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Claude Code is Anthropic’s official CLI for Claude. Connect the Pictory MCP server and it gains a set of Pictory tools: you describe the video you want, and Claude Code creates it through your Pictory account. There is no API key to store and no project file to write. Sign-in is your Pictory account, through Pictory’s own login page.

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Prerequisites

  • Claude Code installed: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
  • A Pictory account with a purchased Pictory API subscription: app.pictory.ai. A standard Pictory plan on its own is refused at sign-in.

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Connect

A browser window opens on the Pictory sign-in page. Sign in with your email and password, or continue with Google. The browser hands control back to Claude Code, which stores the sign-in for future sessions. Verify it with claude mcp list; the server shows as connected.
--callback-port 3118 is required. Claude Code completes the sign-in on a local listener, and Pictory checks that address against a registered list. Without the flag, Claude Code picks a random port and the sign-in fails before you can log in.
If you already added the Pictory connector in Claude and Claude Code is signed in to the same account, you are done. claude mcp list shows it under the connector’s name, prefixed claude.ai, and its tools are available in every session.

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What you can ask for

Claude Code settles the choices that have no safe default before it starts: who designs the scenes, whether the video is narrated and in which voice, whether it has music, whether to include subtitles, the shape, and whether to save it as an editable project. A preview takes 2–5 minutes and a render 5–15.

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Scope and sign-out

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Troubleshooting

Cause: The server was added without --callback-port, so Claude Code used a random port and the return address did not match the registered one.Resolution:
  1. Remove the server: claude mcp remove pictory-ai-video
  2. Add it again with the flag, exactly as shown above.
  3. Sign in: claude mcp login pictory-ai-video
Cause: Another process is listening on that port, so Claude Code cannot open the callback listener. The port cannot be changed, because it is the one registered with Pictory.Resolution: Find the process with lsof -i :3118, stop it or wait for it to finish, then sign in again.
Cause: Claude Code reads the tool list when it connects, so a tool added since then is not visible.Resolution: Type /mcp, select the server and choose Reconnect. If it is still missing, start a new session.
Cause: The stored sign-in has expired, or the account does not hold a Pictory API subscription.Resolution: Sign out and in again with claude mcp logout then claude mcp login. Check the subscription at app.pictory.ai.

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Next Steps

Pictory MCP Server

Every tool the server provides, and the two design modes

Connect from Claude Code

The same setup with scopes, sign-out and troubleshooting in full

Connect from Claude

Add Pictory as a custom connector in Claude on the web

Use Pictory with an LLM

Why the MCP server beats handing a model the API, and what a conversation looks like