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YouTube Transcript Server for Windsurf: Setup & Config

Windsurf: YouTube Transcript Server retrieves video captions through a single MCP tool.

What you can do with YouTube Transcript in Windsurf

Pick it for focused YouTube caption access with language and timestamp controls.

  • Collect timestamped passages for moment-specific references
  • Retrieve unfiltered text by disabling promotional filtering

Before you start: YouTube Transcript in Windsurf

  • Node.js 18 or later
  • npm or yarn
  • An MCP-compatible client

The server communicates over stdio. No runtime API key is specified for transcript retrieval.

YouTube Transcript Windsurf configuration

  1. Choose Windsurf configuration scope

    For YouTube Transcript Server, open macOS/Linux: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json. Merge into mcpServers; remote endpoints use serverUrl.

  2. Add YouTube Transcript Server to Windsurf

    Use the mcp-server-youtube-transcript entry below in mcpServers. Keep YouTube Transcript Server's documented stdio connection fields and your other Windsurf entries.

  3. Check YouTube Transcript Server in Windsurf

    YouTube Transcript Server: Refresh MCP in Windsurf settings and inspect Cascade’s tools.

Config file · macOS/Linux: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json

JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-youtube-transcript": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript"
      ],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

YouTube Transcript tools available to Windsurf

YouTube Transcript's stored tool list documents 1 tool; compare it with Windsurf's connected tool list, because the stored list is not a live check.

get_transcript

After refreshing YouTube Transcript in Windsurf settings, check Cascade's tool list for get_transcript.

Retrieve video captions with language, timestamp, and chapter-based promotional-filter options.

YouTube Transcript: full stored tool descriptions

Troubleshooting YouTube Transcript in Windsurf

  • Check npx @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript (Node.js/npm) on the machine running Windsurf's MCP integration for YouTube Transcript Server; refresh MCP and inspect Cascade's tools.
  • YouTube Transcript Server uses stdio here: Windsurf must keep the configured process running; protocol output belongs on stdout and diagnostics on stderr.
  • Known limitation: Unavailable transcripts still produce errors
  • Known limitation: Promotional filtering depends on chapter markers
  • General Windsurf troubleshooting lives in the /clients/windsurf guide.

YouTube Transcript Server — details. Windsurf guide

Frequently asked questions

Windsurf reads YouTube Transcript Server under mcpServers in ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json on macOS/Linux; Windows uses %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json.

Windsurf's mcp-server-youtube-transcript example uses stdio.

YouTube Transcript Server's Windsurf configuration invokes npx @kimtaeyoon83/mcp-server-youtube-transcript (Node.js/npm).

YouTube Transcript Server's stored list contains 1 tool, including get_transcript. Compare those names with Windsurf's connected tool list; the stored list is not a live check.

Yes. Set include_timestamps to true; it defaults to false.

Yes. Set strip_ads to false. Filtering otherwise defaults to true and relies on chapter markers.