YouTube MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables uploading videos to YouTube through Claude Desktop or any MCP-compatible client.

Features

• 📹 Upload Videos: Upload video files to YouTube with customizable metadata
• 🔐 OAuth2 Authentication: Secure authentication with YouTube API
• 📊 Quota Checking: Monitor your YouTube API usage
• 📝 Category Listing: Browse available video categories
• 🔧 Easy Setup: Built-in credential configuration tool

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher
• A Google Cloud Project with YouTube Data API v3 enabled
• OAuth2 credentials from Google Cloud Console
• Claude Desktop (or another MCP client)

Setup Instructions

1. Install Dependencies

# Clone or download this repository
cd youtube-mcp-server

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv

# Activate virtual environment
# On macOS/Linux:
source venv/bin/activate
# On Windows:
# venv\Scripts\activate

# Install required packages
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Set Up Google Cloud Credentials

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project or select existing one
3. Enable YouTube Data API v3:
   • Go to "APIs & Services" > "Library"
   • Search for "YouTube Data API v3"
   • Click Enable
4. Create OAuth2 credentials:
   • Go to "APIs & Services" > "Credentials"
   • Click "Create Credentials" > "OAuth client ID"
   • Choose "Desktop app" as application type
   • Download the credentials JSON file

3. Configure Claude Desktop

Add the server to your Claude Desktop configuration:

macOS/Linux:

# Open config file
code ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows:

code $env:AppData\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add this configuration:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "youtube-uploader": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/youtube-mcp-server/youtube_uploader.py"
            ]
        }
    }
}

4. First-Time Authentication

1. Restart Claude Desktop
2. Use the setup_youtube_auth tool with your OAuth2 credentials:
   • Provide client_id, client_secret, and project_id from downloaded JSON
3. Try uploading a video - a browser window will open for authentication
4. Grant permissions to your YouTube account

Available Tools

1. upload_video

Upload a video file to YouTube.

Parameters:

• file_path (required): Path to video file
• title (required): Video title
• description: Video description
• keywords: Comma-separated tags
• category_id: YouTube category ID (default: 22)
• privacy_status: "private", "unlisted", or "public" (default: private)
• made_for_kids: Boolean for COPPA compliance

Example:

Upload the video at /Users/me/video.mp4 with title "My Amazing Video" and description "This is a test upload"

2. check_upload_quota

Check your YouTube API quota usage and channel information.

3. list_video_categories

List available YouTube video categories for a specific region.

Parameters:

• region_code: ISO country code (default: US)

4. setup_youtube_auth

Configure OAuth2 credentials for YouTube API access.

Important Notes

• Quota Limits: YouTube API has daily quotas. Each upload costs ~1,600 units out of 1,600,000 daily units.
• File Size: Large files may take time to upload. The server uses resumable uploads.
• Privacy: Videos upload as "private" by default for safety.
• Authentication: OAuth2 tokens are stored locally in token.json.

Troubleshooting

1. "Missing credentials.json": Run setup_youtube_auth first
2. Authentication errors: Delete token.json and re-authenticate
3. Upload failures: Check file path, size, and format
4. Quota exceeded: Wait 24 hours for quota reset

Security

• Keep your credentials.json and token.json files secure
• Don't commit these files to version control
• OAuth2 tokens expire; the server will refresh them automatically

License

MIT License