How to integrate Youtube MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Youtube to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Youtube agent that can list your most recent uploaded videos, get subscriber count for your channel, search youtube for trending tutorials through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Youtube account through Composio's Youtube MCP server.

Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

Also integrate Youtube with

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get and set up your OpenAI and Composio API keys
  • Install the necessary dependencies
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Youtube
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Youtube as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Youtube operations

What is OpenAI Agents SDK?

The OpenAI Agents SDK is a lightweight framework for building AI agents that can use tools and maintain conversation state. It provides a simple interface for creating agents with hosted MCP tool support.

Key features include:

  • Hosted MCP Tools: Connect to external services through hosted MCP endpoints
  • SQLite Sessions: Persist conversation history across interactions
  • Simple API: Clean interface with Agent, Runner, and tool configuration
  • Streaming Support: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications

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
Add Video to PlaylistTool to add a video to a playlist by inserting a playlist item.
Insert Channel SectionTool to create a new channel section for the authenticated user's YouTube channel.
Insert Comment ReplyTool to create a reply to an existing YouTube comment.
Create PlaylistTool to create a new YouTube playlist on the authenticated user's channel.
Delete Channel SectionTool to delete a YouTube channel section.
Delete CommentTool to delete a YouTube comment owned by the authenticated user or channel.
Delete PlaylistTool to delete a YouTube playlist owned by the authenticated user/channel.
Delete Playlist ItemTool to delete a playlist item (remove a video from a playlist).
Delete VideoTool to delete a YouTube video owned by the authenticated user/channel.
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.
Video Details BatchRetrieves multiple YouTube video resource parts in a single batch call.
Get Video RatingRetrieves the ratings that the authorized user gave to a list of specified videos.
List captionsRetrieves a list of caption tracks for a YouTube video.
List Channel SectionsTool to retrieve channel sections from YouTube.
List channel videosLists videos from a specified YouTube channel.
List CommentsList individual comments from YouTube videos.
List Comment ThreadsTool to retrieve comment threads from YouTube videos or channels matching API request parameters.
List I18n LanguagesReturns a list of application languages that the YouTube website supports.
List I18n RegionsTool to retrieve a list of content regions that the YouTube website supports.
List Live Chat MessagesTool to list live chat messages for a specific chat.
List Playlist ImagesTool to retrieve playlist images associated with a specific playlist.
List Playlist ItemsTool to list videos in a playlist, with pagination support.
List Super Chat EventsLists Super Chat events for a channel, showing supporter purchases during live streams.
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.
List Video Abuse Report ReasonsTool to retrieve a list of abuse report reasons that can be used to report abusive videos on YouTube.
List Video CategoriesTool to list YouTube video categories that can be associated with videos.
Download YouTube caption trackDownloads a specific YouTube caption track, which must be owned by the authenticated user, and returns its content as text.
Multipart upload videoUploads a video to YouTube using multipart upload in a single request.
Post Comment on VideoTool to post a new top-level comment on a YouTube video.
Rate VideoTool to add a like or dislike rating to a YouTube video, or remove an existing rating.
Report Video for AbuseTool to report a YouTube video for containing abusive content.
Search YouTubeSearches YouTube for videos, channels, or playlists using a query term, returning the raw API response.
Set Comment Moderation StatusTool to set the moderation status of one or more YouTube comments.
Subscribe to channelSubscribes the authenticated user to a specified YouTube channel, identified by its unique `channelId` which must be valid and existing.
Unsubscribe from channelTool to unsubscribe the authenticated user from a YouTube channel by deleting a subscription.
Update caption trackUpdates a YouTube caption track's metadata such as name, language, or draft status.
Update channelUpdates a channel's metadata including branding settings and localizations.
Update Channel SectionTool to update an existing YouTube channel section by ID.
Update CommentTool to modify the text of an existing YouTube comment.
Update PlaylistTool to modify an existing YouTube playlist's metadata (title, description, privacy status).
Update Playlist ItemTool to modify a playlist item's properties such as position or note.
Update thumbnailSets the custom thumbnail for a YouTube video using an image from a URL.
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.

What is the Composio tool router, and how does it fit here?

What is Composio SDK?

Composio's Composio SDK helps agents find the right tools for a task at runtime. You can plug in multiple toolkits (like Gmail, HubSpot, and GitHub), and the agent will identify the relevant app and action to complete multi-step workflows. This can reduce token usage and improve the reliability of tool calls. Read more here: Getting started with Composio SDK

The tool router generates a secure MCP URL that your agents can access to perform actions.

How the Composio SDK works

The Composio SDK follows a three-phase workflow:

  1. Discovery: Searches for tools matching your task and returns relevant toolkits with their details.
  2. Authentication: Checks for active connections. If missing, creates an auth config and returns a connection URL via Auth Link.
  3. Execution: Executes the action using the authenticated connection.

Step-by-step Guide

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Youtube project
  • Some knowledge of Python or Typescript

Getting API Keys for OpenAI and Composio

OpenAI API Key
  • Go to the OpenAI dashboard and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models, or you can connect to another model provider.
  • Keep the API key safe.
Composio API Key

Install dependencies

pip install composio_openai_agents openai-agents python-dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the OpenAI Agents SDK.

Set up environment variables

bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-api-key
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-api-key
USER_ID=composio_user@gmail.com

Create a .env file and add your OpenAI and Composio API keys.

Import dependencies

import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

from composio import Composio
from composio_openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsProvider
from agents import Agent, Runner, HostedMCPTool, SQLiteSession
What's happening:
  • You're importing all necessary libraries.
  • The Composio and OpenAIAgentsProvider classes are imported to connect your OpenAI agent to Composio tools like Youtube.

Set up the Composio instance

load_dotenv()

api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")

if not api_key:
    raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key")

# Initialize Composio
composio = Composio(api_key=api_key, provider=OpenAIAgentsProvider())
What's happening:
  • load_dotenv() loads your .env file so OPENAI_API_KEY and COMPOSIO_API_KEY are available as environment variables.
  • Creating a Composio instance using the API Key and OpenAIAgentsProvider class.

Create a Tool Router session

# Create a Youtube Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["youtube"]
)

mcp_url = session.mcp.url

What is happening:

  • You give the Tool Router the user id and the toolkits you want available. Here, it is only youtube.
  • The router checks the user's Youtube connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Youtube.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Youtube tools only when needed during the conversation.

Configure the agent

# Configure agent with MCP tool
agent = Agent(
    name="Assistant",
    model="gpt-5",
    instructions=(
        "You are a helpful assistant that can access Youtube. "
        "Help users perform Youtube operations through natural language."
    ),
    tools=[
        HostedMCPTool(
            tool_config={
                "type": "mcp",
                "server_label": "tool_router",
                "server_url": mcp_url,
                "headers": {"x-api-key": api_key},
                "require_approval": "never",
            }
        )
    ],
)
What's happening:
  • We're creating an Agent instance with a name, model (gpt-5), and clear instructions about its purpose.
  • The agent's instructions tell it that it can access Youtube and help with queries, inserts, updates, authentication, and fetching database information.
  • The tools array includes a HostedMCPTool that connects to the MCP server URL we created earlier.
  • The headers dict includes the Composio API key for secure authentication with the MCP server.
  • require_approval: 'never' means the agent can execute Youtube operations without asking for permission each time, making interactions smoother.

Start chat loop and handle conversation

print("\nComposio Tool Router session created.")

chat_session = SQLiteSession("conversation_openai_toolrouter")

print("\nChat started. Type your requests below.")
print("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n")

async def main():
    try:
        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            "What can you help me with?",
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}\n")

    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()
        if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "q"}:
            print("Goodbye!")
            break

        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            user_input,
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")

asyncio.run(main())
What's happening:
  • The program prints a session URL that you visit to authorize Youtube.
  • After authorization, the chat begins.
  • Each message you type is processed by the agent using Runner.run().
  • The responses are printed to the console, and conversations are saved locally using SQLite.
  • Typing exit, quit, or q cleanly ends the chat.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Youtube and OpenAI Agents SDK:

import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

from composio import Composio
from composio_openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsProvider
from agents import Agent, Runner, HostedMCPTool, SQLiteSession

load_dotenv()

api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")

if not api_key:
    raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key")

# Initialize Composio
composio = Composio(api_key=api_key, provider=OpenAIAgentsProvider())

# Create Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["youtube"]
)
mcp_url = session.mcp.url

# Configure agent with MCP tool
agent = Agent(
    name="Assistant",
    model="gpt-5",
    instructions=(
        "You are a helpful assistant that can access Youtube. "
        "Help users perform Youtube operations through natural language."
    ),
    tools=[
        HostedMCPTool(
            tool_config={
                "type": "mcp",
                "server_label": "tool_router",
                "server_url": mcp_url,
                "headers": {"x-api-key": api_key},
                "require_approval": "never",
            }
        )
    ],
)

print("\nComposio Tool Router session created.")

chat_session = SQLiteSession("conversation_openai_toolrouter")

print("\nChat started. Type your requests below.")
print("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n")

async def main():
    try:
        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            "What can you help me with?",
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}\n")

    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()
        if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "q"}:
            print("Goodbye!")
            break

        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            user_input,
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")

asyncio.run(main())

Conclusion

This was a starter code for integrating Youtube MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Youtube.

Key features:

  • Hosted MCP tool integration through Composio's Tool Router
  • SQLite session persistence for conversation history
  • Simple async chat loop for interactive testing
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.

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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 OpenAI Agents SDK?

Yes, you can. OpenAI Agents SDK 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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