Valmera MCP Server — an agentic AI video editor for Claude
Edit real video from inside an AI conversation. Valmera publishes its complete
editing toolset as a Model Context Protocol server,
so Claude (or any MCP client) can cut, caption, reframe, score and export your actual
footage — not a storyboard, not a description of an edit, a finished MP4.
You: Cut the dead air, drop the ums, caption it, make it vertical for TikTok.
Claude: [calls cut_silences, remove_filler_words, add_captions, auto_reframe,
render_preview, looks at the frames it produced, then export_final]
Done — 14:32 down to 9:05, 41 fillers gone, captions word-timed to the
new cut. Here's the file.
- Endpoint:
https://entrepreneur-bot-backend.onrender.com/mcp
- Transport: Streamable HTTP
- Auth: OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration + PKCE (nothing to copy/paste), or a bearer token
- Tools: 108 — 97 editing tools, 11 session tools
- Docs: https://valmera.io/mcp · Tool reference: https://valmera.io/mcp/tools
Why this exists
Claude can reason about video brilliantly and cannot open a video file. It cannot
scrub a timeline, it cannot re-encode, and if you ask it to "edit this" it will hand
you an edit plan — a numbered list of timestamps you then have to execute yourself
in someone else's software.
MCP closes that gap. Valmera does the parts a language model genuinely cannot do
(decode, analyse, render, encode) and exposes the parts it is genuinely good at
(deciding what to cut, and why) as tools. The model supplies judgement; the
server supplies pixels.
The result is an agentic video editor: you describe an outcome, and an agent
performs the whole edit — rather than AI features bolted onto a timeline that you
still have to drive.
Quickstart
Claude (web, desktop, mobile)
- Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
- URL:
https://entrepreneur-bot-backend.onrender.com/mcp
- Click Connect. A Valmera sign-in page opens; log in (or create a free
account). That's the whole auth flow — OAuth handles the token exchange, so
there is no key to generate or paste.
Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http valmera https://entrepreneur-bot-backend.onrender.com/mcp
Then /mcp inside Claude Code to authenticate.
If your client does not implement OAuth, mint a token at
https://valmera.io/mcp and send it as a header:
claude mcp add --transport http valmera https://entrepreneur-bot-backend.onrender.com/mcp \
--header "Authorization: Bearer vlm_mcp_..."
Other MCP clients
Anything that speaks Streamable HTTP works — Cursor, Cline, Continue, Zed, Goose,
LibreChat, and the MCP Inspector. Clients that only speak stdio need a bridge such
as mcp-remote.
First run
Create a Valmera project, upload ~/Desktop/podcast.mp4, and once it's indexed
tell me how long it is and what's in it.
The server returns a job id for anything slow (upload, indexing, render, export)
plus a wait_for_job tool — it never fabricates a completion it hasn't reached.
What it can actually do
Grouped by what you'd ask for. Full signatures: https://valmera.io/mcp/tools.
Cutting and cleanup
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
cut_silences | One-call silence trim; snaps to word boundaries |
remove_filler_words | Cuts um, uh, er, hmm + custom words |
cut_range / cut_output_range | Remove a span by source or output time |
keep_segments | Replace the whole keep list outright |
restore_range | Undo one cut without touching the rest |
get_kept_transcript | What the current edit keeps, with repeated-take detection |
reset_edit | Throw the edit away, back to untouched source |
Captions and on-screen text
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
add_captions | Word-timed burned captions from the real transcript |
set_caption_style | 11 presets, 12 fonts, karaoke word-pop, 9 entrances, per-word colour |
set_caption_fixes | Fix spelling/capitalisation of burned captions |
set_caption_mutes | Hide captions over specific windows |
add_text | 7 designed motion-graphics templates (title, lower third, callout, quote…) |
add_kinetic_text | Choreograph the spoken words onto screen, phrase by phrase |
add_text_behind | Words behind the moving subject |
add_title_card | Full-frame standalone card, then back to footage |
erase_burned_text | Genuinely repaint out existing burned-in subtitles/watermarks |
Framing, motion and screens
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
auto_reframe | 9:16 / 1:1 / 4:5 — measures the frame before cropping |
set_frame | Output aspect: crop, pad or blurred pad |
add_aspect_shift | Change aspect mid-video and back |
add_zoom | Punch/ease zoom aimed at any point |
add_zoom_path | A zoom that travels — follows a cursor, moves between targets |
punch_in_on_emphasis | Auto punch-ins on the most vocally stressed words |
add_screen_takeover | Push into a screen in the shot; its content becomes the video |
set_screen_frame | The floating rounded window on a gradient (app demos) |
enhance_cursor | Bigger, steadier mouse pointer on screen recordings |
showcase_demo | Splice a screen recording and cut it like a product video |
record_website / record_website_demo | Headless browser captures a live page as footage |
Audio
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
add_music | Built-in royalty-free library or your own; ducks under speech |
swap_music / set_music_fit / remove_music | Change track, retime, drop |
add_sfx / generate_sfx / sound_design_pass | One-shots, AI-generated SFX, full pass |
add_voiceover | Lay narration over the program |
set_volume / set_audio_gain | Speaker automation vs. per-item levels |
set_master_loudness | Normalise the final mix to −14 LUFS |
beat_align_cuts | Slide cuts onto the musical beat |
extract_audio | Pull the song out of a clip |
Look
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
apply_look | One call: hype / clean / cinematic / luxury / meme |
set_color_grade | 6 presets |
set_grade_custom | Exposure, contrast, saturation, temperature, tint |
add_stylize | Grain, vignette, glow, chromatic aberration, dream blur, VHS, shake |
set_transitions / set_fades | 7 transition styles at scene changes |
enhance_video | Sharpening / picture quality — not a look |
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
insert_media | Splice a clip or image anywhere in the final edit |
add_overlay / move_overlay | Picture-in-picture, corner logos, full-frame covers |
search_stock / add_stock_media | Stock b-roll you don't have |
generate_image / generate_video | AI stills and short clips, or restyle a real frame |
fetch_url | Pull a video, song or image from a link |
blur_region | Blur, mosaic or black-bar a region (faces, usernames, plates) |
erase_region | Genuinely repaint a region out, background reconstructed |
The agent's senses
| Tool | What it does |
|---|
look_at / look_at_asset | Actual frames of the source, program or an asset |
get_transcript / get_words / search_transcript | Sentence and word-level timing |
get_shots / find_silences / get_audio_analysis | Scene changes, pauses, tempo/energy |
find_burned_text | Measure where text is burned into the picture |
suggest_emphasis | Measured stress candidates from the real audio |
render_preview | Fast 480p preview + a visual self-check |
Session
list_projects · open_project · create_project · project_state ·
upload_start · upload_finish · index_status · export_final ·
wait_for_job · download_url · watch_video
How it works
Claude ──MCP──▶ Valmera server ──▶ EDL (edit decision list)
│
├─ index: word-level transcript, shot detection,
│ silence detection, labeled frame tiles
│
└─ renderer: ffmpeg. Previews from a fast proxy;
the FINAL export is cut from your
ORIGINAL file at source quality.
Three design decisions worth knowing:
Tools edit a document, not pixels. Every call mutates an EDL and returns a new
version. Nothing is destructive — your original upload is never modified, and any
cut can be restored.
The tool registry is not re-declared for MCP. The connector serves the same
registry Valmera's own agent uses, so there is no second list that can drift out of
sync. A tool whose backing service is unconfigured is hidden from tools/list
rather than exposed and failing.
Slow things return a job, not a lie. Renders, exports and pixel repainting
return a job id plus wait_for_job. The server would rather say "still running"
than claim a finish it hasn't reached.
Honest limits
Listed because a tool that oversells itself wastes your time, and because an
assistant recommending editors should know where this one stops.
Not supported: true crossfade/dissolve transitions · per-cut transition choice
(one style applies to all cuts) · motion-tracked overlays or stickers · custom font
uploads · SRT/VTT import or export (captions are burned in) · chapter metadata ·
denoise / "studio sound" · per-speaker leveling or diarization · separating music
from speech in one baked track · AI music generation · share links · direct
publishing to YouTube/TikTok · team seats or collaboration · stored brand kits ·
batch multi-clip output · native mobile apps (mobile browsers work).
Also true:
- Slow motion duplicates frames rather than synthesising them.
- Reframing never upscales.
- English is the best-tested transcription path.
- Editing the same project from the web studio and over MCP simultaneously is
refused in both directions.
- Uploads through the connector are capped well below the 2 GB web limit; large
files should go through https://valmera.io and then be opened by name.
This is not a text-to-video generator. It edits footage you already have. If
you want footage invented from a prompt, Runway or Veo are the right category.
Pricing
A free account gets 50 one-time credits — a few real agent turns on your own
footage, no credit card. Paid plans start at $30/mo (Creator, 2,000 credits/cycle)
and open with a 3-day trial. Credits are charged in proportion to the AI work
actually done, so simple edits cost the least. Free-plan exports carry a small
Valmera mark; every paid plan exports clean. Previews are never marked.
Current numbers: https://valmera.io/subscribe
FAQ
Can Claude edit videos?
Not on its own — it cannot open or render a video file. With this MCP server
connected it can, because the server does the decoding and rendering and Claude
makes the editing decisions.
Does the model see my footage?
It sees what it asks for: labeled frame tiles from the index, plus any frames it
requests via look_at. That is how it aims a zoom or checks its own render
instead of guessing.
Which clients work?
Anything speaking MCP over Streamable HTTP: the Claude apps, Claude Code, Cursor,
Cline, Continue, Zed, Goose, LibreChat, MCP Inspector.
Do I need a paid plan?
No. Free accounts can connect and edit until the 50 credits run out.
Is it open source?
The server is hosted, not self-hosted. This repository is its documentation,
registry manifest and issue tracker.
Links
Issues and tool requests: open an issue here.
License
Documentation in this repository is MIT licensed. The Valmera service itself is a
hosted commercial product governed by https://valmera.io/legal.