Connect ChatGPT, Codex & AI agents

Slates speaks MCP (Model Context Protocol), so an AI agent can drive your whole workspace by conversation — create projects, build characters and storyboards, generate images and video, assemble the editing timeline, and export an MP4. You watch the desktop app fill in live as the agent works.

Works with ChatGPT via Codex, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other local MCP clients.

Use ChatGPT? Open the Codex app or CLI on the same computer as Slates and sign in with your ChatGPT account. Codex connects to the local Slates MCP server. The setup below is for local Codex; pasting it into a regular ChatGPT web chat does not connect the desktop app. See OpenAI's Codex MCP documentation.

You need the Slates desktop app installed and open — the agent talks to a local server it runs. Download Slates first if you haven't.

Let your AI set it up

If you already have Codex (with your ChatGPT account), Claude, or Cursor open, hand it the job. Copy the block below, paste it into a new chat, and let it wire everything up.

Set up the Slates MCP server for me.

Slates is a desktop app for AI video creation. It exposes an MCP server so you can drive it for me: create projects, generate images and video, build characters and storyboards, assemble the editing timeline, and export a finished MP4.

Please do the following, in order.

1. Work out which MCP client you are running inside: Codex (including sign-in with a ChatGPT account), Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or Cursor. If you cannot tell, ask me. If this is a regular ChatGPT web chat without local tools, direct me to open the Codex app or CLI on the computer running Slates and continue there.

2. Register the Slates MCP server with that client.
   Claude Code:  claude mcp add slates -- npx -y @slatesvideo/mcp-server
   Codex:        codex mcp add slates -- npx -y @slatesvideo/mcp-server
   Claude Desktop or Cursor: add this block to the client's MCP config file, creating the file if it does not exist.
   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "slates": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["-y", "@slatesvideo/mcp-server"]
       }
     }
   }
   This needs Node.js 18 or newer. If npx is missing, tell me to install Node first and stop.

3. Stop and hand this step back to me, because you cannot do it yourself. Tell me to:
   open the Slates desktop app, go to Settings, then AI tools, enter my account email, click Send link, and click the link in the email.
   That one step authorizes the connection and starts the local server that you will be talking to. It writes a connection file at ~/.slates/agent-connection.json which both the CLI and the MCP server find on their own. There are no API keys and no environment variables to set.

4. After I confirm I have done step 3, tell me to fully restart this client so it picks up the new server.

5. Once restarted, verify it actually works: list the Slates tools you can see, then call the tool that lists my projects and show me the result. Do not tell me setup is complete until a real tool call has returned.

If anything fails, show me the exact error rather than working around it.

Reference: https://slates.video/docs/connect-claude

It will stop and ask you to do one step yourself: authorizing the connection from inside Slates. That step needs a link from your email, so no agent can do it for you.

In-app setup for Claude and Cursor

1. ›Open Slates → Settings → AI tools.
2. ›Enter your account email and click Send link, then click the link in your email. This authorizes the agent and starts the local server in one step.
3. ›In the list of tools below, click Connect next to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor — Slates writes that tool's MCP config for you.
4. ›Restart your AI tool. Slates appears in its tools.

For ChatGPT via Codex, use the Codex command below after connecting your Slates account.

From a terminal

One command wires the MCP config into supported detected clients, installs the agent skills, and points you at the connect step:

npx -y @slatesvideo/cli setup

Then connect your account (Slates → Settings → AI tools → Send link, or slates login) and restart your AI tool.

Claude Code

claude mcp add slates -- npx -y @slatesvideo/mcp-server

ChatGPT via Codex

Run this command on the computer where Slates is open, then restart Codex:

codex mcp add slates -- npx -y @slatesvideo/mcp-server

Claude Desktop / Cursor

Add the MCP server to your client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slates": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@slatesvideo/mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Or grab the one-click .mcpb bundle for Claude Desktop from the latest release and double-click to install.

Packages

• ›@slatesvideo/cli — the slates command (setup, login, run, install-skills, mcp).
• ›@slatesvideo/mcp-server — the MCP server (npx -y @slatesvideo/mcp-server).
• ›Source on GitHub.

Both surfaces share one config file (~/.slates/agent-connection.json) that the desktop app and the CLI auto-discover — no environment variables.