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Pictory runs an MCP server at https://mcp.pictory.ai/mcp. Point an AI assistant at it and the assistant gains a set of Pictory tools: you describe the video you want, it creates it through your Pictory account, and it hands you the finished link.

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Why use the MCP server

An AI assistant asked to “create a 60-second product demo” has two ways to help. It can write the request for you, which means knowing every endpoint, every field name and every rule about which options cannot be combined. Or it can call a tool built for the job. The second is what the MCP server provides, and it changes the failure modes: It also knows things a model cannot guess: how long a preview takes, that a render should not start until you have approved the storyboard, which voices exist on your account, and that a stock clip’s URL must be passed exactly as returned or the license does not follow it.

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What you need

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Connect

Cursor and Windsurf have their own configuration screens, covered on their pages. --callback-port 3118 is required for Claude Code. It completes the sign-in on a local listener, and Pictory checks that address against a registered list, so a random port fails before you can log in. Step-by-step instructions, with screenshots, are on Connect from Claude and Connect from Claude Code.

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What the assistant can do

Thirteen tools, in four groups: The first thing settled is who designs the scenes. Pictory’s AI storyboard can lay out every scene from an idea, a script or a blog URL, or you and the assistant compose each scene explicitly, with narration, backgrounds, text and shape overlays. Both modes are described on the Pictory MCP Server page.

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What a conversation looks like

You: Create a 30-second explainer about how coffee is roasted, for YouTube.
The assistant asks the things that have no safe default: who designs the scenes, whether it is narrated and in which voice, whether it has background music, whether to include subtitles, the shape, and whether to keep the result as an editable project. Under the AI storyboard it also asks whether you want a preview first or the finished video straight away, unless you already said.
You: Pictory designs it. Narrated, pick a warm voice, music yes, no subtitles. Preview first.
It builds the storyboard, gives you a link, and waits.
You: Make the title on scene two smaller, then render it.
Edits to wording, size, color, placement, a clip or the music are applied to the preview in place, at the same link. Only a new scene or a new element needs a fresh preview. Then it renders and returns the video. Stock media and music cost nothing. AI-generated visuals draw AI Credits, and premium narration draws premium voice minutes, both from the account that signed in.

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Troubleshooting

Cause: The return address the client used is not one Pictory recognizes. In Claude Code this means the server was added without --callback-port 3118.Resolution: Remove the server, add it again with the flag exactly as shown above, and sign in.
Cause: The client reads the tool list once the server is authenticated, and shows none for a server that is connected but not signed in, or switched off for this conversation.Resolution: Confirm the server shows as signed in, switch it on in the conversation’s tools menu where the client has one, then start a new conversation.
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. Disconnect and reconnect to sign in again.
Cause: Clients read the tool list when they connect, so a tool added since then is not visible.Resolution: Reconnect the server, or start a new conversation.

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Next Steps

Pictory MCP Server

Every tool in detail, the two design modes, and a quick reference

Connect from Claude

The custom connector setup, step by step with screenshots

Connect from Claude Code

The terminal setup, scopes, sign-out and troubleshooting

Pictory for Claude

The MCP server and the Text-to-Video skill, compared