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Windsurf is an agentic IDE powered by Cascade. Connect the Pictory MCP server and Cascade gains a set of Pictory tools: you describe the video you want and it creates it through your Pictory account, without writing any API code. There is no API key to store. Sign-in is your Pictory account, through Pictory’s own login page.

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Prerequisites

  • Windsurf installed
  • 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

1

Open the MCP settings

In Windsurf, open Settings, then Cascade, then Model Context Protocol. You can also edit the configuration file directly at ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.
2

Add the Pictory server

Remote servers use serverUrl:
The URL is all that is needed. The server supports dynamic client registration, so Windsurf registers itself. Do not add an API_KEY header; this server does not take one.
3

Sign in

Start the sign-in from the MCP settings panel. A browser opens on the Pictory login page. Sign in with your Pictory email and password, or continue with Google. The browser hands control back to Windsurf and the server shows as connected.
4

Reload Cascade

Reload Cascade to pick up the new tools, then ask it for a video.

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What you can ask for

Cascade 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. Thirteen tools are available, covering creating and rendering videos, refining a preview in place, searching stock media and music, and reading the voices, brand kits and quota on the account. The Pictory MCP Server page describes each one and the two design modes.

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Troubleshooting

Cause: Cascade reads the tool list when it loads, and shows none for a server that has not been authenticated.Resolution: Confirm the server shows as signed in, reload Cascade, and check the panel for registration errors.
Cause: The return address Windsurf used is not one Pictory recognizes.Resolution: Start the sign-in from the MCP settings panel rather than by opening the server URL in a browser. If it persists, the editor’s callback address may not yet be registered with Pictory; contact support with the error shown in the browser.
Cause: The account signed in does not hold a purchased Pictory API subscription, or the sign-in has expired.Resolution: Check the subscription at app.pictory.ai, then disconnect and reconnect the server.

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Next Steps

Pictory MCP Server

Every tool in detail, and the two design modes

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