youtube-mcp

OAuth-authenticated YouTube MCP for channel owners — edit your video metadata, reply to and moderate comments, manage playlists, query channel analytics, and generate + set AI thumbnails via a ComfyUI bridge. Goes beyond the read-only Data API v3 wrappers that dominate this space.

Part of the MCP Server Series.

The pitch

Most existing YouTube MCPs use an API key against Data API v3 — search videos, fetch public metadata, read-only. This one uses OAuth 2.0 (Authorization Code + PKCE) so it can actually write to your channel: update video titles/descriptions/tags, reply to comments, moderate spam, manage playlists. Plus it hits the separate YouTube Analytics API for channel stats, and — the hero tool — generates a thumbnail via ComfyUI and pushes it to YouTube in a single MCP call.

Claude, use generate_and_set_thumbnail on video abc123:
  prompt: "cyberpunk hacker at keyboard, neon blue and pink, high contrast"

→ ComfyUI renders 1280×720 → youtube-mcp fetches the bytes → POSTs to thumbnails.set. Done.

Install

# npx — no install
npx @miller-joe/youtube-mcp --help

# Docker
docker run -p 9120:9120 \
  -e YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID=... \
  -e YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET=... \
  -e YOUTUBE_TOKEN_FILE=/token/token.json \
  -v $PWD/token:/token \
  ghcr.io/miller-joe/youtube-mcp:latest

Setup — Google Cloud one-time (~10 min)

1. Google account + YouTube channel — use a personal account, not a workspace one you might lose.

2. Google Cloud project at https://console.cloud.google.com — call it whatever (e.g. youtube-mcp).

3. Enable APIs:

   • YouTube Data API v3
   • YouTube Analytics API

4. OAuth consent screen — External, App name, support email; in Scopes add:

   • youtube.upload
   • youtube.force-ssl
   • yt-analytics.readonly

5. Stay in Testing mode. Add yourself as a test user (required). As the project owner, your refresh token won't expire.

6. Create OAuth Client ID: Application type = Desktop app. Download the JSON.

7. Run the interactive auth flow:

   npx @miller-joe/youtube-mcp --auth --client-secret-file ./client_secret.json
   

   A browser opens → you log in to the Google account tied to your YouTube channel → grant the requested scopes. On success, a refresh token is saved to ~/.config/youtube-mcp/token.json.

8. Start the server:

   npx @miller-joe/youtube-mcp --client-secret-file ./client_secret.json
   

   Or provide the client credentials via env: YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE, or YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID + YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET.

Connect an MCP client

claude mcp add --transport http youtube http://localhost:9120/mcp

Or point your MCP gateway at the Streamable HTTP endpoint.

Configuration

CLI flag	Env var	Default	Notes
--client-secret-file	YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE	—	Path to Google OAuth JSON
--client-id	YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID	—	Alternative to the secret file
--client-secret	YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET	—	Alternative to the secret file
--token-file	YOUTUBE_TOKEN_FILE	~/.config/youtube-mcp/token.json	Refresh token storage
--host	MCP_HOST	0.0.0.0	Bind host
--port	MCP_PORT	9120	Bind port
--comfyui-url	COMFYUI_URL	(unset — bridge disabled)	ComfyUI HTTP URL for bridge tools
—	COMFYUI_DEFAULT_CKPT	sd_xl_base_1.0.safetensors	Default checkpoint for bridge tool

Tools

Videos

• list_my_videos — paginated list of authenticated channel's uploads
• get_video — full detail for one video
• update_video_metadata — title / description / tags / category / privacy
• delete_video — permanently delete a video. Requires confirm_video_title to match the current title exactly as a guard against deleting the wrong video.

Captions

• list_captions — list caption tracks on a video (language, name, status, draft flag)
• upload_caption — upload an SRT or WebVTT caption track to a video
• delete_caption — delete a caption track

Shorts

• list_my_shorts — find Shorts in recent uploads (filters by ≤60s duration)
• get_shorts_analytics — YouTube Analytics query restricted to Shorts (creatorContentType==SHORTS)

Playlists

• create_playlist — create a playlist (default private)
• add_to_playlist — add a video to an existing playlist

Comments

• list_comments — top-level comment threads on a video
• reply_to_comment — reply to a top-level comment
• moderate_comment — hold / approve / reject a comment

Analytics

• query_channel_analytics — date-ranged metrics with optional dimensions and filters

Bridge (when COMFYUI_URL is configured)

• generate_and_set_thumbnail — generate thumbnail via ComfyUI and set it on a video in one call

Quota notes

YouTube Data API free tier = 10,000 units/day. Key operation costs:

• videos.list, commentThreads.list — 1 unit each
• videos.update, comments.insert, thumbnails.set — 50 units each
• videos.insert (upload) — 1,600 units → ~6 uploads/day on free tier

Most creator-ops workflows stay well under the free cap.

Architecture

┌────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│  MCP client    │────▶│  youtube-mcp     │────▶│  YouTube APIs   │
│  (Claude etc.) │◀────│  (this server)   │◀────│  (Data/Analytics)│
└────────────────┘     └────────┬─────────┘     └─────────────────┘
                                │
                                │ (bridge tools only)
                                ▼
                       ┌──────────────────┐
                       │  ComfyUI         │
                       │  (txt2img)       │
                       └──────────────────┘

OAuth refresh tokens are cached locally and refreshed just-in-time before expiry. The bridge tool downloads image bytes from ComfyUI internally — ComfyUI does not need to be publicly reachable.

Development

git clone https://github.com/miller-joe/youtube-mcp
cd youtube-mcp
npm install
npm run dev
npm run build
npm test

Requires Node 20+.

Roadmap

• [x] Video list / get / update metadata
• [x] Playlist create + add-to
• [x] Comments list / reply / moderate
• [x] Channel analytics query
• [x] ComfyUI thumbnail bridge (generate_and_set_thumbnail)
• [x] Caption upload + list + delete (upload_caption, list_captions, delete_caption)
• [x] Video delete with title-match confirm guard
• [x] Shorts ergonomics: list_my_shorts (duration filter) + get_shorts_analytics (creatorContentType==SHORTS)
• [ ] Video upload (video_upload) — resumable upload support
• [ ] Reporting API for bulk historical data exports

License

MIT © Joe Miller

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