagram tools are on the same server. TikTok MCP
See it in use
Further reading
- 14 min read
The best YouTube MCP servers in 2026
Google has no YouTube MCP server. Here are eleven third-party servers and Manifold that read transcripts, comments, channels and search, compared on coverage, setup and price.
- 8 min read
How to find content ideas on Reddit and YouTube, step by step
The workflow itself: what to give your agent, the five passes it runs on Reddit threads and YouTube transcripts, a simple scoring table, what a finished list looks like, and prompts to copy.
- 16 min read
Google Alerts alternative: track Reddit, social posts and reviews in Claude
Connect Claude to Manifold MCP, create a keyword monitor for the terms you already alert on, and have Claude write a digest of new mentions.
