# Video Transcriber

Turns videos from links or local files into text with whisper.cpp, running on your own machine. Handy when a coding agent needs the spoken words, not the picture.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed · ★ 19
- Author: nhatvu148
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/nhatvu148/video-transcriber-mcp-rs
- Updated: 2026-10-24
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/video-transcriber

## What it does

Point the server at a URL or a file path and it hands back a transcript. `yt-dlp` fetches the media, `ffmpeg` prepares the audio, and whisper.cpp does the recognition; the whole thing is written in Rust. Five model sizes are available, from tiny up to large, and results come out as TXT, JSON or Markdown.

Two transports. Over stdio it runs locally as `video-transcriber-mcp`, which is the default. Over HTTP it listens on port 8080 unless you say otherwise, and clients connect to `http://localhost:8080/mcp`. From there it behaves like any other MCP server your agent already talks to.

\`yt-dlp` and `ffmpeg` have to be present: without them a link download or the audio step fails. The Homebrew formula pulls both in with the binary. If you install through `cargo install` or unpack a release archive, you own that setup yourself.

## Requirements
- Needs: a prebuilt binary from the repository releases
- Environment variables: `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`, `YT_DLP_COOKIES_FROM_BROWSER`, `YT_DLP_COOKIES` — keys and tokens: ask the human for the values, never commit them or put them in shared files.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Install**
- The MCP registry has no launch command for it: see the repository README

## When to use it
- pull a transcript out of a YouTube link inside the chat
- transcribe a local mp4 without uploading it anywhere
- get JSON output that a script can consume
- handle speech in one of many supported languages
- run one shared transcription server for a team over HTTP

## Example prompts
- Transcribe the video at this link and save the text to `notes.md`
- Give me a JSON transcript of `lecture.mp4`
- Start the transcription server over HTTP on port 3000

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NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md