MCP setup

01 What is TubeMine MCP

TubeMine MCP is a remote Model Context Protocol server that lets your AI assistant pull YouTube comments directly inside the chat. Base models cannot fetch YouTube comments on their own, so TubeMine fills that gap and hands the raw data back to your model. Your own AI does any analysis you ask for.

02 Authentication

Every client authenticates with an API key (v1). Send your key in an Authorization: Bearer header in the client config or connect command, exactly as shown in each setup section below.

Claude Code, ChatGPT, and Cursor will get one-click OAuth in a future release. For now they use the same API key as every other client.

Get and manage your key on the AI Assistant accesspage. From there you can rotate the key (which revokes the old one on every connected client) or revoke a single client.

03Setup: Claude Code

Run this once in your terminal. Replace YOUR_KEY with your API key.

claude mcp add --transport http TubeMine https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"

OAuth one-click is coming for this client. Use the API key today.

04Setup: ChatGPT

Follow these steps in the client, then paste your API key when prompted.

1. Settings > Apps > Advanced > Developer mode
2. Create app, set MCP server URL https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp
3. Choose API key auth and paste tm_sk_...

OAuth one-click is coming for this client. Use the API key today.

05Setup: Cursor

Add a TubeMine entry to the config file below. Replace YOUR_KEY with your API key, then restart the client.

Open this file: ~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tubemine": {
      "url": "https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

OAuth one-click is coming for this client. Use the API key today.

06Setup: Codex

Add a TubeMine entry to the config file below. Replace YOUR_KEY with your API key, then restart the client.

Open this file: ~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.tubemine]
url = "https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "TUBEMINE_MCP_KEY"

07Setup: Gemini CLI

Add a TubeMine entry to the config file below. Replace YOUR_KEY with your API key, then restart the client.

Open this file: ~/.gemini/settings.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tubemine": {
      "httpUrl": "https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

08Setup: Claude Desktop

Add a TubeMine entry to the config file below. Replace YOUR_KEY with your API key, then restart the client.

Open this file: claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tubemine": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"
      ]
    }
  }
}

09Setup: Hermes

Add a TubeMine entry to the config file below. Replace YOUR_KEY with your API key, then restart the client.

Open this file: ~/.hermes/config.yaml

mcp_servers:
  tubemine:
    url: "https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp"
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_KEY"

10Setup: OpenClaw

Run this once in your terminal. Replace YOUR_KEY with your API key.

openclaw mcp add TubeMine --url https://tubemine.tech/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"

11 Usage and limits

MCP shares the same monthly comment quota as the web app. It is not a separate quota. A call that fetches comments counts those comments against your monthly total, the same way an analysis in the dashboard does.

• Free5,000 comments per month. Generous for trying the tool and light use.
• Pro100,000 comments per month for heavier, regular workflows.

There is no hard per-call cap today. We ask only that usage stays within fair-use bounds so the service stays fast for everyone.

TubeMine reads comments through the official YouTube Data API, which has a shared daily quota. On rare busy days that quota can be exhausted. When it is, a call returns a clean error asking you to try again tomorrow. Your monthly comment quota is untouched.

12 Troubleshooting

Most issues fall into one of these.

• Key invalid or revokedMake sure you copied the full key and that it is sent as Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY. If you rotated recently, the old key is dead. Rotate or create a new key on /ai-access and paste the new one.
• Client shows no toolsMost clients load MCP config at startup. Fully quit and reopen the client after editing the config so it picks up the new server.
• Missing GET, POST, or DELETE handlersThis means the client reached the wrong endpoint. Confirm the server URL is exactly https://tubemine.tech/mcp, with no trailing path, and use the HTTP transport.

Stuck after all that? Email hello@tubemine.app with your client and the error and we will help.