Add the Pictory MCP server as a custom connector in Claude, sign in once with your Pictory account, and create videos in any chat on the web, desktop or mobile
This page adds the Pictory MCP server to Claude as a custom connector. It is a one-time setup,
identical on claude.ai and Claude Desktop. The connector then follows your Claude account to the
desktop and mobile apps, and to Claude Code when it is signed in to the same account.
Two things must be in place, or the connection fails at sign-in.
A Pictory account. This is what you sign in with when authorizing the connector.
A purchased Pictory API subscription. The connector runs on Pictory’s API, so an active
API subscription on that account is required. A standard Pictory plan on its own is not enough.
You also need a Claude plan that supports custom connectors.
Select Add. The connector now exists, but is not yet authorized.
Both required settings arrive pre-selected and marked Detected.
4
Connect your Pictory account
The connector’s page reports that you are not connected yet. Select Connect.
The connector exists but has not been authorized yet.
5
Confirm in the browser
Because you started this from Claude, select Continue connecting. This page appears
precisely so that a link alone can never attach a connector to your account.
The browser confirmation that completes the OAuth handoff.
6
Sign in to Pictory
Use Google, or your Pictory email and password. On success the browser hands control back
to Claude and the connector shows as connected.
Sign in with Google, or with your Pictory email and password.
Which account is billed. Your Pictory API subscription account. Video minutes, premium voice
minutes, transcription minutes and AI Credits are all drawn from the API subscription held by
the account you sign in with here.
Ask in plain language. A request such as “Create a 5-scene video showing how to brew the
perfect cup of coffee, from grinding fresh beans to enjoying the final cup, with each scene
clearly showing and explaining the step” is enough to start. Claude then asks for the decisions
that have no safe default.Who designs the scenes. The first and most consequential choice. It decides what you supply
and how much control you keep. Both modes are described on the
Pictory MCP Server page.
The design mode question, asked first because it has no default.
What the video should include. Narration, background music and saving the result as an
editable project are each off unless you ask for them. Anything you leave unticked stays off.
Narration, music and saving the project are each opt-in.
Output shape. 16:9 for landscape, 9:16 for vertical, 1:1 for square.
The output shape, which also follows from where the video will be published.
Which voice narrates. If you asked for narration without naming a voice, Claude lists the
premium voices on your account with samples, and waits for you to pick one.
Premium voices on the account, with a sample for each.
Claude confirms the locked-in choices before spending a render.
The choices confirmed back before any render is spent.
Rendering takes 5–15 minutes. The finished job returns the MP4, a watch link, an embed link,
the narration audio, and subtitles in both SRT and VTT.
A finished job: the video, its links, the narration audio and both subtitle formats.
Two habits worth forming. Ask for a preview whenever the design matters: correcting a storyboard
costs 2–5 minutes, re-rendering costs 5–15. And say yes to saving the video as an editable
project if there is any chance you will revise it, because without it the video is not kept in
your Pictory account, so every revision means a fresh render rather than a tweak in the editor.
A connector added on the web is available in the Claude desktop and mobile apps for the same
account with no further setup. Claude Code signed in to the same account also lists it:
claude mcp list shows it under the name you gave the connector, prefixed claude.ai, and its
tools are available in every session. Only a machine that is not signed in to claude.ai needs
the Claude Code setup.
Refresh the tools. Claude reads the server’s tool list when a conversation starts. If a
newly announced tool is missing, start a new chat. If it is still missing, disconnect and
reconnect the connector in Settings, Connectors.
Sign in again. Choose Disconnect on the connector, then Connect, and sign in.
Remove it. Choose Remove on the connector. Videos already created stay on your Pictory
account.
