capcut-mcp-server

A local MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets Claude drive CapCut/Jianying video editing — create a draft, add text/video/audio/image tracks, subtitles, effects, stickers, and keyframe animations, then save a draft file CapCut can open.

How this actually works (read this first)

CapCut has no public API. This server does not talk to the CapCut app directly. It's a thin wrapper around the local HTTP backend from the open-source VectCutAPI project, which generates CapCut/Jianying draft files that you then copy into CapCut's drafts folder.

That means there are two things running for this to work:

Claude  <--stdio-->  capcut-mcp-server (this project)  <--HTTP-->  VectCutAPI's capcut_server.py

You must set up and run VectCutAPI's Python backend yourself — this project does not include or install it.

Related MCP server: capcut-mcp

1. Set up the VectCutAPI backend (prerequisite)

git clone https://github.com/sun-guannan/VectCutAPI.git
cd VectCutAPI
python -m venv venv-capcut
source venv-capcut/bin/activate      # Windows: venv-capcut\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp config.json.example config.json   # edit if needed

python capcut_server.py              # starts the HTTP API on http://127.0.0.1:9001

Leave this running in its own terminal. Requirements: Python 3.10+, FFmpeg, and CapCut or Jianying installed (international CapCut works; the desktop app itself is only needed to open the drafts this produces, not to generate them).

2. Build this server

npm install
npm run build

This produces dist/index.js, the stdio entry point.

3. Point it at your VectCutAPI backend

By default the server calls http://127.0.0.1:9001. Override with an env var if you changed the port:

CAPCUT_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9001

4. Wire it into a client

This is a local stdio server, not a remote connector — it runs as a subprocess of whatever client launches it, so it's added differently depending on where you want to use it:

Claude Desktop

Edit your claude_desktop_config.json (Settings → Developer → Edit Config) and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "capcut": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/capcut-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": { "CAPCUT_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:9001" }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop afterward.

Claude Code

claude mcp add capcut -- node /absolute/path/to/capcut-mcp-server/dist/index.js

Cowork

Cowork's "Add custom connector" flow (Settings → Customize → Connectors) expects a remote MCP server URL reachable from Anthropic's cloud — it can't launch a local stdio subprocess on your machine. To use this server from Cowork you'd need to deploy it (and the VectCutAPI backend) somewhere with a public HTTPS endpoint and switch this server's transport to streamable HTTP. For local-only use, Claude Desktop or Claude Code (above) are the supported paths.

Available tools

Every add_* tool accepts an extra_params object as an escape hatch for any VectCutAPI field not modeled explicitly in the typed schema — the underlying API has more optional fields (nested transform/animation objects, etc.) than are fully documented, so extra_params is merged directly into the request body.

Typical workflow

1. capcut_create_draft → get draft_id

2. One or more capcut_add_video / capcut_add_image / capcut_add_audio / capcut_add_text / capcut_add_subtitle / capcut_add_effect / capcut_add_sticker / capcut_add_video_keyframe calls against that draft_id

3. capcut_save_draft → generates a dfd_* folder next to capcut_server.py

4. Copy that folder into your CapCut/Jianying drafts directory to open it in the app

Troubleshooting

• "Could not reach the CapCut API backend" — capcut_server.py isn't running, or is running on a different port than CAPCUT_API_URL points to.

• CapCut doesn't show the draft — make sure you copied the generated dfd_* folder into CapCut's actual drafts directory (not just left it next to capcut_server.py).

• A field you need isn't in the schema — pass it via extra_params; check VectCutAPI's example.py for the exact field name the backend expects.

Development

npm run dev     # tsx watch — rebuild/rerun on save
npm run build   # tsc compile to dist/
npm run clean   # remove dist/