MCP server / Codex
Codex MCP server: transcripts in your CLI agent
One block in config.toml and Codex can pull the transcript of any video or podcast link it meets while it works.
Set it up in Codex
Codex configures MCP servers in ~/.codex/config.toml. It speaks stdio to local servers, so the hosted HTTP server is bridged with mcp-remote, the same one-liner pattern Claude Desktop uses:
[mcp_servers.transcriptfetch] command = "npx" args = [ "-y", "mcp-remote", "https://transcriptfetch.com/mcp", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer tf_live_YOUR_KEY" ]
Recent Codex releases also accept the same registration from the command line via codex mcp add. Restart Codex and the transcript tools appear in its tool list; get a key from your dashboard (100 free credits a month).
What it can do
Once registered, Codex can call get_transcript on any YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, podcast or direct media URL, search YouTube, and walk a channel or playlist. In a coding agent that unlocks a specific trick: the knowledge locked in video, a conference talk, a library walkthrough, a maintainer's tutorial, becomes text Codex can actually use while it writes code.
You: Implement the pattern from this talk in our worker:
youtube.com/watch?v=...
Codex: [get_transcript] The talk describes a three-stage
pipeline... implementing stage one in worker.ts:What a coding agent does with transcripts
A surprising amount of engineering knowledge only exists as video: conference talks, launch demos, maintainers walking through their own APIs. A CLI agent cannot watch any of it. With a transcript tool registered, Codex closes that gap on its own, fetching the words the moment a task references a video instead of stopping to ask you for a summary.
The headless shape of Codex matters here too. It runs in terminals and CI, where there is no human to copy-paste a transcript in, so a tool the agent can call unattended is the difference between video sources being usable and being skipped. Failed fetches return typed errors Codex can read, and they cost nothing.
Keep the API key out of the repo: put the real key in the config in your home directory, not in a project file, and rotate it from the dashboard if it ever leaks into a log.
Frequently asked questions
Does Codex support remote MCP servers?
Codex talks stdio to the processes it launches, and the mcp-remote bridge turns that into the hosted HTTP connection, so yes, via the config block on this page. Newer releases can also register servers with codex mcp add.
Where does the API key live?
In ~/.codex/config.toml in your home directory, sent as a bearer header. Keep it out of project files and CI logs; keys rotate from the dashboard in one click.
Does this work in CI or headless runs?
Yes, that is the point: any environment that can run npx can run the bridge, and the agent calls the tools without a human in the loop. Budget credits accordingly; one successful transcript is one credit.
What does it cost?
100 free credits a month, one credit per successful fetch, failures never billed. Paid plans start at $5 a month for 500 credits.
Give your CLI agent ears
One config block, and every video link in a task becomes readable. 100 free credits a month.