BulkTranscripts MCP server

YouTube transcripts for AI agents — one video, a whole channel, or a playlist —plus YouTube search and free new-upload tracking, through one hostedMCP server. No local process, no yt-dlpto keep fresh, no IP blocks to fight: extraction, proxy rotation and PO-tokenhandling all happen server-side.

Endpoint: https://bulktranscripts.co/mcp (Streamable HTTP)
Auth: OAuth (sign in with Google, 30 free credits, no card) or an API key as a Bearer token
Registry: co.bulktranscripts/youtube ·
Setup docs: https://bulktranscripts.co/docs#mcp · REST API: https://bulktranscripts.co/docs

Install

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http bulktranscripts https://bulktranscripts.co/mcp

Run /mcp and pick bulktranscripts to sign in. This repo is also a Claude Codeplugin (server + skill):

/plugin marketplace add pratie/bulktranscripts-mcp
/plugin install bulktranscripts@bulktranscripts

Claude (web and desktop)

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → URL https://bulktranscripts.co/mcp.Claude opens the Google sign-in; credits then follow your account.

ChatGPT

Settings → Apps & Connectors → Developer mode → Create → URLhttps://bulktranscripts.co/mcp, authentication OAuth.

Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, any client with a JSON config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bulktranscripts": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://bulktranscripts.co/mcp"
    }
  }
}

OAuth-capable clients start the sign-in on the first request. Clients that cannotdo OAuth send an API key instead — create one free athttps://bulktranscripts.co/app?tab=mcp (Google sign-in, 30 free credits) or usethe license key from a credit pack:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bulktranscripts": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://bulktranscripts.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${BULKTRANSCRIPTS_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

Clients that cannot send headers can append ?key=YOUR_KEY to the URL.

What the agent can do

Tool	What it does	Cost
`get_transcript`	Full transcript of one YouTube (or TikTok) video as clean text with metadata; timestamped segments on request.	1 credit, free on repeat reads from your library
`get_transcripts`	Up to 20 videos in one call; videos without captions are reported per item and never fail the batch.	1 credit per new transcript
`search_youtube`	Search YouTube for videos, channels or playlists by keyword.	1 credit
`search_channel`	Search inside one channel's uploads for a topic.	1 credit
`get_channel_videos`	List up to 1,000 of a channel's videos (id, title, duration, URL).	1 credit
`get_playlist_videos`	List up to 1,000 videos of a public or unlisted playlist, in order.	1 credit
`get_latest_videos`	A channel's newest uploads with publish dates, from RSS.	Always free

Every tool is read-only: nothing on YouTube or in your account is modified ordeleted. Transcripts land in your library once and are free to re-read forever, inany format, so agents that revisit the same videos do not burn credits.get_latest_videos is free on purpose: poll it to detect new uploads, then spend acredit only on what is actually new.

Example prompts

Summarise the last 10 videos from @veritasium and tell me which ones cover quantum mechanics.

Find talks about founder mode on the Y Combinator channel and pull the transcripts.

Watch @simonwillison for new uploads and transcribe anything about local models.

How auth works

An unauthenticated request to /mcp answers 401 with a WWW-Authenticate challengepointing at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp, which is how MCP clientsknow to start the OAuth flow (dynamic client registration is supported). The sameAuthorization header accepts an API key (bt_ak_…) or a license key, with orwithout the Bearer prefix.

Pricing

Signing in includes 30 free credits. After that, one-time packs: $4.99 / 200credits, $14.99 / 1,200, $29 / 5,000. No subscription; credits never expire.Details at https://bulktranscripts.co/#pricing.

Repo layout

File	Used by
`.mcp.json`	Claude Code plugin config (hosted endpoint, OAuth)
`.claude-plugin/plugin.json`, `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`	Claude Code plugin marketplace
`plugin.json`, `mcp.json`	Cursor / agent-plugins.org
`skills/youtube-transcripts/`	Agent skill for the REST API (also at pratie/youtube-transcript-skill)
`server.json`	Official MCP registry manifest

License

MIT — see LICENSE. This repo holds the manifests, plugin and skill for thehosted server; the extraction service itself is operated at bulktranscripts.co.

BulkTranscripts MCP server