🌐 Leer en Español: README.es.md
Note
OpenCut Controller is a robust Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to fully automate and control the OpenCut Video Editor directly from AI models (like Claude or agents inside n8n).
By leveraging Playwright under the hood, this server seamlessly injects into the OpenCut browser environment, granting LLMs programmatic access to manipulate the timeline, scenes, media assets, rendering engine, and more—effectively turning OpenCut into an AI-driven, headless video editing powerhouse.
- 161 Comprehensive MCP Tools: Full programmatic control over OpenCut's core editing capabilities.
- Dual Transport Support: Connect locally via
stdio(default) or integrate remotely via modernHTTP Streamabletransport. - Playwright Integration: Connects directly to the OpenCut web interface to manipulate application state in real-time.
- Contextual Resources: Inspect the editor's live state, current projects, and timeline tracks.
- Pre-built MCP Prompts: Ready-to-use templates for common high-level editing tasks.
Ensure you have pnpm (or Bun) installed on your system.
Important
OpenCut Controller requires the Legacy OpenCut (Next.js App Router) — the version with a complete editor, timeline, and stores.
The current public repo (OpenCut-app/OpenCut) is an early rewrite (Rust core + GPUI desktop app + Vite web shell) whose editor is not implemented yet, so there is nothing to control there.
Use the archived legacy repo: OpenCut-app/opencut-classic — upstream itself recommends it for now.
# 1. Clone the legacy OpenCut editor (required for MCP to work)
git clone https://github.com/OpenCut-app/opencut-classic.git
cd opencut-classic
# 2. Clone this MCP controller
cd ..
git clone https://github.com/JXUE0/opencut-controller.git
cd opencut-controller
# 3. Install dependencies (Playwright Chromium installs automatically)
pnpm install
# 4. Patch the Local Editor:
# To enable MCP control, apply small patches to the OpenCut source code.
# We provide an automated script for this:
pnpm run patch-editor ../opencut-classic
# 5. Install & run the editor on port 3001 (the port the MCP expects by default)
cd ../opencut-classic
bun install
cd apps/web && bunx next dev --turbopack -p 3001Tip
The pnpm install command will automatically trigger a postinstall script to download the required Playwright Chromium binaries. No manual browser setup is needed!
Note
The patcher is idempotent: running it again on an already patched editor is a no-op. If you patched with a version older than 1.32.0, restore apps/web/src/components/providers/editor-provider.tsx from git before re-running it — the old patch exposed store state instead of the stores.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
OPENCUT_URL |
http://localhost:3001 |
URL of the patched local OpenCut editor. |
MCP_HEADLESS |
true |
Set to false to watch the browser while the MCP works. |
CHROMIUM_PATH |
— | Use a specific Chromium/Chrome binary instead of Playwright's. |
TRANSPORT_TYPE |
stdio |
stdio or http. |
PORT |
3002 |
HTTP transport port. |
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN |
— | Bearer token for the HTTP transport (strongly recommended). |
Conventions: every time value (startTime, duration, time, trimStart, …) is in seconds; the controller converts to OpenCut's internal ticks. FPS accepts plain numbers (30, 29.97). Element volume is in dB (-60 to 20, 0 = original).
The server can be launched using two different transport protocols depending on your client environment.
Ideal for standard local MCP clients like Claude Desktop.
npx -y opencut-controllerLatest version straight from GitHub (built on install): npx -y --allow-git=all github:JXUE0/opencut-controller (--allow-git is required since npm 12).
From a clone of this repo: pnpm build && node dist/index.js.
Ideal for integrating with external workflow tools like n8n or remote services. The server listens at http://localhost:3002/mcp.
Warning
Environment variable syntax varies depending on your operating system. Make sure to use the correct command below to prevent errors.
Linux / macOS (Bash):
TRANSPORT_TYPE=http PORT=3002 npx -y opencut-controllerWindows (PowerShell):
$env:TRANSPORT_TYPE="http"; $env:PORT="3002"; npx -y opencut-controllerFor secure remote access, set a bearer token:
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN=your-secure-token TRANSPORT_TYPE=http PORT=3002 npx -y opencut-controllerThen include Authorization: Bearer your-secure-token in requests.
The controller exposes 161 highly granular tools to the LLM, categorized as follows:
| Category | Tools | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 📁 Project | 16 | Create, load, save, duplicate projects and change their settings. |
| 🎬 Scenes | 6 | Manage scene lifecycle, renaming, and active state. |
| 10 | Play, pause, stop, seek, volume, and mute. | |
| ⏱️ Timeline Tracks & Settings | 10 | List, inspect, mute, hide tracks; timeline settings. |
| 🧩 Timeline Elements | 15 | Insert, trim, split, move, duplicate, and update clips. |
| ✨ Timeline Effects | 5 | Apply and tweak clip effects. |
| 📌 Keyframes | 6 | Add, retime, and remove animation keyframes. |
| 🎯 Selection/Clipboard | 6 | Select elements, copy and paste. |
| 🕰️ History | 4 | Undo and redo. |
| 🎞️ Media | 7 | Import media files and place them on the timeline. |
| 📝 Text | 9 | Create and style text overlays. |
| 🎵 Audio | 8 | Search music/SFX and set element volume. |
| 🎨 Stickers/Canvas | 13 | Add stickers; canvas size, FPS, and background. |
| ⚙️ Transcribe/Export | 11 | Captions from transcripts; export to MP4/WebM files. |
| 🔖 Bookmarks/Panels/Keybindings | 23 | Timeline bookmarks, UI panels, and shortcuts. |
| 🔑 Auth & Storage | 9 | User sessions and storage. |
| 🌐 API | 3 | Health check and sound search via OpenCut's backend. |
Note
OpenCut's main track is magnetic: its first clip always starts at 0. Use an overlay element (text, sticker, a second clip) for free positioning. Tracks are created automatically when an element is inserted without trackId; OpenCut deletes empty tracks, so timeline_track_add returns an explanatory error.
export_project accepts outputPath to write the rendered .mp4/.webm file to disk.
Resources provide context directly to the LLM about the current state of OpenCut:
opencut://projects- JSON array of all available OpenCut projects.opencut://editor/state- Live tracking of the active project, scene, playhead time, and playback status.opencut://timeline/tracks- Detailed breakdown of tracks in the active scene.
Quick-start templates for complex actions:
create_intro_video- Automates creating a 10-second intro with text overlays.add_background_music- Searches the OpenCut sound library and trims music to fit.apply_transition- Seamlessly blends two clips with a specified effect.
To connect OpenCut Controller to your local Claude Desktop app, add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"opencut-controller": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "opencut-controller"],
"env": { "OPENCUT_URL": "http://localhost:3001" }
}
}
}The browser is closed automatically when the client disconnects.
- "Playwright browser not found": Ensure
postinstallran successfully. You can trigger it manually withnpx playwright install chromium. npm 12+ blocks install scripts by default, so withnpxrunnpx playwright install chromiumonce before first use. - "PowerShell: The term 'TRANSPORT_TYPE=http' is not recognized": You are using bash syntax in Windows. Use
$env:TRANSPORT_TYPE="http"; npx -y opencut-controllerinstead. - Connection Refused /
ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED: OpenCut is not running onOPENCUT_URL(default port3001, not Next.js' default3000).
Tip
To check types during development run pnpm run typecheck; pnpm run build bundles dist/.
Cause: You are trying to use the MCP server with the production web app (opencut.app).
Fix: You must run the patched OpenCut editor locally (pnpm run patch-editor <path>). The production site doesn't expose the internal hooks required for MCP control. If the editor fails to compile, check its terminal for module-not-found errors.
MP4 export forces software H.264 encoding (--disable-accelerated-video-encode) because the Windows hardware encoder stalls OpenCut's exporter, and runs in Chromium's new headless mode because the legacy headless shell crashes while rendering.
Cause: react and react-dom versions mismatch in the monorepo.
Fix: Ensure both are set to the exact same version (e.g., 19.2.0) in the root package.json and run pnpm install.
Cause: Missing environment variables in apps/web/.env.
Fix: Ensure you have a .env file in apps/web/. We have updated the code to make most variables optional, but BETTER_AUTH_SECRET may still be needed for some features.
Cause: The local OpenCut server (Next.js) is still compiling.
Fix: Wait until you see ✓ Ready in the editor terminal before starting the MCP server.
This project's original codebase and concept were inspired by and built upon the foundational work done in RavenMeld/OpenCut-MCP. We extend our sincere gratitude to RavenMeld for their pioneering work on connecting OpenCut via the Model Context Protocol.
This project is licensed under the MIT License.