REST API + MCP server for YouTube

YouTube data API and MCP for products and AI agents

Search, video details, transcripts, comments, channels and playlists with one key. Build with REST. Connect AI agents over MCP.

  • Balance never expires
  • Pay as you go
  • No subscription
TubeField hero Image

Works with MCP clients and agent workflows you already use

REST API for products

Clean endpoints for apps, dashboards and backend jobs

Use the API when YouTube data belongs inside your software. Every endpoint has documentation, a playground and predictable per-request pricing.

video_detail

Video metadata, channel, publish date, duration and public counts.

$0.003 Docs & playground
video_transcript

Timestamped transcript text when captions are available.

$0.003 Docs & playground
GET /v1/videos
Thumbnail for Macbook Neo Review by Marques Brownlee
HD • 12:53

YouTube Video

Macbook Neo Review: Better than you Think!

Marques Brownlee • Science & Technology

5.4M

views

150K

likes

7.6K

comments

JSON Response
{
  "video_id": "iGeXGdYE7UE",
  "title": "Macbook Neo Review...",
  "channel": "Marques Brownlee",
  "duration": "12:53",
  "published_at": "2026-03-10",
  "category": "Science & Technology",
  "language": "English",
  "stats": {
    "views": 5396261,
    "likes": 150450,
    "comments": 7675
  },
  "settings": {
    "quality": "HD",
    "captions": true,
    "embeddable": true
  },
  "disclosure": {
    "provided_for_review_by": "Apple",
    "affiliate_link": true,
    "sponsor": "dbrand skins"
  }
}

Drag to compare the thumbnail and the API response

Shared tool surface

The same YouTube capabilities through API and MCP

Use REST when your code calls TubeField directly. Use MCP when an agent should call the tools inside a conversation or coding environment.

REST for software

Build products, dashboards, enrichment jobs and internal tools with structured HTTP responses.

MCP for agents

Let assistants search YouTube, read transcripts and inspect channels while they reason through a task.

One account

The same prepaid balance powers API calls and MCP tool calls, so usage stays easy to track.

MCP for AI agents

Add YouTube tools to the assistant you already use

One URL connects ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and any MCP client. Your agent gets search, video details, transcripts, comments, channels and playlists.

MCP server URL

Browser assistants sign in with OAuth. Dev tools send your API key. Same URL either way.

https://tubefield.com/mcp

Step-by-step guides for ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and Cline.

Full setup guide

Recommended: MCP gives your agent the tools. The free Research Skill is the playbook for using them well.

Add the skill
Why TubeField

YouTube data without quota planning

Start small, build with REST or MCP, and keep usage tied to one prepaid balance.

Pay only when called

No subscription to justify. Each request uses a small, fixed amount from your balance.

No Google Cloud setup

No Google Cloud project, no OAuth dance, no quota math. One key and you are calling YouTube data.

Useful YouTube tools

Search, video details, transcripts, comments, channels and playlists in one tool surface.

Live examples

Answers a model can’t give alone.

These are real TubeField-powered answers assembled from search, video detail, transcripts, and comments.

Pick a conversation

ChatGPT

live TubeField data via MCP

MCP connected
I wake up tired. What is the simplest sleep routine YouTube experts keep repeating?
Used TubeField · 2 tool calls
tubefield.search_result “Huberman sleep routine morning light caffeine temperature”
tubefield.video_comments
channels Huberman Lab Clips After Skool Andrew Huberman

The recurring playbook is not another supplement stack. It is light, caffeine timing, temperature, and consistency.

  1. 1. Get outside within the first hour after waking. Phone brightness and indoor lights are not treated as equivalent to daylight in the transcript.
  2. 2. Use rough exposure windows: about 5 minutes on clear days, about 10 minutes through cloud cover, and 20–30 minutes when it is heavily overcast.
  3. 3. Delay caffeine 60–90 minutes if you crash in the afternoon, because immediate caffeine can mask lingering sleep pressure.
  4. 4. At night, do the opposite: keep light low and the room cool so body temperature can fall.
Pricing

Pay once. Spend when needed.

New accounts start with a free API balance. Paid balance never expires, so it can sit until your workflows need it.

Free

$0.50 free

$0.50 free balance to start. About 150 standard requests. Get an API key in seconds with no credit card.

  • Access all endpoints
  • No credit card required
  • Good for first tests
Starter

$10 one-time

Adds $10 to your API balance for steady production traffic and early automated jobs.

  • Balance never expires
  • Fixed per-request pricing
  • Useful for small pipelines
Pro Most popular

$100 one-time

$130 spendable balance, including a $30 bonus. The sweet spot for production workloads.

  • $100 + $30 free balance
  • Best value per workload
  • Built for automated pipelines
FAQ

Questions before you connect?

Every endpoint has a fixed per-request price in USD, charged against your API balance, so you know what each call costs.
YouTube charges far more underlying quota for search than for direct lookups. Video Search costs $0.01 / request; every other endpoint costs $0.003 / request, except enriched search (search/result), which bundles detail + transcript per result and runs $0.016–$0.07 by result count.
No. Your API balance never expires, so you can use it whenever your workflows need it. In the unlikely event TubeField is ever discontinued, unused paid balance is refunded.
Paid API requests stop with a 402 until you add more balance. This keeps spend predictable and prevents unexpected charges.
Yes. A completed lookup is billable even when the answer is empty. Errors like 402 or 429 are never charged.
Yes. ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or any MCP client connects to the MCP server; your own code calls the REST API. One key and one prepaid balance cover both.
No Google Cloud project, no OAuth, no quota math, and no transcript scraping. One key gives your agent twelve YouTube tools as structured JSON, over MCP or REST.
No. We don't train on your inputs and we don't sell your data. You're free to cache responses.
You get a clean `available: false` response. Not every video has a transcript, that completed lookup is a successful, billed call. Failed calls (402, 429) are never charged.
10 requests per second per API key, shared across REST and MCP. Going over returns a 429, which costs nothing; add a short backoff and retry.

Give your product and agents YouTube data.

Start with a free key and about 150 free requests, on REST, MCP, or both.