Cursor

Connect your TubeLab account to Cursor and it becomes your YouTube research assistant — searching channels, finding viral videos, pulling transcripts — all within your editor.

Setup

1. Create a TubeLab API key

You must have an active subscription with available credits.

Create an API key here and copy it.

Be aware, this key won't be shown again.

2. Open MCP settings

In Cursor, go to Settings → MCP → + Add new MCP server.

3. Paste this config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tubelab": {
      "url": "https://public-api.tubelab.net/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace your-api-key-here with the API key from step 1.

4. Restart Cursor

Restart Cursor to connect. No installation needed — this connects directly to TubeLab's hosted MCP server.

Done. TubeLab is now available in Cursor.

Example prompts

Ask Cursor anything about YouTube and it will call TubeLab's tools behind the scenes:

"Search for cooking channels with over 100K subscribers"
"Get me the transcript of this video: dQw4w9WgXcQ"
"What are the top comments on this video?"
"Find channels similar to @mkbhd"
"What viral videos are there about home automation this month?"
"How many credits do I have left?"

Tools

Once connected, Cursor has access to 11 TubeLab tools:

Tool	What it does	Cost
`search_channels`	Search YouTube channels by keyword with filters (subscribers, views, language, monetization, etc.)	`5 credits`
`search_related_channels`	Find channels similar to a given channel	`5 credits`
`search_outliers`	Find viral or underperforming videos across YouTube by keyword	`2 credits`
`search_related_outliers`	Find outlier videos from channels similar to a given channel	`2 credits`
`get_channel`	Get info about a YouTube channel (accepts ID, URL, or @handle)	`free`
`get_channel_videos`	Get recent videos from a channel	`free`
`get_channel_shorts`	Get recent Shorts from a channel	`free`
`get_video`	Get detailed info about a specific video	`free`
`get_video_transcript`	Get the transcript/captions of a video	`free`
`get_video_comments`	Get top comments from a video	`free`
`get_credits_balance`	Check your TubeLab credit balance	`free`

You don't need to call these by name. Just ask Cursor what you need in plain language and it picks the right tools automatically.

Good to know

Tools consume your TubeLab credits at the same rate as the TubeLab app or API
The Bearer token authenticates as your account — treat it like a password
Check your balance anytime: "What's my TubeLab credit balance?"

TubeLab's Cursor integration uses MCP (Model Context Protocol) — an open standard that lets AI assistants use external tools directly inside a conversation. When you add TubeLab as an MCP server, Cursor can call TubeLab's API on your behalf without you writing any code or leaving the editor.