Get the transcript/closed captions of a YouTube video. Returns the full text so you can read instead of watching. Great for long videos or when you want to scan content quickly.
AI agents call get_video_transcript to retrieve information from YouTube MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves video transcripts/closed captions, which is a read-only operation that queries and returns existing data from YouTube. It has no side effects, does not modify any data, does not execute code or commands, and does not involve financial transactions.
From the tool's definition Tool description states: 'Get the transcript/closed captions of a YouTube video. Returns the full text so you can read instead of watching.' This is retrieval of existing data with no modification, deletion, or execution capability.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get the transcript/closed captions of a YouTube video. Returns the full text so you can read instead of watching. Great for long videos or when you want to scan content quickly. It is categorised as a Read tool in the YouTube MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the YouTube MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_video_transcript: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches YouTube MCP Server. Nothing to install.
get_video_transcript is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the get_video_transcript rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for get_video_transcript. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
get_video_transcript is provided by the YouTube MCP Server MCP server (nareshtt/youtube-mcp-python). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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