Skip the install. Get this working in under 2 minutes.
Start a free trial on cloud.anythingmcp.com, add the YouTube Data API in one click, then point your AI client (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot or Cursor) at the generated MCP endpoint. No Docker, no git clone, zero engineering experience required.
AnythingMCP is listed in Claude's connector directory: add it to Claude in one click (opens in a new tab), then sign in and choose which MCP servers Claude may use.
Summary
Read YouTube data — videos, channels, playlists, search, comments — and (with OAuth) manage your own uploads. 9 tools, API key + optional OAuth Bearer.
Try asking
Example prompts for YouTube Data API
Click any prompt to copy it. Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini, Copilot or OpenClaw to run it against this connector.
Claude is AI and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
💡 No install? Use cloud.anythingmcp.com directly. Sign in, click Connectors → YouTube Data API, paste your credentials, mint an MCP API key — done. No Docker, no
git clone, no local server.
YouTube Data API + Claude
Read YouTube data — videos, channels, playlists, search, comments — and (with OAuth) manage your own uploads. 9 tools, API key + optional OAuth Bearer.
Prerequisites
See the full setup instructions baked into the connector (visible in the in-app store when you select the connector). The required environment variables for this connector are:
YOUTUBE_API_KEY
Step 1 — Get credentials
Setup:
- Create / pick a Google Cloud project at https://console.cloud.google.com.
- APIs & Services → Library → enable YouTube Data API v3.
- Credentials → Create credentials → API key. (For write operations, also do OAuth2 client + get a Bearer token with
youtube.upload/youtubescopes — out of scope here.) - Set
YOUTUBE_API_KEYto the API key.
Authentication: query-string ?key=.... Read operations don't need OAuth.
…(continued in the in-app connector instructions)
Step 2 — Install the adapter
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelpCode-ai/anythingmcp/main/docker-compose.quickstart.yml -o docker-compose.yml
printf 'JWT_SECRET=%s\nENCRYPTION_KEY=%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
docker compose up -d
Step 3 — Add the connector in Claude
Your server URL: in AnythingMCP, open MCP Servers → the server this connector is on, and copy its URL (
https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/…). Use it wherever this guide showsYOUR_SERVER_ID.
Recommended path — works on claude.ai web without editing any config file.
- In Claude, open Customize → Connectors.
- Click +, then Add custom connector.
- Enter a name, e.g.
YouTube Data API, and the remote MCP server URLhttps://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/YOUR_SERVER_ID, then click Add. - Click Connect and sign in to AnythingMCP (OAuth) to allow access.
All tools below appear in your chat — start typing prompts.
Available tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
youtube_search | Search videos / channels / playlists |
youtube_get_videos | Fetch video details by ID(s) |
youtube_get_videos_chart | Get videos from a chart (currently only 'mostPopular') |
youtube_get_channels | Fetch channel details by ID, handle (@username), forUsername (legacy), or 'mine' (requires OAuth) |
youtube_list_playlists | List playlists, filtered by channelId or 'mine' (OAuth) |
youtube_list_playlist_items | List items in a playlist (videos in playlist) |
youtube_list_video_comments | List top-level comments on a video |
youtube_list_categories | List video categories for a region |
youtube_get_captions | List caption tracks available for a video |
FAQ
Does it work with Claude Code as well as Claude Desktop? Yes — point both at https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/YOUR_SERVER_ID.
Next steps
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