Documentation
Vidpal connector for Claude
Clean up and caption your recordings, cut long videos into short clips, and publish or schedule them to your social accounts, by asking Claude. This page covers the Vidpal connector in Claude's connector directory.
Overview
The connector is an MCP server hosted by Vidpal at https://app.vidpal.ai/api/mcp/editor. It gives Claude 20 tools that act on your own Vidpal account: upload a recording, edit it (silences, filler words, zooms, b-roll, captions), cut a long recording into clips, export the MP4, and publish or schedule it to the social accounts you connected in Vidpal.
Every tool calls the same Vidpal feature you would click in the dashboard, with the same plan limits, credit checks, rate limits and ownership checks. Long-running work never blocks the chat: a tool starts the job and returns right away, and Claude checks progress with get_video. The connector works on footage you upload; it does not generate images, video or audio with AI models.
Requirements
- A Vidpal account. Creating one is free.
- Credits for the steps that use them: creating an editing project, the AI edit, extracting clips, and exporting. Reading, listing and the other editing tools are free.
- Exporting edited videos and clips needs a Starter, Pro or Business plan. Publishing and scheduling need Pro or Business, plus at least one social account connected in Vidpal under Account → Publishing. Plan details are on the pricing page.
Connect
- In Claude, open the connector settings and find Vidpal in the directory, then click Connect. You can also add it as a custom connector with this URL:
https://app.vidpal.ai/api/mcp/editor
- Claude opens Vidpal's sign-in page. Sign in, or create an account, then approve access on Vidpal's consent screen. There are no API keys to copy.
- Ask for what you want. Claude asks before anything that spends credits or publishes.
In Claude Code, run this once and sign in in the browser window that opens:
claude mcp add --transport http vidpal https://app.vidpal.ai/api/mcp/editor
Tools
Each tool carries MCP annotations: read-only for reads, and destructive for anything that spends credits or publishes. Claude uses them to decide when to ask you first.
Read
Read-only. Free, and Claude can run them without asking.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
list_videos | Lists the account's videos, uploads and clip sets, newest first, with each one's phase and a link to it in Vidpal. |
get_video | Returns one video's phase, MP4 link once exported, captions settings, and the error if a step failed. Claude polls it while work runs. |
list_clips | Lists the clips extracted from a long recording, with titles, scores and timings. |
list_caption_presets | Lists the caption styles that set_caption_style accepts. |
get_upload_status | Reports whether a file has arrived on an upload link. |
list_publish_connections | Lists the social accounts connected to Vidpal that videos can be published to. |
get_publish_status | Reports each platform's publishing job for a video: its state, the scheduled time, the post link once it is live, and any error. |
Edit
Change a project in your account. Free; the changes show up in the next export.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
create_upload_link | Creates a one-time page (valid 30 minutes) where you upload a video from your browser or phone. Files can't pass through a chat, so every edit starts here. |
remove_silences | Cuts silent stretches out of an uploaded recording. Optional threshold and minimum pause length. |
remove_filler_words | Cuts filler words (um, uh, and similar) out of an uploaded recording. |
auto_zooms | Adds zoom punches on the key moments of the speech. |
auto_broll | Adds stock b-roll cutaways that match what is being said. |
set_caption_style | Changes how captions look: preset style, highlight colour, position, size, or whether captions show at all. |
Spend credits or publish
Marked destructive, so Claude asks you to confirm each call.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
create_editing_project | Turns an uploaded recording (up to 15 minutes) into an AI Editing project and transcribes it. 1 credit. |
ai_edit | Plans caption overlays, b-roll, zooms and stock sound effects from the transcript and applies them. Uses credits under your plan's AI Edit rules. |
create_clips | Finds the strongest moments in a long recording (up to 120 minutes) and cuts them into scored, captioned short clips. 1 credit per 10 minutes of source. |
export_video | Renders the final MP4. 1 credit for a portrait or short video, 5 for a landscape or long one; re-exporting an unchanged video is free. |
publish_video | Posts an exported video now to the Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or LinkedIn account you choose. Pro and Business plans. |
schedule_video | Schedules an exported video for a later time, up to 90 days ahead. Pro and Business plans. |
cancel_publish | Cancels a scheduled post that hasn't gone out yet. Posts that are already live are not removed. |
Examples
Prompts that work as written, with the tools Claude typically calls.
“Give me an upload link for my talking-head clip. Once it's transcribed, remove the silences and filler words, use the Mozi caption style, and export it vertical.”
create_upload_link → get_upload_status → create_editing_project → get_video → remove_silences → remove_filler_words → set_caption_style → export_video → get_video
“I want Shorts from my one-hour podcast recording. Give me an upload link, cut it into clips with captions, and tell me which clip scored highest.”
create_upload_link → get_upload_status → create_clips → get_video → list_clips
“Schedule my latest exported Vidpal video to YouTube for tomorrow at 9 am.”
list_videos → list_publish_connections → schedule_video → get_publish_status
“Open my latest AI Editing project, add b-roll and zooms, switch the captions to Karaoke, and export it again.”
list_videos → auto_broll → auto_zooms → list_caption_presets → set_caption_style → export_video
How long things take
Every video result has a phase that says what happens next:
transcribing- The upload is being transcribed (and, for clips, analysed). Claude checks again every 20 to 30 seconds.
ready_to_export- Editing tools can run now; export_video renders the MP4.
rendering- The export is running. Most take 1 to 5 minutes.
clips_ready- Clip extraction finished; list_clips shows the clips.
exported- The MP4 is ready. get_video returns its link.
failed- A step failed. get_video says why.
Uploads for editing can be up to 15 minutes long, and recordings for clips up to 120 minutes. Each result also links to the video in Vidpal, where you can preview it and edit it by hand.
Data and privacy
- The tools read and change your own Vidpal data only: videos, uploads, transcripts and captions, clips, caption settings, the list of connected social accounts, and publishing jobs. Every request is checked against the signed-in account.
- The connector receives the arguments of each tool call. It does not read your Claude conversations, memory or files, and logs record the tool name and outcome, not the arguments.
- Sign-in uses OAuth 2.1 with PKCE. Claude holds an access token for your Vidpal account, never your password, and Claude never sees the credentials of your social accounts: those are connected inside Vidpal.
- Uploaded files and exports are stored in your Vidpal account and handled as described in the privacy policy.
Troubleshooting
Claude says to sign in to Vidpal again
The connection's sign-in expired or was revoked. Reconnect Vidpal in Claude's connector settings and sign in again.
The upload link stopped working
Upload links expire after 30 minutes. Ask Claude for a new one.
An export or publish was refused because of the plan or credits
The connector uses your Vidpal plan and credits exactly as the dashboard does. The message names what is missing; plans and credit amounts are listed on vidpal.ai/pricing. Any video can still be previewed in Vidpal before export.
export_video says the video was made in Vidpal Studio
This connector edits and exports your own recordings and clips. Videos generated in Vidpal Studio are exported in the Vidpal app; the error includes a link to the video.
Publishing says no account is connected
Connect your Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or LinkedIn account in Vidpal under Account → Publishing, then ask again. Publishing needs the Pro or Business plan.
A video's phase is failed
Ask Claude for the video's status: get_video returns the reason. Edits can be adjusted and the export run again; if it keeps failing, email support with the video's link.
Disconnect
In Vidpal, open Account → Claude & AI agents: every app with access is listed with a Disconnect button. Removing the connector in Claude's settings works too. Access ends immediately, and nothing in your Vidpal account is deleted.
Support
Email support@vidpal.ai or use the contact page. Include the video's link from Claude's reply if the question is about a specific video. See also the terms and privacy policy.