Poe Media MCP server

A local MCP server that lets Claude (Desktop or Code) generate images, videos, speech and music through your Poe API key. It follows the same design as Ben Ratcliffe's Segmind MCP server from the Medium article (TypeScript, stdio, one tool per media type, files saved locally), but talks to Poe's OpenAI‑compatible API (https://api.poe.com/v1) so you can use any Poe bot: GPT‑Image‑1, Imagen 4, FLUX, Veo 3, Sora 2, Kling, ElevenLabs, Lyria and more.

Tools

Every generation tool accepts model (any Poe bot name), parameters (bot‑specific options sent as Poe's extra_body, such as {"aspect_ratio": "16:9"}), prompt_flags (Poe chat‑style flags appended to the prompt, such as --aspect 16:9, for bots that ignore parameters) and output_dir.

Results are downloaded to ~/poe-media (override with POE_OUTPUT_DIR) and the tool returns the file paths plus the original Poe URLs. Images under 750 KB are also shown inline to Claude.

Related MCP server: Gemini MCP

Install

Requires Node.js 18.17 or newer.

cd poe-media-mcp
npm install
npm run build

That produces dist/index.js. Note its absolute path, for example /Users/you/poe-media-mcp/dist/index.js.

Get your Poe API key

Create one at https://poe.com/api_key. The key goes in the MCP config's env block below; it is never written into the code. Generations spend points from your Poe account.

Add it to Claude Desktop

Edit the config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "poe-media": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/poe-media-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "POE_API_KEY": "your-poe-api-key",
        "POE_OUTPUT_DIR": "/Users/you/Pictures/poe-media"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The tools appear under the tools (🔨) menu.

Add it to Claude Code

claude mcp add poe-media -s user -e POE_API_KEY=your-poe-api-key -- node /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/poe-media-mcp/dist/index.js

Check it with /mcp inside Claude Code.

Try it

• "Generate a 16:9 image of a neon Tokyo street in the rain."

• "Make an 8 second vertical video of waves crashing on black sand with Veo-3."

• "Read this intro aloud with ElevenLabs: Welcome to the channel!"

• "Compose a 30 second upbeat lo‑fi track for a product teaser."

• "Use Imagen-4-Ultra to edit ~/Desktop/photo.png so the sky is a sunset."

• "List the Poe models with 'kling' in the name."

Configuration

Notes and troubleshooting

• Bot names are case‑sensitive and Poe adds new ones often. If a call returns 404, run list_poe_models and copy the exact name.

• Bot options vary. Poe passes parameters straight to the bot, but each bot names its options differently (aspect_ratio, aspect, duration…). The bot's page at poe.com/<BotName>/api lists them. If a bot rejects them (often a 400 "upstream gateway failure"), the server automatically retries once with them written as prompt flags (--aspect 16:9). If an option is silently ignored, try prompt_flags yourself.

• "Returned no downloadable media" means the bot replied with text only (for example asking a clarifying question). The bot's reply is included so Claude can adjust and retry.

• Video timeouts. Video bots can take several minutes. Raise POE_TIMEOUT_MS if needed. Claude Desktop may also give up on very long calls; if that happens, use a faster bot such as Veo-3-Fast.

• 401 means a bad key, 402 means you're out of Poe points, 429 means rate limited.

• Logs go to stderr (Claude Desktop shows them in its MCP log files); stdout is reserved for the MCP protocol.

Security and privacy

• Your Poe key lives only in your MCP client config (or a local .env, which is git‑ignored). Never commit it.

• Files you pass as reference_images, start_image or attachments are uploaded to Poe and the bot's provider.

• The server only downloads https links from Poe's reply; anything else is listed but not fetched.

Credits

Inspired by Ben Ratcliffe's article How I built an MCP server that lets Claude generate images, videos, and music on command and his segmind-mcp. This is an independent implementation for the Poe API, not affiliated with Poe or Quora.

License

MIT