Transcriptor
FreeNot checkedAn MCP server (stdio + HTTP/SSE) that fetches video transcripts/subtitles via yt-dlp, with pagination for large responses. Supports YouTube, Twitter/X, Instagra
About
An MCP server (stdio + HTTP/SSE) that fetches video transcripts/subtitles via yt-dlp, with pagination for large responses. Supports YouTube, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Vimeo, Facebook, Bilibili, VK, Dailymotion. Whisper fallback — transcribes audio when subtitles are unavailable (local or OpenAI API). Works with Cursor and other MCP host
README

🎬 Now your AI assistant can watch videos!
Connect one server. Then ask Claude, ChatGPT or etc about a video: the transcript, the chapters, the metadata, or a single frame. It works with 11 platforms, not only YouTube.
Website MCP Registry Docker MCP Apps License
Connect · What to ask · Widgets · Platforms · Self-host
⚡ Connect in 30 seconds
The hosted endpoint is:
https://gateway.mcpal.io/mcp/transcriptor
🖱️ One click
Add to Cursor Install in VS Code Add to LM Studio
⌨️ One command, for Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http transcriptor https://gateway.mcpal.io/mcp/transcriptor
Then run /mcp and approve the sign-in in the browser. After this, claude mcp list shows ✔ Connected.
🧭 No terminal
| Client | What to do |
|---|---|
| Claude (web and desktop) | Open Settings → Customize → Connectors. Select Add → Add custom connector, paste https://gateway.mcpal.io/mcp/transcriptor, then select Add. |
| ChatGPT | Open Settings → Security and login and turn on Developer mode. Then open Plugins, select +, and paste https://gateway.mcpal.io/mcp/transcriptor. |
| Codex | Add the block below to ~/.codex/config.toml, then run codex mcp login transcriptor. The CLI, the IDE extension and the ChatGPT desktop app share this file. |
[mcp_servers.transcriptor]
url = "https://gateway.mcpal.io/mcp/transcriptor"
auth = "oauth"
Note: ChatGPT developer mode is available on the web, for paid plans. Some releases show this control as Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced.
Note:
codex mcp addregisters stdio servers only, so a hosted server goes intoconfig.toml. See the Codex MCP docs.
🧩 Any other MCP client
If your client is not in the list above, add the server with this configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"transcriptor": {
"url": "https://gateway.mcpal.io/mcp/transcriptor"
}
}
}
If you want to run the server yourself, read Self-host. The tools are the same and you need no account.
🧰 What you can ask
| Ask for this | Tool |
|---|---|
| "Summarize this video for me" | get_transcript |
| "Give me the subtitles as an SRT file" | get_raw_subtitles |
| "Is there a German track for this video?" | get_available_subtitles |
| "Who published this and how many views?" | get_video_info |
| "Go to the part about pricing" | get_video_chapters |
| "Show me the screen at 4:12" | get_video_frame |
| "Get transcripts for the first 5 videos in this playlist" | get_playlist_transcripts |
| "Find recent videos about X" | search_videos (YouTube) |
Long transcripts come in parts. Each response gives a cursor for the next part, so no text is lost.
Full tool reference (input and structured response)
Each tool that takes a video accepts url. This is a link from a supported platform or a plain YouTube ID. Each tool returns content (text for the chat) and structuredContent (typed JSON for your code).
get_transcript
Clean plain text, without timestamps, HTML, or speaker names. The tool finds the type and the language for you.
Response: videoId, type, lang, text, is_truncated, total_length, start_offset, end_offset. When more text is available, the response also has next_cursor.
get_raw_subtitles
Raw SRT or VTT content, in parts.
Input:
type—officialorautolang— a language coderesponse_limit— default50000, minimum1000, maximum200000next_cursor— the cursor of the previous response
Response: the fields of get_transcript, plus format (srt or vtt) and content.
get_available_subtitles
Response: official and auto. Each field is a sorted list of language codes. Use this tool first, then give type and lang to the tools above.
get_video_info
Extended metadata from yt-dlp:
- identity —
videoId,title,description,webpageUrl - author —
uploader,uploaderId,channel,channelId,channelUrl - numbers —
duration,uploadDate,viewCount,likeCount,commentCount - classification —
tags,categories,liveStatus,isLive,wasLive,availability - images —
thumbnailandthumbnails
get_video_chapters
Response: chapters. Each item has startTime, endTime, and title. When the video has no chapters, the list is empty.
get_video_frame
Input:
timecode—"MM:SS"or"HH:MM:SS.mmm"seconds— an alternative totimecode. Give one of the two, not bothformat—jpeg(default) orpngwidth— default1280, maximum1920, never larger than the sourcequality—2to31, for jpeg only
Response: an image block, plus timestampSeconds, timestamp, mimeType, sizeBytes, and width. This tool needs ffmpeg. The Docker image includes it.
get_playlist_transcripts
Input:
url— a playlist URL, or a watch URL withlist=type,lang,format— the same asget_raw_subtitlesplaylistItems— a yt-dlp-Ivalue such as1:5,1,3,7, or-1maxItems— the maximum number of videos
Response: results. Each item has videoId and text.
search_videos
Input:
query— the search textlimit— default 10, maximum 50offset— the number of results to skipuploadDateFilter—hour,today,week,month, oryearresponse_format—json(default) ormarkdown
Response: results. Each item has videoId, title, url, duration, uploader, viewCount, and thumbnail.
📺 Widgets
Four tools have an interactive interface: get_transcript, get_video_info, get_video_frame, and search_videos. Clients that support MCP Apps and the ChatGPT Apps SDK show this interface in the chat. Other clients get the same data as text and JSON.
|
|
|
|
🌍 Platforms
YouTube · Twitter/X · Instagram · TikTok · Twitch · Vimeo · Facebook · Bilibili · VK · Dailymotion · Reddit
Each tool that takes a video accepts a link from these 11 platforms. The tool search_videos works with YouTube only, through yt-dlp ytsearch.
The server does not download video or audio files for you. It returns text, metadata, and single frames.
🐳 Self-host
The tools are the same as on the hosted endpoint. You need no account.
Run the server with Docker. The image serves Streamable HTTP on port 4200:
docker run --rm -p 4200:4200 artsamsonov/transcriptor-mcp:latest
Then point your client at http://localhost:4200/mcp.
For stdio, give the image an explicit command:
docker run --rm -i artsamsonov/transcriptor-mcp:latest npm run start:mcp
{
"mcpServers": {
"transcriptor": {
"command": "docker",
"args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "artsamsonov/transcriptor-mcp:latest", "npm", "run", "start:mcp"]
}
}
}
The server starts with no environment variables. Each variable below is optional.
| Variable | Default | Function |
|---|---|---|
MCP_PORT and MCP_HOST |
4200 and 0.0.0.0 |
The HTTP listener |
COOKIES_FILE_PATH |
— | A Netscape cookies file for videos that need an account. See cookies.example.txt |
WHISPER_MODE |
off |
Set local or api to transcribe the audio when a video has no subtitles. Then set WHISPER_BASE_URL or WHISPER_API_KEY |
CACHE_MODE |
off |
Set redis and CACHE_REDIS_URL to cache subtitles and metadata |
YT_DLP_* |
— | Timeouts, proxy, and JS runtimes. See .env.example |
The same port serves GET /health and GET /metrics. The metrics are in Prometheus format and include the mcp_* counters.
Transport, REST API, and development
Transport. The server accepts POST /mcp only. GET and DELETE return 405. The server is stateless and sends no Mcp-Session-Id.
The Node process does not check bearer tokens. Put a reverse proxy or a gateway in front of it for authentication and TLS. The hosted endpoint works this way.
REST API. A second image gives the same extraction over plain HTTP:
docker run --rm -p 3000:3000 artsamsonov/transcriptor-mcp-api:latest
The Swagger interface is at http://localhost:3000/docs. For a full stack with the API and the MCP server, read docker-compose.example.yml.
Development.
npm ci
npm run build
npm run dev:mcp # stdio, hot reload
npm run dev:mcp:http # Streamable HTTP, hot reload
npm test
You need Node.js 20 or later, and yt-dlp in your PATH. Frame capture also needs ffmpeg. Other scripts: lint, type-check, format, test:coverage, test:e2e:api, and test:e2e:mcp.
Releases. The version comes from package.json at runtime, through src/version.ts. Change this version, move the [Unreleased] entries of the changelog into the new version, then push a v* tag. CI builds both images and publishes the MCP Registry entry from server.json.
Layout. src/mcp.ts (stdio entry), src/mcp-http.ts (Streamable HTTP), src/mcp-core.ts (tools, prompts, widgets), src/youtube.ts (yt-dlp), src/whisper.ts, src/cache.ts, src/index.ts (REST API), load/ (k6), and src/e2e/ (Docker smoke tests).
🤝 Contributing
Pull requests are welcome. Fork the repository, make a branch, and make sure that npm test and npm run lint pass. Then open a pull request.
⚖️ Legal
The hosted endpoint at gateway.mcpal.io is governed by the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.
A server you host yourself is not covered by those documents. It is governed by the MIT License only.
📄 License
MIT © 2026 samson-art. Read LICENSE.
💬 Support
Installing Transcriptor
This server has no published package — it is built from source. Open the repository and follow its README.
▸ github.com/samson-art/transcriptor-mcpFAQ
Is Transcriptor MCP free?
Yes, Transcriptor MCP is free — one-click install via Unyly at no cost.
Does Transcriptor need an API key?
No, Transcriptor runs without API keys or environment variables.
Is Transcriptor hosted or self-hosted?
Self-hosted: the server runs locally on your machine via the install command above.
How do I install Transcriptor in Claude Desktop, Claude Code or Cursor?
Open Transcriptor on unyly.org, pick your client tab (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor) and press Install — the config is generated automatically, no JSON editing.
Related MCPs
GitHub
PRs, issues, code search, CI status
by GitHubFilesystem
Secure file operations with configurable access controls.
Memory
Knowledge graph-based persistent memory system.
Template MCP Server
A CLI tool to create a new Model Context Protocol server project with TypeScript support, dual transport options, and an extensible structure
by mcpdotdirectAmap Maps Mcp Server
MCP server for using the AMap Maps API
by duxiaohuiSupabase
Database, auth and storage
by SupabaseEverything
Reference / test server with prompts, resources, and tools.
Git
Tools to read, search, and manipulate Git repositories.
Sequential Thinking
Dynamic and reflective problem-solving through thought sequences.
Time
Time and timezone conversion capabilities.
Compare Transcriptor with
Not sure what to pick?
Find your stack in 60 seconds
Author?
Embed badge for your README
Browse similar
All development MCPs
