exe-create MCP Server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for exe-create workflow integration. Allows AI coding agents (Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) to create, modify, and execute video generation workflows programmatically.

Installation

cd apps/mcp
npm install
npm run build

Configuration

Environment Variables

The MCP server requires two environment variables:

| Variable | Description | Required | |----------|-------------|----------| | EXE_API_URL | Base URL of the exe-create API | No (defaults to https://askexe.com/create) | | EXE_API_KEY | API key for authentication | Yes |

Creating an API Key

1. Open exe-create web app
2. Navigate to Settings → API Keys
3. Click "Create API Key"
4. Copy the key (starts with exk_)

Claude Code Integration

Run this command (replace paths and API key):

claude mcp add-json exe-create '{
  "command": "node",
  "args": ["/path/to/exe-create/apps/mcp/dist/cli.js"],
  "cwd": "/path/to/exe-create/apps/mcp",
  "env": {
    "EXE_API_KEY": "exk_your_api_key_here",
    "EXE_API_URL": "https://askexe.com/create"
  }
}' -s user

Then restart Claude Code. Verify with claude mcp get exe-create.

Codex Integration

See docs/codex.md for Nikki/client-ready Codex setup and example prompts.

Minimal Codex MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exe-create": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/exe-create/apps/mcp/dist/cli.js"],
      "cwd": "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/exe-create/apps/mcp",
      "env": {
        "EXE_API_KEY": "exk_YOUR_EXE_CREATE_API_KEY",
        "EXE_API_URL": "https://askexe.com/create"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop App

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exe-create": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/exe-create/apps/mcp/dist/cli.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/exe-create/apps/mcp",
      "env": {
        "EXE_API_KEY": "exk_your_api_key_here",
        "EXE_API_URL": "https://askexe.com/create"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: The cwd field is required for the Desktop app config. This is a monorepo — dependencies are hoisted to the root node_modules/. Without cwd, Node.js won't resolve @modelcontextprotocol/sdk and the server will silently fail to start. Keep cwd set to apps/mcp for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, and Cursor configs.

Cursor Integration

Add to Cursor settings (.cursor/settings.json or %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\settings.json):

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "exe-create": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/exe-create/apps/mcp/dist/cli.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/exe-create/apps/mcp",
      "env": {
        "EXE_API_KEY": "exk_your_api_key_here",
        "EXE_API_URL": "https://askexe.com/create"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Workflow Management

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | workflow_create | Create a new workflow with nodes and edges | | workflow_get | Get a workflow by ID | | workflow_list | List all workflows for the authenticated user | | workflow_update | Update an existing workflow | | workflow_delete | Delete a workflow by ID | | workflow_clone | Clone an existing workflow with a new name | | workflow_estimate_cost | Estimate workflow execution cost |

Workflow Execution

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | workflow_execute | Execute a workflow and return a run ID | | execution_status | Get the status of a workflow execution | | execution_cancel | Cancel a running workflow execution | | reference_analyze | Analyze social/reference video style and generate variants | | quality_check | Score a workflow against a delivery promise |

Node Discovery

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | node_types_list | List available node types with schemas | | node_schema_get | Get detailed schema for a specific node type |

Media Library

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | media_list | List media assets from user library | | media_get | Get a specific media asset | | media_upload_url | Get presigned URL for file upload | | media_confirm_upload | Confirm upload completion | | media_upload_local | Upload a local file directly | | media_download | Download a media asset locally | | media_import_social | Import Instagram/YouTube/TikTok/X media via yt-dlp + ffmpeg | | stock_semantic_search | Search free stock corpus semantically |

Templates

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | template_list | List available workflow templates | | template_instantiate | Create workflow from template with overrides |

Rendering

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | render_video | Trigger a VPS/Vercel render job | | render_status | Check render progress and result |

Settings, Usage, Blocks

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | settings_list_providers | List provider routing/status; no raw provider keys | | provider_recommend | Recommend provider for a generation task | | get_usage | Check credit balance and recent usage | | block_list | List reusable animated overlay blocks | | block_get | Get block details and props |

Available Resources

| Resource URI | Description | |--------------|-------------| | node-types://list | All available node types with schemas | | workflow-templates://list | Available workflow templates | | workflow://{id} | Specific workflow by ID | | media://{id} | Specific media asset by ID |

Example Usage

Create a Simple Workflow

Create a workflow that:
1. Takes a podcast audio file from my media library
2. Transcribes it with Deepgram
3. Generates captions in Alex Hormozi style
4. Renders the final video with captions

Save it as "Podcast Caption Generator"

Claude Code will:

1. List available media to find the audio file
2. Get node schemas for required nodes
3. Create the workflow with appropriate nodes and edges
4. Return the workflow ID

Execute a Workflow

Execute the "Podcast Caption Generator" workflow and poll for completion

Use a Template

Create a workflow from the "Podcast Video" template with:
- Use voice_id "abc123" for ElevenLabs
- Set caption style to "bold-center"

Development

# Build
npm run build

# Build and watch
npm run dev

# Run locally
EXE_API_KEY=exk_test EXE_API_URL=https://askexe.com/create npm start

# Smoke-test protocol/tool/resource discovery without backend calls
npm run smoke

# Smoke-test MCP tool calls against a disposable local mock backend
npm run smoke:backend

Security

• API keys are passed via Authorization: Bearer header
• Never pass raw secrets through MCP tool parameters
• Customer provider access should use server-side API Router credentials and prepaid credits
• MCP tools do not accept raw provider API keys

Architecture

apps/mcp/
├── src/
│   ├── cli.ts           # CLI entry point
│   ├── server.ts        # MCP server implementation
│   ├── api-client.ts    # HTTP client for exe-create API
│   ├── types.ts         # Shared types
│   ├── resources.ts     # MCP resources
│   └── tools/
│       ├── workflow.ts   # Workflow management tools
│       ├── execution.ts  # Execution tools
│       ├── nodes.ts      # Node discovery tools
│       ├── media.ts      # Media library tools
│       └── templates.ts  # Template tools
├── dist/                 # Compiled JavaScript
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json