YTGlean

Glean transcripts from YouTube channels, store them in SQLite, summarize via LLM, and expose the data as an MCP server.

Features

Track YouTube channels and automatically fetch new video transcripts
Dual transcript providers: InnerTube API (fast, pure Go) with yt-dlp fallback
Automatic channel ID and name resolution from handles/URLs
Language fallback: tries all configured transcript languages before failing
Durable fetch queue: failed fetches retry with exponential backoff and dead-letter after repeated failures
Watch mode: continuous daemon that fetches on an interval and optionally auto-summarizes
Retry with exponential backoff on transient failures
Rate limiting protection with configurable fetch delay
Summarize transcripts via any OpenAI-compatible API (OpenAI, Ollama, LM Studio, etc.)
Full-text search across stored transcripts (SQLite FTS5, relevance-ranked)
MCP server for AI agent integration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.)
Configurable data retention and pruning

Prerequisites

yt-dlp (optional, for transcript fallback): pip install yt-dlp
LLM API (for summarization): OpenAI API key, or a local Ollama/LM Studio instance

Install

macOS (Homebrew)

hljs language-bash

brew install --cask Crymfox/tap/ytglean

Windows (Scoop)

hljs language-powershell

scoop bucket add crymfox https://github.com/Crymfox/scoop-bucket
scoop install ytglean

Arch Linux (AUR)

hljs language-bash

# Using yay
yay -S ytglean-bin

# Using paru
paru -S ytglean-bin

Go

hljs language-bash

go install github.com/CrymfoxLabs/YTGlean@latest

Build from source

hljs language-bash

git clone https://github.com/CrymfoxLabs/YTGlean.git
cd YTGlean
go build -o ytglean .

Use with AI Agents

YTGlean runs as an MCP server, giving AI coding agents full access to YouTube transcript data. Add it to your agent's config:

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

hljs language-json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ytglean": {
      "command": "ytglean",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

hljs language-bash

claude mcp add ytglean -- ytglean serve

Cursor

Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project root:

hljs language-json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ytglean": {
      "command": "ytglean",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Cline

Edit MCP settings (VS Code: Cline panel → MCP Servers → Configure MCP Servers):

hljs language-json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ytglean": {
      "command": "ytglean",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

OpenCode

Add to opencode.json in your project root:

hljs language-json

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "ytglean": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["ytglean", "serve"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Tip: Add "args": ["serve", "--watch"] to also run the background fetch loop inside the server process.

hljs language-bash


## Quick Start

On first run, YTGlean auto-generates a config file at `~/.config/ytglean/config.yaml`.
Edit it to set your API key and preferred settings.

```bash
# 1. Add a channel (name is auto-extracted from YouTube)
./ytglean channel add @Fireship

# 2. Fetch transcripts
./ytglean fetch

# 3. Summarize
./ytglean summarize

# 4. Search transcripts via MCP server
./ytglean serve

Configuration

On first run, YTGlean creates ~/.config/ytglean/config.yaml with sensible defaults. Edit this file to customize settings.

Config is loaded from (in order of priority):

--config flag
~/.config/ytglean/config.yaml
./config.yaml

Config File Example

hljs language-yaml

database:
  path: ~/.local/share/ytglean/ytglean.db
  retention_days: 30

transcript:
  provider: auto          # auto | innertube | ytdlp
  languages: [en]         # tried in order, first available wins
  max_concurrent: 3
  fetch_delay: 2s         # delay between requests to avoid rate limiting

fetch:
  max_retries: 5          # attempts before a job is dead-lettered
  base_retry_delay: 30s   # doubles each retry (30s, 1m, 2m, 4m, 8m)

watch:
  fetch_interval: 30m     # how often watch mode checks for new videos
  auto_summarize: false
  summarize_threshold: 5  # min new transcripts before auto-summarize
  summarize_channel: ""   # optional channel filter for auto-digests

summarizer:
  endpoint: https://api.openai.com/v1
  api_key: your-api-key-here
  model: gpt-4o-mini
  max_tokens: 2048

mcp:
  transport: stdio        # stdio | http
  port: 8080

Usage

Channel Management

hljs language-bash

ytglean channel add <url-or-id>              # Name auto-extracted from YouTube
ytglean channel add @Fireship --name "Fire"  # Override display name
ytglean channel remove <url-or-id-or-name>   # Remove by URL, ID, or name
ytglean channel list [--json]

Channel inputs accept:

Handles: @Fireship
Full URLs: https://www.youtube.com/@Fireship
Channel IDs: UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA
Names (for remove): Fireship

Fetch Transcripts

hljs language-bash

ytglean fetch                              # All channels, last 24h
ytglean fetch --channel <id>               # Specific channel
ytglean fetch --since 7d                   # Last 7 days
ytglean fetch --all                        # All videos in feed
ytglean fetch --dry-run                    # Preview without fetching

Fetches are backed by a durable job queue: transient failures are retried with exponential backoff on subsequent runs, and jobs that keep failing are dead-lettered. Videos with no transcript available are remembered so they aren't re-attempted every run.

Fetch Queue

hljs language-bash

ytglean queue list                         # Show queued/failed/dead jobs
ytglean queue list --state failed          # Filter by state
ytglean queue retry --id 42                # Reset a job with a fresh retry budget
ytglean queue retry-all                    # Make all failed jobs retry now
ytglean queue clear-dead                   # Remove dead and no-transcript jobs

Watch Mode

hljs language-bash

ytglean watch                              # Fetch every 30m (config: watch.fetch_interval)
ytglean watch --fetch-interval 15m         # Custom interval
ytglean watch --auto-summarize             # Digest after enough new transcripts
ytglean watch --auto-summarize --summarize-threshold 10
ytglean watch --channel <id>               # Watch a single channel

Runs until interrupted (SIGINT/SIGTERM); shuts down gracefully, releasing any in-flight queue claims.

Summarize

hljs language-bash

ytglean summarize                          # Summarize transcripts from last 24h
ytglean summarize --since 7d               # Last 7 days
ytglean summarize --channel <id>           # Filter to specific channel
ytglean summarize --video <id>             # Summarize a specific video
ytglean summarize --re-summarize           # Force re-summarize even if videos unchanged
ytglean summarize --prompt "Custom..."     # Custom system prompt

Skips automatically if the same set of videos was already summarized (compare with --re-summarize to force).

Digests

hljs language-bash

ytglean digests list                       # List all stored digests
ytglean digests list --json                # Output as JSON
ytglean digests export <id>                # Export digest to markdown (digest-<id>.md)
ytglean digests export <id> -o summary.md  # Export to custom file

Prune Old Data

hljs language-bash

ytglean prune                              # Use config retention (default 30d)
ytglean prune --older-than 60d             # Override retention period
ytglean prune --dry-run                    # Preview what would be deleted
ytglean prune --vacuum                     # Compact DB after pruning

MCP Server

hljs language-bash

ytglean serve                              # stdio (default, for Claude Desktop / Cursor)
ytglean serve --transport http             # HTTP transport
ytglean serve --port 8080                  # Custom port
ytglean serve --watch                      # Also run the watch loop in-process

MCP tools available:

Tool	Description
`list_channels`	List all tracked channels
`add_channel`	Add a YouTube channel by handle, URL, or ID (name auto-resolved)
`remove_channel`	Remove a tracked channel by ID or name
`search_transcripts`	Full-text search (FTS5, bm25-ranked, `term*` prefix matching) with video titles, channel names, word-bounded excerpts
`get_transcript`	Get full transcript (supports language, max_chars, timestamped format)
`get_video_info`	Video metadata without full transcript (title, channel, word count)
`get_recent_videos`	List recent videos from tracked channels
`list_videos`	Browse all stored videos with transcript status
`fetch_new`	Fetch new transcripts from YouTube (durable queue, rate-limited, retries, dry-run preview)
`list_digests`	List stored summaries with metadata
`get_digest`	Read a specific digest's full text
`summarize`	Summarize via LLM (requires API key) or guide agent to self-summarize
`queue_list`	Inspect fetch queue jobs (filter by state, see errors and retry info)
`queue_retry`	Reset a specific failed job with a fresh retry budget
`queue_retry_all`	Make all failed jobs immediately eligible for retry

Global Flags

Flag	Description
`--db <path>`	Override database path
`--log-level <level>`	debug, info, warn, error
`--quiet`	Suppress non-error output

License

MIT

YTGlean

Glean transcripts from YouTube channels, store them in SQLite, summarize via LLM, and expose the data as an MCP server.

Features

Track YouTube channels and automatically fetch new video transcripts
Dual transcript providers: InnerTube API (fast, pure Go) with yt-dlp fallback
Automatic channel ID and name resolution from handles/URLs
Language fallback: tries all configured transcript languages before failing
Durable fetch queue: failed fetches retry with exponential backoff and dead-letter after repeated failures
Watch mode: continuous daemon that fetches on an interval and optionally auto-summarizes
Retry with exponential backoff on transient failures
Rate limiting protection with configurable fetch delay
Summarize transcripts via any OpenAI-compatible API (OpenAI, Ollama, LM Studio, etc.)
Full-text search across stored transcripts (SQLite FTS5, relevance-ranked)
MCP server for AI agent integration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.)
Configurable data retention and pruning

Prerequisites

yt-dlp (optional, for transcript fallback): pip install yt-dlp
LLM API (for summarization): OpenAI API key, or a local Ollama/LM Studio instance

Install

macOS (Homebrew)

hljs language-bash

brew install --cask Crymfox/tap/ytglean

Windows (Scoop)

hljs language-powershell

scoop bucket add crymfox https://github.com/Crymfox/scoop-bucket
scoop install ytglean

Arch Linux (AUR)

hljs language-bash

# Using yay
yay -S ytglean-bin

# Using paru
paru -S ytglean-bin

Go

hljs language-bash

go install github.com/CrymfoxLabs/YTGlean@latest

Build from source

hljs language-bash

git clone https://github.com/CrymfoxLabs/YTGlean.git
cd YTGlean
go build -o ytglean .

Use with AI Agents

YTGlean runs as an MCP server, giving AI coding agents full access to YouTube transcript data. Add it to your agent's config:

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

hljs language-json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ytglean": {
      "command": "ytglean",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

hljs language-bash

claude mcp add ytglean -- ytglean serve

Cursor

Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project root:

hljs language-json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ytglean": {
      "command": "ytglean",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Cline

Edit MCP settings (VS Code: Cline panel → MCP Servers → Configure MCP Servers):

hljs language-json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ytglean": {
      "command": "ytglean",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

OpenCode

Add to opencode.json in your project root:

hljs language-json

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "ytglean": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["ytglean", "serve"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Tip: Add "args": ["serve", "--watch"] to also run the background fetch loop inside the server process.

hljs language-bash


## Quick Start

On first run, YTGlean auto-generates a config file at `~/.config/ytglean/config.yaml`.
Edit it to set your API key and preferred settings.

```bash
# 1. Add a channel (name is auto-extracted from YouTube)
./ytglean channel add @Fireship

# 2. Fetch transcripts
./ytglean fetch

# 3. Summarize
./ytglean summarize

# 4. Search transcripts via MCP server
./ytglean serve

Configuration

On first run, YTGlean creates ~/.config/ytglean/config.yaml with sensible defaults. Edit this file to customize settings.

Config is loaded from (in order of priority):

--config flag
~/.config/ytglean/config.yaml
./config.yaml

Config File Example

hljs language-yaml

database:
  path: ~/.local/share/ytglean/ytglean.db
  retention_days: 30

transcript:
  provider: auto          # auto | innertube | ytdlp
  languages: [en]         # tried in order, first available wins
  max_concurrent: 3
  fetch_delay: 2s         # delay between requests to avoid rate limiting

fetch:
  max_retries: 5          # attempts before a job is dead-lettered
  base_retry_delay: 30s   # doubles each retry (30s, 1m, 2m, 4m, 8m)

watch:
  fetch_interval: 30m     # how often watch mode checks for new videos
  auto_summarize: false
  summarize_threshold: 5  # min new transcripts before auto-summarize
  summarize_channel: ""   # optional channel filter for auto-digests

summarizer:
  endpoint: https://api.openai.com/v1
  api_key: your-api-key-here
  model: gpt-4o-mini
  max_tokens: 2048

mcp:
  transport: stdio        # stdio | http
  port: 8080

Usage

Channel Management

hljs language-bash

ytglean channel add <url-or-id>              # Name auto-extracted from YouTube
ytglean channel add @Fireship --name "Fire"  # Override display name
ytglean channel remove <url-or-id-or-name>   # Remove by URL, ID, or name
ytglean channel list [--json]

Channel inputs accept:

Handles: @Fireship
Full URLs: https://www.youtube.com/@Fireship
Channel IDs: UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA
Names (for remove): Fireship

Fetch Transcripts

hljs language-bash

ytglean fetch                              # All channels, last 24h
ytglean fetch --channel <id>               # Specific channel
ytglean fetch --since 7d                   # Last 7 days
ytglean fetch --all                        # All videos in feed
ytglean fetch --dry-run                    # Preview without fetching

Fetch Queue

hljs language-bash

ytglean queue list                         # Show queued/failed/dead jobs
ytglean queue list --state failed          # Filter by state
ytglean queue retry --id 42                # Reset a job with a fresh retry budget
ytglean queue retry-all                    # Make all failed jobs retry now
ytglean queue clear-dead                   # Remove dead and no-transcript jobs

Watch Mode

hljs language-bash

ytglean watch                              # Fetch every 30m (config: watch.fetch_interval)
ytglean watch --fetch-interval 15m         # Custom interval
ytglean watch --auto-summarize             # Digest after enough new transcripts
ytglean watch --auto-summarize --summarize-threshold 10
ytglean watch --channel <id>               # Watch a single channel

Runs until interrupted (SIGINT/SIGTERM); shuts down gracefully, releasing any in-flight queue claims.

Summarize

hljs language-bash

ytglean summarize                          # Summarize transcripts from last 24h
ytglean summarize --since 7d               # Last 7 days
ytglean summarize --channel <id>           # Filter to specific channel
ytglean summarize --video <id>             # Summarize a specific video
ytglean summarize --re-summarize           # Force re-summarize even if videos unchanged
ytglean summarize --prompt "Custom..."     # Custom system prompt

Skips automatically if the same set of videos was already summarized (compare with --re-summarize to force).

Digests

hljs language-bash

ytglean digests list                       # List all stored digests
ytglean digests list --json                # Output as JSON
ytglean digests export <id>                # Export digest to markdown (digest-<id>.md)
ytglean digests export <id> -o summary.md  # Export to custom file

Prune Old Data

hljs language-bash

ytglean prune                              # Use config retention (default 30d)
ytglean prune --older-than 60d             # Override retention period
ytglean prune --dry-run                    # Preview what would be deleted
ytglean prune --vacuum                     # Compact DB after pruning

MCP Server

hljs language-bash

ytglean serve                              # stdio (default, for Claude Desktop / Cursor)
ytglean serve --transport http             # HTTP transport
ytglean serve --port 8080                  # Custom port
ytglean serve --watch                      # Also run the watch loop in-process

MCP tools available:

Tool	Description
`list_channels`	List all tracked channels
`add_channel`	Add a YouTube channel by handle, URL, or ID (name auto-resolved)
`remove_channel`	Remove a tracked channel by ID or name
`search_transcripts`	Full-text search (FTS5, bm25-ranked, `term*` prefix matching) with video titles, channel names, word-bounded excerpts
`get_transcript`	Get full transcript (supports language, max_chars, timestamped format)
`get_video_info`	Video metadata without full transcript (title, channel, word count)
`get_recent_videos`	List recent videos from tracked channels
`list_videos`	Browse all stored videos with transcript status
`fetch_new`	Fetch new transcripts from YouTube (durable queue, rate-limited, retries, dry-run preview)
`list_digests`	List stored summaries with metadata
`get_digest`	Read a specific digest's full text
`summarize`	Summarize via LLM (requires API key) or guide agent to self-summarize
`queue_list`	Inspect fetch queue jobs (filter by state, see errors and retry info)
`queue_retry`	Reset a specific failed job with a fresh retry budget
`queue_retry_all`	Make all failed jobs immediately eligible for retry

Global Flags

Flag	Description
`--db <path>`	Override database path
`--log-level <level>`	debug, info, warn, error
`--quiet`	Suppress non-error output

License

MIT

YTGlean

YTGlean

Features

Prerequisites

Install

macOS (Homebrew)

Windows (Scoop)

Arch Linux (AUR)

Go

Build from source

Use with AI Agents

Claude Desktop

Claude Code

Cursor

Cline

OpenCode

Configuration

Config File Example

Usage

Channel Management

Fetch Transcripts

Fetch Queue

Watch Mode

Summarize

Digests

Prune Old Data

MCP Server

Global Flags

License

Similar Packages

YTGlean

YTGlean

Features

Prerequisites

Install

macOS (Homebrew)

Windows (Scoop)

Arch Linux (AUR)

Go

Build from source

Use with AI Agents

Claude Desktop

Claude Code

Cursor

Cline

OpenCode

Configuration

Config File Example

Usage

Channel Management

Fetch Transcripts

Fetch Queue

Watch Mode

Summarize

Digests

Prune Old Data

MCP Server

Global Flags

License

Similar Packages