How to connect Youtube to Claude Cowork

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Introduction

Cowork is Anthropic's AI agent for knowledge work. Think of it as Claude Code for everything else. It works autonomously with your computer, local files, and applications to accomplish complex tasks.

This guide walks you through the easiest and most secure way to connect your Youtube account to Cowork via Composio Connect, enabling it to list your most recent uploaded videos, get subscriber count for your channel, search YouTube for trending tutorials, and more such actions on your behalf without compromising your account security.

Also integrate Youtube with

Connecting Youtube to Claude Cowork

1. Open Customize

In Claude Desktop, click Customize in the left sidebar, then select Connectors and click the + icon at the top.

Claude Desktop connectors screen with Add custom connector selected

2. Add the Composio MCP server

Click Add custom connector and paste in the Composio MCP server URL:

bash
https://connect.composio.dev/mcp
Add custom connector dialog with Composio MCP server URL

3. Authorize in your browser

Click Connect. You'll be redirected to a browser window where you can authorize Composio to continue.

Composio authorization screen for Claude Cowork

4. Connect your Youtube account

Back in Cowork, ask the agent to connect to Youtube or give it any Youtube-related task.

For example, ask Cowork to:

  • "List your most recent uploaded videos"
  • "Get subscriber count for your channel"
  • "Search YouTube for trending tutorials"

It will prompt you to authenticate and authorize access.

That's it. Composio's tools are now available in Cowork, and your Youtube account is ready to use.

What is Claude Cowork?

Claude Cowork is Anthropic's agent for general knowledge work. It can use your computer, files, and connected applications to complete longer-running tasks across your work tools.

With Composio Connect, Cowork can securely access apps like Youtube through MCP without you sharing account credentials directly with the agent.

What is the Youtube MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Youtube MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Youtube account. It provides structured and secure access to your channel data, so your agent can perform actions like searching videos, managing playlists, retrieving channel insights, and handling subscriptions on your behalf.

  • Channel activity monitoring: Let your agent fetch and summarize recent channel activities, including uploads, likes, playlist additions, and more, to keep you up to date at a glance.
  • Automated video and playlist management: Easily list videos from any channel, retrieve your own playlists, and organize your content—all through AI-driven commands.
  • Channel analytics and statistics: Ask your agent to pull detailed channel metrics such as subscriber counts, total views, or video counts for quick reporting and insights.
  • Subscription management: Have your agent list your current subscriptions or even subscribe you to new channels based on your interests or instructions.
  • Search and caption handling: Empower your agent to search YouTube for videos, channels, or playlists, as well as retrieve and download caption tracks for accessible viewing and content repurposing.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Triggers
Get Channel ActivitiesGets recent activities from a youtube channel including video uploads, playlist additions, likes, and other channel events.
Get channel ID by handleRetrieves the youtube channel id for a specific youtube channel handle.
Get Channel StatisticsGets detailed statistics for youtube channels including subscriber counts, view counts, and video counts.
List captionsRetrieves a list of caption tracks for a youtube video, returning an empty list if no captions exist or failing if the video id is invalid or not found.
List channel videosLists videos from a specified youtube channel, ensuring results are of `type: 'video'`.
List user playlistsRetrieves playlists owned by the authenticated user, implicitly using mine=true.
List user subscriptionsRetrieves the authenticated user's youtube channel subscriptions, allowing specification of response parts and pagination.
Download YouTube caption trackDownloads a specific youtube caption track, which must be owned by the authenticated user, and returns its content as text.
Search YouTubeSearches youtube for videos, channels, or playlists using a query term, returning the raw api response.
Subscribe to channelSubscribes the authenticated user to a specified youtube channel, identified by its unique `channelid` which must be valid and existing.
Update thumbnailSets the custom thumbnail for a youtube video using an image from thumbnailurl; the authenticated user must have permission to edit the video.
Update videoUpdates metadata for a youtube video identified by videoid, which must exist; an empty list for tags removes all existing tags.
Upload videoUploads a video from a local file path to a youtube channel; the video file must be in a youtube-supported format.
Video detailsRetrieves specified information parts (e.

Available tools and triggers

After setup, the supported Youtube tools and triggers listed on this page are available to Cowork through Composio Connect.

You can now ask Cowork to handle Youtube workflows in natural language, from quick summaries and drafting tasks to more complex multi-step work across connected apps.

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FAQ

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Youtube MCP?

With a standalone Youtube MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Youtube tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Youtube and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Can I use Tool Router MCP with Claude Cowork?

Yes, you can. Claude Cowork fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right Youtube tools.

Can I manage the permissions and scopes for Youtube while using Tool Router?

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Youtube scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

How safe is my data with Composio Tool Router?

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Youtube data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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