VidWords YouTube MCP server

VidWords YouTube MCP Server

A hosted Model Context Protocol server that lets an AI agent read YouTube videos — and cite the exact second it got the answer from.

A language model cannot watch a video. Point it at this endpoint and it gains nine tools for searching transcripts, reading a video's frames — slides, charts, demos, on-screen text — and answering questions with citations that are verified before you see them.

No integration code. No scraping. No proxy pool.

POST https://vidwords.com/mcp
Authorization: Basic <your-api-token>

Remote-only and hosted — there is nothing to install or self-host. This repository is the public manifest, configuration reference and issue tracker for that endpoint.

Quick start

Most clients need no token at all. The server speaks OAuth, so the client registers itself, sends you to VidWords to sign in, and stores a credential it refreshes on its own. You can create the account during that sign-in step. The free plan includes monthly credits and 10 Watch minutes, so you can wire this up and use it before paying anything.

claude.ai, ChatGPT and Claude Desktop — add a connector, nothing to paste

Add this as a custom connector:

https://vidwords.com/mcp

The host registers itself, sends you to VidWords to sign in, and shows a consent screen naming exactly what it is asking for. Registration alone grants nothing — access begins only when a signed-in person clicks Approve, and live connections can be revoked from your API page with immediate effect.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http vidwords https://vidwords.com/mcp

Then type /mcp in a session and choose Authenticate.

Cursor — .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vidwords": {
      "url": "https://vidwords.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor shows the server as Needs login — click that once and it runs the OAuth flow in your browser. Because this file carries no secret, it is safe to commit, which the header form below is not.

A static token instead

For CI, a container, or a client with no OAuth support, authenticate with a header. Create an account at vidwords.com/register, verify your email, then copy the token from your profile.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http vidwords https://vidwords.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Basic YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Claude Desktop — claudedesktopconfig.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vidwords": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://vidwords.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Basic YOUR_API_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

Cursor — .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vidwords": {
      "url": "https://vidwords.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Basic YOUR_API_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

Keep this out of version control, or use ~/.cursor/mcp.json instead — the header holds a live credential.

Codex CLI — ~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.vidwords]
url = "https://vidwords.com/mcp"
env_http_headers = { "Authorization" = "VIDWORDS_MCP_AUTH" }

export VIDWORDS_MCP_AUTH="Basic YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Do not use bearertokenenv_var. It is the obvious-looking field, but it sends

Authorization: Bearer and this server authenticates with Basic.

Clients without custom-header support, and Docker

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.