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Platform integration

Is there an official YouTube MCP server?

No. Google's MCP server list (updated 2 November 2026) covers Workspace, Maps, Home, Pay and others, not YouTube [2]. YouTube's official access is the Data API v3 plus the Analytics and Reporting APIs [5][7]. Community and vidIQ YouTube MCP servers are not Google products [3].

InterfaceStatusDetail
Native AIAsk Studio in YouTube StudioAI assistant in YouTube Studio on desktop web, for ideas, channel insights and analytics questions. Not available to Official Artist Channels, Made for Kids channels or creators under 18.[1]
Official MCP serverMCP · None foundNot on Google's MCP product list. Servers called 'YouTube MCP' come from independent developers or companies such as vidIQ.[2][3]
Official CLICLI · None foundGoogle publishes code samples, such as a Python upload script, but no command-line tool was found.[4]
Official APIAPI · OfficialData API for uploads and channel resources, Analytics API for report queries, Reporting API for bulk reports.[5][6][7]
Community MCPMCP · Community11 community or third-party servers in our directory; listed below.

What Google offers instead

YouTube MCP servers wrap these APIs or their builder's own data. vidIQ's comparison (vidIQ's, not Google's) describes several: ZubeidHendricks' server needs your own Data API key and none of its 10 documented tools can write; Composio's signs in to your YouTube account through Composio and can upload, update and delete videos [3].

vidIQ's own server uses vidIQ's data infrastructure, not the YouTube Data API [3].

A community server can do whatever your granted access allows: the youtube.upload OAuth scope lets it upload to your channel [6].

  • Data API v3: uploads (videos.insert), custom thumbnails (thumbnails.set), channels, playlists and comments [5][6][8]
  • Analytics API: targeted queries for custom reports [7]
  • Reporting API: bulk reports to download, store and filter [7]

What the API allows

  • Uploads of up to 256GB go to POST https://www.googleapis.com/upload/youtube/v3/videos [6]
  • Uploads are public unless status.privacyStatus is set to private or unlisted [6][9]
  • Unverified API projects are no longer limited to private uploads [6][9]; YouTube's Help Center article on locked videos still shows the old rule [10]
  • thumbnails.set takes a JPEG or PNG up to 50MB, on verified channels only [8][11]

Quotas

  • Daily default per project: 100 search.list calls, 100 videos.insert calls and 10,000 units for everything else [5][12]
  • An upload costs 1 unit from the Video Uploads bucket [6]; thumbnails.set costs about 50 units [8]
  • The separate buckets started on 1 June 2026; on 4 Dec 2025 the documented upload cost fell from about 1,600 units to about 100 [13]
  • More quota needs a compliance audit through Google's audit and quota extension form [14]

How to connect

You need a Google Cloud project with the YouTube Data API enabled, and OAuth sign-in for your channel [5]. Google's upload guide has a Python 2 sample [4].

Copied from the documentation · source [4]
python upload_video.py --file="/tmp/test_video_file.flv"
                       --title="Summer vacation in California"
                       --description="Had fun surfing in Santa Cruz"
                       --keywords="surfing,Santa Cruz"
                       --category="22"
                       --privacyStatus="private"

Consent rules

YouTube's Developer Policies (updated 1 November 2026) apply to every tool built on the API, MCP servers included [15]:

  • No automated views, uploads, comments, likes, dislikes or other actions without the user's 'prior specific and express consent' [15]
  • Tools may suggest values, but users must have final control over what is published [15]
  • Upload tools must offer a clear public, private or unlisted choice, and cannot change a video's privacy without express consent [15]
  • No scraping YouTube or using scraped YouTube data [15]

YouTube entries in the directory

Sources

  1. Learn about Ask Studio in YouTube Studio - YouTube Help fetched 2 Nov 2026
  2. Supported products  |  Google Cloud MCP servers  |  Google Cloud Documentation fetched 2 Nov 2026
  3. YouTube MCP Server for ChatGPT, Claude & More | vidIQ fetched 2 Nov 2026
  4. Upload a Video  |  YouTube Data API  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  5. YouTube Data API Overview  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  6. Videos: insert  |  YouTube Data API  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  7. YouTube Analytics and Reporting APIs  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  8. Thumbnails: set  |  YouTube Data API  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  9. Videos  |  YouTube Data API  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  10. Videos locked as private - YouTube Help fetched 2 Nov 2026
  11. Add custom thumbnails on YouTube - Computer - YouTube Help fetched 2 Nov 2026
  12. Quota Calculator  |  YouTube Data API  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  13. Revision History  |  YouTube Data API  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  14. Quota and Compliance Audits  |  YouTube Data API  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026
  15. YouTube API Services - Developer Policies  |  Google for Developers fetched 2 Nov 2026