YouTube Transcript Strapi Plugin

A Strapi v5 plugin that extracts transcripts from YouTube videos and exposes them via MCP (Model Context Protocol) for AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude.

What It Does

This plugin allows AI assistants to:

• Fetch transcripts from any YouTube video with captions (auto-generated or manual)
• Store transcripts in Strapi's database for faster repeated access
• Search within transcripts using BM25 relevance scoring
• Paginate long transcripts in time-based chunks to manage token usage
• List and find stored transcripts across your Strapi instance

The plugin uses YouTube's internal API via youtubei.js to extract caption data, parsing the timedtext XML to provide accurate timestamps for each segment.

Installation

npm install yt-transcript-strapi-plugin

Or with yarn:

yarn add yt-transcript-strapi-plugin

Setup in Strapi

1. Enable the Plugin

Add the plugin to your Strapi configuration in config/plugins.ts (or config/plugins.js):

export default () => ({
  'yt-transcript-strapi-plugin': {
    enabled: true,
    config: {
      // See Configuration section below
    },
  },
});

2. Rebuild Strapi

After adding the plugin, rebuild your Strapi application:

npm run build
npm run develop

3. Configure Permissions

Go to Settings > Users & Permissions > Roles in the Strapi admin panel.

For the Public role (or your preferred role), enable:

• yt-transcript-strapi-plugin > mcp (for MCP endpoint access)

Alternatively, use API Tokens for authentication (recommended for production).

Configuration

All configuration options with their defaults:

export default () => ({
  'yt-transcript-strapi-plugin': {
    enabled: true,
    config: {
      // Proxy URL for YouTube requests (recommended for production)
      proxyUrl: process.env.PROXY_URL || '',

      // Chunk size for transcript pagination (default: 5 minutes)
      chunkSizeSeconds: 300,

      // Preview length in characters (default: 500)
      previewLength: 500,

      // Auto-load full transcript if under this character count (default: 50000)
      maxFullTranscriptLength: 50000,

      // Segment size for search scoring in seconds (default: 30)
      searchSegmentSeconds: 30,
    },
  },
});

Configuration Options Explained

Proxy Configuration

Why Use a Proxy?

YouTube may block requests from server IPs, especially:

• Cloud hosting providers (AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.)
• Data center IPs
• IPs with high request volumes

If you see errors like "YouTube requires sign-in" or empty responses, you likely need a proxy.

Setting Up a Proxy

1. Get a residential proxy from a provider like:

   • Bright Data
   • Oxylabs
   • Smartproxy
   • IPRoyal

2. Configure the proxy URL in your environment:

# .env file
PROXY_URL=http://username:password@proxy.example.com:8080

3. Reference it in your plugin config:

export default () => ({
  'yt-transcript-strapi-plugin': {
    enabled: true,
    config: {
      proxyUrl: process.env.PROXY_URL,
    },
  },
});

Proxy URL Format

http://username:password@hostname:port
https://username:password@hostname:port

The plugin masks credentials in logs (showing **** instead of the password).

Testing Without a Proxy

For local development, you may not need a proxy if your home IP isn't blocked. The plugin works without a proxy configured—it will make direct requests to YouTube.

MCP Endpoint

The plugin exposes an MCP-compatible endpoint at:

/api/yt-transcript-strapi-plugin/mcp

This endpoint implements the Model Context Protocol for AI assistant integration.

Available MCP Tools

Tool Details

fetch_transcript

Fetches a transcript from YouTube and stores it in the database.

Parameters:

• url (string, required): YouTube URL or video ID

Returns: Transcript data with video title, full text, and timestamped segments.

get_transcript

Retrieves a stored transcript, optionally paginated by time chunks.

Parameters:

• id (number, required): Transcript database ID
• chunk (number, optional): Chunk index for pagination (0-based)

search_transcript

Searches within a transcript using BM25 relevance scoring.

Parameters:

• id (number, required): Transcript database ID
• query (string, required): Search terms

Returns: Ranked segments matching the query with timestamps.

Authentication

Option 1: API Token (Recommended)

Create an API token in Strapi Admin:

1. Go to Settings > API Tokens
2. Click Create new API Token
3. Give it a name and select appropriate permissions
4. Copy the token

Use the token in requests:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  https://your-strapi.com/api/yt-transcript-strapi-plugin/mcp

Option 2: OAuth 2.0 (for ChatGPT)

For ChatGPT integration, use with the strapi-oauth-mcp-manager plugin:

1. Install and enable strapi-oauth-mcp-manager
2. Create an OAuth client in Strapi admin
3. Configure ChatGPT with the OAuth credentials

The plugin automatically registers with the OAuth manager on startup.

Connecting AI Assistants

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "youtube-transcripts": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://your-strapi.com/api/yt-transcript-strapi-plugin/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_STRAPI_API_TOKEN"
      ]
    }
  }
}

ChatGPT

Use the OAuth flow with strapi-oauth-mcp-manager. Configure your ChatGPT plugin with:

• MCP Server URL: https://your-strapi.com/api/yt-transcript-strapi-plugin/mcp
• OAuth Client ID: From Strapi OAuth manager
• OAuth Client Secret: From Strapi OAuth manager

Example Usage

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant:

• "Get the transcript from https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
• "Search for mentions of 'machine learning' in transcript #5"
• "List all stored transcripts"
• "Summarize the key points from this YouTube video: [URL]"

Troubleshooting

"YouTube requires sign-in" Error

Your server IP is likely blocked. Configure a residential proxy (see Proxy Configuration above).

Empty or No Captions

The video may not have captions available. Check if:

• The video has auto-generated or manual captions on YouTube
• The video is public and not age-restricted
• The video is available in your region

Timeout Errors

Long videos may take time to process. The plugin logs progress—check your Strapi logs for details.

Debug Logging

The plugin logs detailed information during transcript fetching:

[yt-transcript] Fetching video ABC123 via proxy: http://user:****@proxy.example.com:8080
[yt-transcript] Video ABC123 - Title: Example Video
[yt-transcript] Video ABC123 - Playability: OK
[yt-transcript] Video ABC123 - Caption tracks found: 2
[yt-transcript] Video ABC123 - Available languages: en, en (auto)
[yt-transcript] Video ABC123 - Success! 150 segments, 4532 chars

Requirements

• Strapi v5.x
• Node.js >= 18

Optional Dependencies

• strapi-oauth-mcp-manager - For OAuth 2.0 support (required for ChatGPT)

License

MIT