scribefy-mcp

MCP server for Scribefy — extract YouTube transcripts from Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, ChatGPT custom GPTs, or any other MCP-compatible client.

Live now — set it up in a minute below, or try the web app at scribefy.app.

Why

Most YouTube transcript tools live in browser extensions or one-off web UIs. This wraps Scribefy's API into the MCP standard so your AI assistant can pull a transcript whenever a user pastes a YouTube link — no manual copy-paste, no separate tabs.

Requirements

• Node 20+
• A Scribefy account on the API + MCP plan ($25/mo) for an API key. You can install without a key first — the MCP host registers the server cleanly and you'll get a friendly nudge when you try to use a tool — then add your key from scribefy.app/dashboard to start extracting.

Setup

Claude Desktop

Open the config file (Settings → Developer → Edit Config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scribefy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scribefy-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SCRIBEFY_API_KEY": "sk_live_…"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The extract_transcript tool appears in the available-tools panel.

Cursor

Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server:

{
  "scribefy": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "scribefy-mcp"],
    "env": {
      "SCRIBEFY_API_KEY": "sk_live_…"
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scribefy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scribefy-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SCRIBEFY_API_KEY": "sk_live_…"
      }
    }
  }
}

Anywhere else

Any MCP host that supports stdio transport: spawn npx -y scribefy-mcp with SCRIBEFY_API_KEY in the env. The server speaks the standard MCP JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout.

Tools exposed

Four tools. Three are free (research toolkit); only extract_transcript charges credits.

extract_transcript

Pulls the transcript of a YouTube video.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
url	string	yes	Full YouTube URL — youtube.com/watch?v=…, youtu.be/…, or youtube.com/shorts/…
lang	string	no	BCP-47 language code (e.g. en, es, fr, zh-Hans). Defaults to en

Returns: Markdown with title, channel, duration, language, and the transcript split into segments with timestamps.

Cost: 1 credit (≤15 min) → 8 credits (2 h+). Cached transcripts are free.

search_videos

Free-text YouTube search.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	yes	Search query — same syntax YouTube's own search bar accepts
limit	number	no	Max results, 1–25 (default 10)

Returns: Markdown list of title / channel / duration / views / URL for each result.

Cost: Free.

get_video_metadata

Title, channel, duration, view count, upload date, and available caption tracks. Does not pull the transcript.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
url	string	yes	Full YouTube URL

Returns: Markdown summary plus a list of every caption track (authored ✏ or auto-generated ⚙) with its language code.

Cost: Free. Use this to inspect a video before deciding whether to extract, or to discover which caption languages are available.

get_related_videos

YouTube's "Up next" feed for a video.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
url	string	yes	Full YouTube URL of the seed video
limit	number	no	Max related videos, 1–25 (default 10)

Returns: Same shape as search_videos.

Cost: Free.

Tools coming in a future release

list_channel_videos and get_video_comments were planned for 0.3.0 but are deferred to 0.4.0 while we wait for upstream youtubei.js to publish fixes for YouTube's 2026 response-shape changes. Channel listing fails with HTTP 400 at the InnerTube layer, and info.getComments() is no longer attached to parsed VideoInfo. Both will return as soon as the library catches up.

Skills

The repo ships an Agent Skill (a SKILL.md your assistant loads on demand) that teaches it how to use these tools well — vet candidates with the free tools before spending credits, prefer authored captions, lean on the free transcript cache, and cite answers with timestamps.

• skills/youtube-research — the YouTube research workflow: search → vet metadata → extract selectively → synthesize with [mm:ss] citations.

To use it in Claude Code, copy the folder into your project's .claude/skills/ (or ~/.claude/skills/ to have it everywhere). Open Plugins-compatible hosts detect it straight from the repo.

Configuration

Env var	Required	Default	Notes
SCRIBEFY_API_KEY	yes	—	sk_live_… (production) or sk_test_… (Scribefy test mode)
SCRIBEFY_API_BASE	no	https://api.scribefy.app	Override for staging (https://api-staging.scribefy.app) or self-hosted instances

Troubleshooting

SCRIBEFY_API_KEY is required Make sure the env block is set in your MCP host's config and the host actually loads it. Some hosts strip env vars by default — check their docs.

Scribefy rejected the API key Either the key is wrong, the key was revoked, or your subscription is no longer on the API + MCP plan. Check scribefy.app/dashboard.

Not enough credits The tool returns the remaining balance and the cost in the error message. Top up at scribefy.app/pricing.

The tool doesn't show up in my MCP client After editing the config, fully restart the client (not just the chat window). Tail the client's logs if available — most show MCP stderr there. The server prints scribefy-mcp: ready once it boots.

License

MIT