Fast Video Cataloger MCP server
Search, view and tag your local video library from an AI assistant.
Fast Video Cataloger
keeps a searchable catalog of your own video files on Windows: scene thumbnails, keywords,
transcripts and faces. This MCP server lets an assistant such as Claude work with that catalog.
You ask for footage in your own words; the assistant searches, looks at the actual shots and does
the filing for you.
- Find videos and moments by what was said, with timecodes
- Find scenes by describing the picture ("a drone shot over a city at night"), nothing tagged first
- Fetch scene thumbnails so the assistant can see and judge a shot
- With an Editor key: add or remove keywords, build bins, index new videos
It runs against the Fast Video Cataloger server on your own computer. No video is uploaded; the
assistant receives the titles, transcript lines and scene images it asks for.
More: MCP server for your video library
Requirements
- Windows 10 or 11 (x64)
- Fast Video Cataloger
10.4 or later. The free 30-day trial works.
fvc-mcp.exe is also installed with the program,
together with the .NET 10 runtime it needs.
- Your catalog shared through the Fast Video Cataloger server: in the program, open the start
page's Server section and click Setup. The assistant connects to the server, not to the
desktop program, so it works with the program closed.
- An API key: Manage Users in the same Server section.
Viewer to search and read, Editor
to also tag and build bins.
Install
Claude Desktop: one click
Download fvc-mcp-<version>.mcpb from Releases and
open it. Claude Desktop asks for the server address (leave http://localhost:8754 when the server
runs on this computer) and your API key.
Claude Desktop: config file
Use the copy installed with Fast Video Cataloger. In claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"fast-video-cataloger": {
"command": "C:\\Program Files\\FastVideoCataloger\\fvc-mcp.exe",
"env": {
"FVC_SERVER_URL": "http://localhost:8754",
"FVC_API_KEY": "fvc_your_key_here"
}
}
}
}
Claude Code
claude mcp add fast-video-cataloger --env FVC_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8754 --env FVC_API_KEY=fvc_your_key_here "--" "C:\Program Files\FastVideoCataloger\fvc-mcp.exe"
Keep the quotes around "--" in PowerShell.
Gemini CLI
gemini mcp add fast-video-cataloger "C:\Program Files\FastVideoCataloger\fvc-mcp.exe" -s user -e FVC_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8754 -e FVC_API_KEY=fvc_your_key_here
Full setup, things to try and troubleshooting:
Connect an AI Assistant (MCP).
Configuration
| Variable | Meaning |
|---|
FVC_SERVER_URL | Address of your catalog server. Default http://localhost:8754. |
FVC_API_KEY | The API key. |
FVC_MCP_LOG_LEVEL | Warning by default; Information or Debug when a connection will not come up. Logs go to stderr. |
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
search_videos | Find videos by free text or by keyword. |
search_scenes | Find individual scenes, with their timecodes. |
search_scenes_semantic | Find scenes by describing the picture, or scenes that look like a given one. Needs the visual search index and, for descriptions, the Visual search model on the server. |
search_transcripts | Find spoken words, with their video and timecode. |
search_actors | Find people by name or tag. |
list_keywords | Every keyword in the catalog, so the assistant knows what it can search for. |
get_video | One catalog entry in full. |
get_video_scenes | A video's scene thumbnails in timecode order. |
get_video_transcript | The transcript as timed lines. |
get_video_tags, get_video_actors | Keywords and cast. |
get_scene_image | The thumbnail image itself, so the assistant can see the shot. |
catalog_stats, list_bins, get_bin_videos | Catalog size, the build serving it, and existing bins. |
tag_video, tag_scene | Add keywords to a video or a single scene. Editor key. |
untag_video, untag_scene | Remove named keywords again. Editor key. |
create_bin, add_video_to_bin | Build a collection. Editor key. |
index_video, list_videos_needing_indexing | Index catalog entries that have no thumbnails yet. Editor key. |
It cannot delete videos or bins, take a video out of a bin, play video or drive the player.
Source
src/FvcMcpServer is the source of the fvc-mcp.exe shipped with Fast Video Cataloger, copied
from each release. It is a thin client over the Fast Video Cataloger server's REST API: it holds
no state and every tool is one or two REST calls. Build with the .NET 10 SDK:
dotnet publish src/FvcMcpServer -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false -p:PublishSingleFile=true
Released builds are code-signed by VideoStorm Sweden AB. Issues and pull requests are welcome; the
code here follows the version in Fast Video Cataloger, so accepted changes ship with the next
release.
License
MIT for the source in this repository, see LICENSE. Bundled packages:
THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md. Fast Video Cataloger itself is commercial
software with a free 30-day trial.