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# Connect Claude & 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 **Claude Code**, **Claude Desktop**, **Cursor**, **Codex**, and any MCP-capable client.

> You need the **Slates desktop app** installed and open — the agent talks to a local server it runs. [Download Slates](https://slates.video/download) first if you haven't.

## Let your AI set it up

If you already have Claude, Cursor, or Codex 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: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Codex. If you cannot tell, ask me.

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 Agent Control, 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.

## The easy way (no terminal)

1. Open Slates → **Settings → Agent Control**.
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. Under **Connect your AI tool**, 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.

That's it. No JSON editing, no API keys to paste.

## From a terminal

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

```bash
npx -y @slatesvideo/cli setup
```

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

### Claude Code

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

### Codex

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

### Claude Desktop / Cursor

Add the MCP server to your client config:

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

Or grab the one-click **`.mcpb` bundle** for Claude Desktop from the [latest release](https://github.com/EricDisero/slates-mcp/releases/latest) and double-click to install.

## Packages

- [`@slatesvideo/cli`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@slatesvideo/cli) — the `slates` command (`setup`, `login`, `run`, `install-skills`, `mcp`).
- [`@slatesvideo/mcp-server`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@slatesvideo/mcp-server) — the MCP server (`npx -y @slatesvideo/mcp-server`).
- [Source on GitHub](https://github.com/EricDisero/slates-mcp).

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