How to summarize a YouTube video with ChatGPT

YouTube transcripts are loaded dynamically through JavaScript and hidden behind interactive UI elements, which makes them unreliable to extract with general-purpose browsing. The Firecrawl MCP server solves this by giving ChatGPT dedicated scraping tools through the Model Context Protocol.

Add the server in ChatGPT's MCP settings:

• Command: npx -y firecrawl-mcp
• Environment variable: FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY

Start a new conversation, paste a YouTube URL, and ask ChatGPT to summarize the video. ChatGPT calls Firecrawl's scrape tool, which renders the page, extracts the transcript as clean markdown, and returns it for ChatGPT to summarize. You can ask for bullet points, timestamped highlights, a one-paragraph abstract, or a comparison across multiple videos.

Firecrawl handles JavaScript rendering and page structure changes automatically — no extensions, no copy-paste, no leaving the chat. The same MCP server also works with Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and other MCP-compatible clients. Get a free API key at firecrawl.dev to start.