MCP server
A YouTube MCP server for your Assistant
By Jackson Gathondu. Published 1 November 2026. Updated .
ShortsIntel is an MCP server that covers YouTube. Connect it to Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex or Cursor and your Assistant can search YouTube Videos, look up a channel and its Shorts, read a Keyword, analyse a single Video and run a Research across YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Below are the tools that work on YouTube, where YouTube data stops, what each call costs and real output from our own account.
What your Assistant can do on YouTube
Your Assistant reads public YouTube data: Videos, their titles, descriptions, view counts and comments, channel profiles, and search results for a phrase. It never signs in to your YouTube account or your channel's analytics.
Ask in plain language. For example: "what are the most viewed YouTube Videos about SaaS marketing this month, and how do they open?" The Assistant picks the tools, calls them and answers from what comes back.
- Search YouTube for a phrase and get back Videos with their stats.
- Look up one Video by link, Short or long-form, and get its analysis: hook, on-screen text, format, call to action and a timed transcript.
- Look up a channel as a Creator, with followers, total views, a baseline and its recent Shorts.
- Read a page of a Video's comments, with sentiment and themes if you ask for them.
- Read a Keyword: a sample of the past month's search for a phrase, with median views and the top 10 Videos.
- Run a Research on a niche that covers YouTube Shorts alongside TikTok and Instagram Reels.
- Track a Keyword on YouTube daily and get a Change Report when the sample moves.
The tools that work on YouTube
Every paid tool can quote its price first if you ask for an estimate. Prices are in Credits.
| Tool | What it does on YouTube | Price |
|---|---|---|
| search_videos | Searches YouTube for a phrase and returns up to 30 Videos per page with stats. Can add analysis of the top 20. | 3 credits per Platform per page, analysis extra. |
| get_video | Looks up a Short or long-form Video by link or 11-character id. Adds analysis, a transcript or a download link on request. | Lookup 3 credits, analysis 23 credits, transcript 10 credits. |
| get_comments | Reads a page of a Video's comments, with optional sentiment and themes. | 3 credits per page, plus 10 credits for the analysis. |
| get_creator | Looks up a channel by handle or channel id: followers, total views, country, links, a baseline and its Shorts. | 6 credits, then 3 credits per extra page of Shorts. |
| get_keyword | Reads one page of YouTube search for a phrase from the past month: sample stats, trend since the last lookup and the top 10 Videos. | 3 credits |
| research | Studies a niche across YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels and returns a Digest of themes, hooks, formulas and audience gaps. | 1,036 credits for up to 50 analysed Videos. Reading it again is free. |
| track | Creates a daily Keyword Tracker on YouTube. | 3 credits a cycle. |
Data limits
YouTube data limits
- Creator data covers Shorts only. A channel lookup returns the channel's Shorts, not its long-form uploads.
- A single long-form Video can still be looked up. Analysis and download work on Videos up to 10 minutes long.
- There are no Hashtags or Sounds on YouTube, so get_hashtag_or_sound does not work there. score_video is TikTok only; Scores still come back on a channel's Shorts through get_creator.
- Creator Trackers do not run on YouTube yet. Keyword Trackers do.
- Keyword stats come from a sample of one search page, not YouTube totals.
Real output from YouTube
These are real responses from our own account, trimmed to fit. Your Assistant gets the same JSON and writes its answer from it.
YouTube, via MCP server
What do YouTube Videos about "saas marketing" get this month? (get_keyword, platform youtube)
{
"run": { "kind": "keyword_lookup", "status": "completed", "charge_credits": 3 },
"result": {
"phrase": "saas marketing",
"platform": "youtube",
"stats": {
"sampled_videos": 15,
"views_total": 165186,
"views_median": 263,
"views_max": 73228
},
"trend": { "since": null, "direction": null, "change_ratio": null },
"top_videos": [
{
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXxESN94Y6s",
"creator": { "name": "Starter Story", "handle": "starterstory" },
"snapshot": { "views": 73228 },
"posted_at": "2026-10-11T18:19:38.759Z",
"duration_seconds": 785
},
{
"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB5YYnrCOPM",
"creator": { "handle": "HenrySaaS" },
"snapshot": { "views": 61567 },
"duration_seconds": 3972
},
...
]
}
}
(10 top Videos in all; the trend is null on a first lookup)YouTube, via REST API
Look up the MrBeast channel and its recent Shorts. (get_creator, platform youtube, include videos)
{
"run": { "kind": "creator_lookup", "status": "completed", "charge_credits": 6 },
"result": {
"platform": "youtube",
"handle": "MrBeast",
"id": "UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA",
"country": "United States",
"joined_at": "2012-02-19T00:00:00.000Z",
"follower_count": 524000000,
"total_views": 145430387555,
"video_count": 1011,
"baseline": {
"source": "follower_tier",
"confidence": "low",
"median_views": 600000,
"p90_views": 1800000
},
"videos": [
{ "description": "Can A Robot Do My Chores?", "snapshot": { "views": 45000000 }, "scores": { "outlier": 75 } },
{ "description": "Last To Fall Wins", "snapshot": { "views": 137000000 } },
{ "description": "Who's The Strongest Streamer?", "snapshot": { "views": 1000000000 } },
...
],
"next_cursor": "eyJwIjoiWU9VVFVCRSIs..."
}
}
(48 Shorts on the first page; next_cursor reads the next page)YouTube, via REST API
Research B2B SaaS product marketing on YouTube. (research, platforms youtube, 50 Videos)
{
"intent": "B2B SaaS product marketing Shorts",
"coverage": { "youtube": "complete" },
"digest": {
"summary": "B2B SaaS marketing content is currently dominated by discussions around AI disruption, building in public, and strategic go-to-market advice. ...",
"formulas": [
{
"name": "The Contrarian Talking Head",
"recipe": "A talking head format that opens with a bold claim, followed by an explanation of the shift, evidence, and a new framework.",
"lift": { "views_lift": 25.14, "video_count": 4, "median_views": 9352 }
},
...
],
"hooks": [
{
"text": "If your SaaS is still sitting at zero MRR, I think I know why, and it's probably not because you need a better product.",
"template": "If your [project] is still sitting at [negative state], I think I know why, and it's probably not because you need a better [solution].",
"hook_type": "PROBLEM"
},
...
],
"gaps": [
{ "ask": "Viewers want to know how to market high-ticket, low-frequency B2B products." },
...
]
}
}
(49 Videos analysed; themes, angles and sentiment trimmed)How to read the output
The Keyword sample is one page of YouTube search, so its median views are a guide to what a typical Video on the phrase gets, not a count of every Video. Look the same phrase up again later and the trend field shows how it moved.
A channel baseline built from follower tier, as in the second sample, is marked low confidence. Treat an outlier figure against it as a rough guide.
YouTube search results include long-form Videos as well as Shorts. In the Research above, 43 of the 49 Videos ran longer than three minutes. If you only want Shorts, have your Assistant check each Video's duration_seconds.
Connect your Assistant
The server address is https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp for every Assistant. None of them needs an API key: you sign in to ShortsIntel and choose which organization's Balance pays.
Claude.ai
Web and desktop. No API key: Claude signs in to ShortsIntel for you.
- Open Claude's add connector page with ShortsIntel filled in, and choose Add. Or go to Settings, Connectors, Add custom connector, and paste the endpoint below.
https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp - Sign in to ShortsIntel, approve the connection and choose the organization whose Balance pays for Runs.
- In a chat, turn the ShortsIntel connector on and ask your question.
ChatGPT
Web and desktop, in Developer mode. No API key: ChatGPT signs in over OAuth.
- Open ChatGPT's connector settings and switch Developer mode on.
- Create a connector named ShortsIntel, paste the endpoint and choose OAuth.
https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp - Sign in to ShortsIntel and choose your organization.
- In a new chat, choose the + next to the message box, then Developer mode, and turn ShortsIntel on.
Claude Code
One command, then sign in from Claude Code.
- Add the server in your terminal.
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user shortsintel https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp - Run /mcp inside Claude Code, choose shortsintel and sign in.
Codex
One command; Codex signs in on first use.
- Add the server in your terminal.
codex mcp add shortsintel --url https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp - If no browser window opens to sign in, start it yourself.
codex mcp login shortsintel
Cursor and VS Code
One-click install links; each asks you to confirm.
- In Cursor, open the Cursor install link.
- In VS Code, open the VS Code install link.
- Sign in to ShortsIntel when the editor asks.
YouTube questions to try
Start with a cheap lookup to see the connection work, then ask for a bigger Run.
- Look up the Keyword "home workout" on YouTube and list the top Videos with their view counts.
- Look up this channel and tell me which of its recent Shorts did best against its usual views: (paste a channel link)
- Analyse this YouTube Short and write out its hook, on-screen text and call to action: (paste a link)
- Read the comments on this Video and tell me what viewers are asking for: (paste a link)
- Research meal prep content on YouTube Shorts and TikTok and give me five hook templates.
- Track the Keyword "budget travel" on YouTube and tell me when a new Video enters the top 10.
Questions
- What is a YouTube MCP server?
- It is a tool server that an Assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT connects to over the Model Context Protocol. It gives the Assistant tools to search YouTube, look up Videos and channels and read comments, so it answers from current YouTube data instead of its training data.
- Does it cover long-form YouTube Videos or only Shorts?
- Both, with one exception. Search and single Video lookups return long-form Videos as well as Shorts, and analysis works on Videos up to 10 minutes long. Channel lookups return the channel's Shorts only.
- Can my Assistant read my own channel's analytics?
- No. The server reads public data only: Videos, public view counts, comments and channel profiles. It never signs in to your YouTube account, so watch time, retention and revenue are not available.
- Can I track a YouTube channel?
- Not yet. Creator Trackers run on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. On YouTube you can track a Keyword daily, and you can look a channel up again whenever you want fresh numbers.
- Which Assistants work with it?
- Claude.ai, ChatGPT in Developer mode, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code. Any client that adds a remote MCP server over streamable HTTP works too: point it at https://www.shortsintel.com/api/mcp and sign in, or send an API key.
- What does a YouTube lookup cost?
- A Video lookup is 3 credits, a channel lookup 6 credits and a Keyword 3 credits. A Run that fails costs nothing, and reading a finished Research again is free.
Try it in your Assistant
Connect ShortsIntel to the Assistant you already use and ask the question this guide answers, or try the calls in the Playground first.