The MCP server

ClipHeat’s MCP server connects an assistant that supports the MCP protocol — Claude, Cursor, a home-made agent — to the API. It runs on your machine and calls ClipHeat with your key: it has no right your key does not already have.

Plan

The API and the MCP server are part of the plans described on the pricing page. Generations started by an assistant use the account’s credits.

The four tools

Tool	What it does
clipheat_estimer	What a video (YouTube, Twitch or Kick) would cost, without starting anything. Accepts a portion, in seconds.
clipheat_generer	Starts a generation from a link, with the default settings. Spends credits.
clipheat_suivre	The stage, the progress, then the ready clips and their score.
clipheat_recuperer_un_clip	A download address for a clip, valid for one hour.

These four tools cover the whole loop: estimate, start, track, retrieve. The rest — editing, branding, publishing — happens in the app.

Connecting it

You need Python 3 and an API key. In your MCP client’s configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clipheat": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "clipheat.mcp_server"],
      "env": {
        "CLIPHEAT_URL": "https://clipheat.app",
        "CLIPHEAT_CLE": "ch_your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

The same configuration, ready to copy with your account’s address, is in the app, on the API & MCP screen.

To start it by hand:

CLIPHEAT_URL=https://clipheat.app \
CLIPHEAT_CLE=ch_your_key \
  python -m clipheat.mcp_server

The key goes through the environment, never as an argument

As a command-line argument, it would stay in the shell history and be visible to other users of the machine. The server therefore reads CLIPHEAT_URL and CLIPHEAT_CLE from the environment, and refuses to start if one is missing, saying which.

The server talks to your client through its standard input and output: write nothing else to its output, a single extra line breaks the exchange.

What an assistant can spend

clipheat_generer is the only tool that costs credits. Its description asks the assistant to call clipheat_estimer first — but that is an instruction, not a barrier. Two limits apply whatever the assistant does:

• your balance: without enough credits, the start is refused;
• the rate limit of POST /api/process: about twenty starts per minute.

To stay in control, create a dedicated key for your assistant and revoke it when you are not using it — see Key security.

What it does not do

• It does not access your files. It only makes four calls to the API.
• It deletes nothing and publishes nothing.