Use FFMPEG API Directly From MCP Clients

1Get an API key

MCP requests use the same API keys, usage limits, and billing rules as the REST API. Create an account or log in to get your key.

2Connect your MCP client

Use Streamable HTTP transport with this URL:

https://mcp.ffmpegapi.net/mcp

Send your API key as a request header. Do not put the key in tool arguments.

X-API-Key: your_api_key_here

3Test with MCP Inspector

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

In the Inspector UI, connect to:

https://mcp.ffmpegapi.net/mcp

Add this header:

{
  "X-API-Key": "your_api_key_here"
}

Cursor Example

Add the server to your Cursor MCP configuration with a Streamable HTTP endpoint and header authentication.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ffmpegapi": {
      "url": "https://mcp.ffmpegapi.net/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop Example

If your Claude Desktop version supports remote MCP servers, configure the hosted endpoint with the same header.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ffmpegapi": {
      "url": "https://mcp.ffmpegapi.net/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

If your client only supports local stdio MCP servers, use MCP Inspector or a local proxy that can connect to Streamable HTTP.

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes the current public media-processing API endpoints as tools.

Resources

The server also exposes read-only API reference resources for agents.

ffmpegapi://openapi.json
ffmpegapi://docs.md
ffmpegapi://examples.md
ffmpegapi://llms-full.txt