Video Watcher MCP Server

MCP server exposing claude-video functionality for claude.ai web UI via HTTP+SSE.

Wraps the claude-video plugin and serves it over the web so you can watch and analyze videos from claude.ai.

Deployment to Render (Free Tier)

Step 1: Create a Render Account

Go to render.com and sign up. Free tier is fine.

Step 2: Create a GitHub Repository

Push this project to a GitHub repo. Render will auto-deploy from GitHub.

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/video-watcher-mcp.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Step 3: Deploy to Render

1. Go to dashboard.render.com

2. Click New + → Web Service

3. Connect your GitHub repo (video-watcher-mcp)

4. Set these values:

   • Name: video-watcher-mcp

   • Runtime: Docker

   • Region: Choose closest to you

   • Plan: Free (it's free, stays cold until you use it)

5. Under Environment, add:

   • GROQ_API_KEY = your Groq API key (get it at console.groq.com)

   • OPENAI_API_KEY = (optional, fallback)

6. Click Deploy

Render will build the Docker image and deploy. Takes ~5 minutes. You'll get a URL like https://video-watcher-mcp.onrender.com.

Step 4: Register with claude.ai

1. Go to claude.ai

2. Open settings (bottom left)

3. Find MCP or Connected Services

4. Click Add MCP

5. Fill in:

   • Name: Video Watcher

   • Transport: HTTP

   • URL: https://video-watcher-mcp.onrender.com

6. Save

Step 5: Test

In claude.ai, ask:

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... and tell me what happens

Or use the watch_video tool directly if exposed in the UI.

Related MCP server: imagine-mcp

Local Development

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run server
python server.py
# Starts on http://localhost:8000

# Check health
curl http://localhost:8000/health

Notes

• Free tier sleeps after 15 min of inactivity. First request takes 10-15 seconds to wake up. Fine for occasional use (once every few days).

• No bandwidth limits on free tier.

• API keys: Groq is cheaper/faster. OpenAI is fallback if you have it.

• Video limits: See claude-video docs — recommended under 10 min, hard cap 100 frames.

• No persistence: Frames/transcripts live in /tmp and are cleaned up after response.

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" after deploy:

• Free tier may still be spinning up. Wait 30 seconds and retry.

• Check Render dashboard for build logs.

"No transcript available":

• Video has no captions AND Groq/OpenAI API key is missing or invalid.

• Add API key to Render environment vars.

Server crashes:

• Check Render logs: Dashboard → your service → Logs tab.

Architecture

claude.ai (web UI)
    ↓ HTTPS
MCP Server (running on Render)
    ↓
    Calls scripts/watch.py
    ↓
Returns frames + transcript

The server is stateless. Each request downloads, processes, and cleans up independently.

License

Same as claude-video (MIT).