You are already in Claude. You have a YouTube URL — a lecture, an interview, a conference talk — and you want the file. Until recently that required a context-switch: close Claude, open a separate downloader, paste the URL, navigate the ad farm, come back. That friction is now optional.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard from Anthropic that lets AI assistants call external tools mid-conversation. When you add TubePull's MCP server to Claude, "download this YouTube video" becomes a literal instruction Claude can execute — no tab-switching, no command line.
Want to skip straight to setup? Add TubePull's MCP server as a custom connector in Claude and download YouTube videos as MP3 or MP4 directly from your conversation. Free for 3 downloads a day, no account required. The rest of this guide explains how to set it up and what you can do with it.
What MCP is (and why it matters for this)
MCP is a protocol that defines a standard way for an AI assistant to discover and call external tools. Any service that exposes an MCP endpoint can be added to any MCP-compatible client. Claude, Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Cursor all speak MCP. TubePull's server lives at https://tubepull.com/mcp.
When you add TubePull, Claude knows it has a download_video tool available. When you ask Claude to download a YouTube URL, it calls that tool, gets a signed download link back, and hands it to you in the conversation.
For a deeper look at the protocol, modelcontextprotocol.io has the full specification. The Anthropic MCP announcement covers the design rationale.
Adding TubePull to Claude (claude.ai)
The setup takes under two minutes:
- In Claude, click your account icon and open Settings.
- Select Connectors from the left sidebar.
- Click Add custom connector, then choose Remote.
- Fill in:
- Name: TubePull - URL: https://tubepull.com/mcp - Authentication: None (for the free tier) - Transport: Streamable HTTP
- Click Add, then toggle the connector on.
The full step-by-step setup guide has annotated screenshots and covers edge cases like OAuth for Pro. If you run into anything unexpected, that guide is the right reference.
Authentication note: Selecting None gives you the free tier — 3 downloads per 24 hours, no account required. If you have a TubePull Pro subscription, select OAuth instead. Modern Claude versions auto-discover OAuth and prompt a browser sign-in on the first tool call. Upgrading does not require removing and re-adding the connector — your existing connection stays intact.
The actual conversation pattern
Once the connector is active, open a new Claude conversation and type:
"Download https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ as mp3."
Claude calls the download_video tool and TubePull returns a signed download link valid for one hour. Claude presents that link in the conversation. You click it, and the file lands in your Downloads folder.
You can also use get_video_info before committing to a download:
"What formats are available for https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
This returns the title, channel, duration, and available quality tiers. It does not count against your daily quota — you can check metadata freely before using a download slot.
For MP4 downloads, you can specify quality:
"Download this as mp4 at 1080p: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
Available MP4 quality levels: 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p Full HD (free tier); 1440p (2K) and 4K (2160p) on Pro. If you do not specify, TubePull defaults to the best available up to 1080p.
When you hit the 3-per-day limit
When you hit the limit, Claude relays a clear "quota exceeded" message. Two options:
Wait. The quota resets at midnight UTC.
Upgrade. Pro is $4.99 per month — no daily cap, videos of any length, and 1440p (2K) and 4K quality. Upgrading does not break your Claude connector. You upgrade in your TubePull account, and the next tool call inherits the new quota automatically. There is also a $47.88 annual option.
Pro is intended for normal personal use by a single individual — the interactive downloads you ask Claude for in a conversation. It is not for mass or bulk downloading, automated scripts, or building TubePull into another application. The full policy is in Section 7 of TubePull's Terms.
See the TubePull pricing page for the comparison table.
Claude Desktop: the mcp-proxy shim
Claude Desktop (the local application, distinct from claude.ai) does not yet speak remote HTTP MCP directly. It uses the stdio transport, which expects a locally running process. To connect TubePull, use the open-source mcp-proxy shim that bridges stdio to HTTP.
The configuration goes in your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"tubepull": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-proxy",
"--transport", "streamablehttp",
"https://tubepull.com/mcp"
]
}
}
}The uvx command runs mcp-proxy via the uv Python package manager without a permanent install. The setup guide at /setup-mcp#claude-desktop walks through this in full, including where to find claude_desktop_config.json on macOS and Windows.
In practice, claude.ai is simpler. Claude Desktop with mcp-proxy works well but adds one local dependency. If this would be your first MCP server, the web app connector is the lower-friction starting point.
What to do with the download once you have it
Transcript research. The YouTube transcript for research guide covers using TubePull's transcript extraction alongside Claude's analysis. Pull the video file and plain-text transcript in the same session.
Subtitle files. The how to download YouTube subtitles guide covers SRT and VTT caption downloads. The MCP download_video tool handles MP3 and MP4; for SRT files, the web interface at TubePull handles caption extraction.
Audio extraction. Downloading as MP3 via MCP is the fastest path to an audio-only file — paste the URL, specify mp3, and Claude returns the link. Audio extraction happens on TubePull's servers; no local tools required.
Content archiving. For research or journalism projects preserving multiple videos, the channel backup guide covers systematic archiving. For individual preservation within a research session, the MCP path is faster than switching to the web interface.
A note on what you should be downloading
Download your own content, Creative Commons-licensed material, and videos where you have a legitimate use case. The guide to downloading YouTube videos legally covers the specific scenarios in plain English.
TubePull's MCP server will refuse private videos and members-only content. It will not work on live streams in progress. The get_video_info tool will tell you upfront if a video has access restrictions before you use a download slot.
Setting up and getting started
The connector setup takes less than two minutes on claude.ai. For the full annotated walkthrough with screenshots and troubleshooting, see the TubePull MCP setup guide. For an overview of all clients — Claude, Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Cursor — plus pricing and FAQ, start at the MCP landing page at /mcp.
If you have a YouTube URL and you are already talking to Claude, you no longer need to switch context to get the file.