Importly MCP Server (io.importly/importly-mcp)

The Importly MCP server provides capabilities to download, transcribe, and inspect media from video/audio URLs. It is described as a managed solution using yt-dlp for fetching and speech-to-text processing, with ffmpeg-based handling, including metadata retrieval for supported sources.

🛠️ Key Features

Download media from a provided video/audio URL
Transcribe audio content via server-side speech-to-text
Retrieve and inspect media metadata
Managed workflow using yt-dlp and ffmpeg
Name: io.importly/importly-mcp (slug: io-importly-importly-mcp)
Tooling includes import_media and check_import

🚀 Use Cases

Enable AI agents to handle transcription workflows from arbitrary YouTube, TikTok, X, and podcast URLs
Obtain a direct media link after downloading to hosted storage
Get import status and related information via check_import

⚡ Developer Benefits

Centralized media retrieval, transcription, and metadata extraction
Less need for local handling of downloads or extractor maintenance

⚠️ Limitations

Scope is limited to what the server can support through its managed yt-dlp + speech-to-text pipeline; detailed coverage counts and tool parameters are not fully shown in the provided excerpt.

Importly MCP Server

Give your AI agent the ability to download, transcribe, and inspect any video or audio URL — YouTube, TikTok, X, podcasts, and 1000+ other sites.

Importly runs yt-dlp, rotating residential proxies, ffmpeg, and speech-to-text server-side, so your agent (and you) never deal with IP bans, 429s, cookie rot, or extractor breakage.

Tools

Tool	What it does
`import_media` / `check_import`	Download media to hosted storage, get a direct link (optionally with a transcript)
`transcribe_media` / `check_transcription`	Speech-to-text with timestamped segments
`get_metadata` / `check_metadata`	Full metadata: formats, uploader, thumbnails, stats
`get_basic_metadata` / `check_basic_metadata`	Fast title/duration/thumbnail lookup
`check_balance`	Remaining credit balance

Jobs are async: submit tools return a jobId, check tools poll it. Responses tell the agent exactly what to do next.

Setup

Get an API key at importly.io — $3.00 in free credits, no card required.
Add the server to your MCP client:

Claude Code

bash

claude mcp add importly -e IMPORTLY_API_KEY=your_key -- npx -y importly-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / Cline / Windsurf

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "importly": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "importly-mcp"],
      "env": { "IMPORTLY_API_KEY": "your_key" }
    }
  }
}

(Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json · Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json · Cline: MCP settings UI · Windsurf: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json)

Example prompts

"Transcribe this talk and summarize the key points: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…"
"Download the audio of this podcast episode and give me a link"
"How long is this video and who uploaded it?"

Pricing

Usage-based credits (downloads ~$0.01/MB, transcription per media minute) — see pricing. New accounts get $3.00 free.

Docs & support

MIT licensed. The server is a thin wrapper over the Importly API.

io.importly/importly-mcp