reel-estate-mcp

Turn real-estate listing photos into cinematic property videos from your AI assistant. reel-estate-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects Claude, Cursor, and other AI assistants to your Reel Estate account — so you can generate motion clips, AI-edit photos (virtual staging, twilight, seasonal), add voiceover, and render finished listing videos, all in plain language.

Reel Estate is the AI real-estate video platform that turns property photos into scroll-stopping listing videos. Create a free account at tryreelestate.com.

You sign in once through your browser (OAuth + PKCE — no API keys, no secrets), and every call is proxied through the backend's /mcp endpoint, which stays the single authority for auth, plans, and permissions. This bridge's one superpower on top of that: it can read local image files and stream them straight into a project — something a purely remote server can't do.

• 🎬 Generate real-estate videos — animate photos into clips, then render the movie
• 🖼️ AI photo editing — virtual staging, twilight, upscale, seasonal, replace/remove/add
• 🎙️ Voiceover & timeline — narration, music, overlays, reordering
• 📤 Local uploads — push photos from disk into a project
• 🔐 Browser sign-in — public OAuth client + PKCE; nothing secret stored
• 🤖 Works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Cursor

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• A Reel Estate account (a paid plan is required to create/generate/render; free accounts are read-only over the MCP)
• An MCP-compatible client: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or Cursor

Install

Nothing to clone or build — your MCP client launches it on demand via npx. You only need Node.js ≥ 18. (Prefer a global command? npm install -g reel-estate-mcp, then use reel-estate-mcp in place of npx -y reel-estate-mcp below.)

Connect your assistant

Zero config — the bridge connects to Reel Estate and handles browser sign-in for you. There's nothing to set up.

Claude Code

claude mcp add reel-estate -- npx -y reel-estate-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor

Add to your client's MCP config (claude_desktop_config.json, ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reel-estate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "reel-estate-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

First run — sign in

The first tool call opens your browser to sign in with your Reel Estate account (Clerk OAuth, authorization code + PKCE). After you approve, the browser returns to http://localhost:8765/callback, tokens cache under ~/.reel-estate-mcp, and you're in — you won't log in again until the token expires.

Start with whoami to confirm auth and see your plan, then just ask:

• "List my recent projects."
• "Create a project for 123 Main St and upload the photos in ./listing."
• "Virtually stage the living room photo, generate a drone clip, then render in 9:16."
• "How many credits and exports do I have left?"

To switch users or re-authorize, run logout (revokes server-side + clears the cache) or delete ~/.reel-estate-mcp.

Tools

All API tools proxy through the backend's /mcp api_request, so the backend's own authorization and plan rules apply.

| Tool | What it does | | --- | --- | | help | Guided, always-current walkthrough (also the getting_started prompt) | | whoami | Confirm auth; reports plan, canWrite, and a writeAccess reason. Run first. | | login / logout | Start browser sign-in / clear the session (server revoke + local cache) | | list_projects · get_project · project_stats | Browse projects | | list_clips · list_movies · list_voices | Browse clips, rendered movies, TTS voices | | resolve_address | Geocode a free-text address → ranked candidates (for real-listing projects) | | add_image_from_file | Upload a local image into a project (presigned upload — no storage creds) | | generate_clip · get_clip_status | Animate a photo into a video clip (Runway); poll the job | | edit_image | AI photo edit — virtual staging, twilight, upscale, seasonal, replace/remove/add, manual | | add_timeline_audio · add_timeline_overlay | Place voiceover/music/audio or an image/text overlay | | move_timeline_element · reorder_timeline | Retime / resequence the timeline | | render_movie | Assemble the timeline into the final listing video | | list_endpoints · api_request | Discover the API catalog / call any route — the escape hatch |

Paid vs free

Writes and generation over the MCP require a paid plan — free accounts are read-only (browse projects, clips, and movies). whoami reports this up front; a blocked write returns 403 MCP_PAID_PLAN_REQUIRED. See plans at tryreelestate.com.

How auth works

first tool call
   │   StreamableHTTP client ──► backend /mcp  (401, needs auth)
   ▼
opens your browser ──► Clerk OAuth (authorization code + PKCE, public client)
   │                                                   │
   ▼                                                   ▼
loopback http://localhost:8765/callback?code=…   access + refresh tokens
   │                                                   │
   └────────────► finishAuth(code) ──► tokens cached ──┘  (~/.reel-estate-mcp)

every later call:  callTool("api_request", …) over the authed /mcp connection

• No secrets to distribute — public client + PKCE, browser login per user.
• Prod-capable — uses the same OAuth the backend serves at /mcp.
• The backend is the single auth authority — this bridge never mints tokens.

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Fix | | --- | --- | | No login prompt / "not authenticated" | Run any tool (or login), open the printed URL, and approve. | | Switch accounts / re-authorize | Run logout, or delete ~/.reel-estate-mcp. | | Writes blocked (403 MCP_PAID_PLAN_REQUIRED) | Creating/generating/rendering needs a paid plan; free accounts are read-only. See tryreelestate.com. |

Architecture

• src/config.ts — validated env (loaded from this package's folder); derives the /mcp URL, OAuth store dir, callback port, read-only flag, and default client id.
• src/oauth.ts — OAuthClientProvider: uses the public client_id, caches tokens + the PKCE verifier, opens the system browser.
• src/upstream.ts — the single OAuth'd MCP client connection to /mcp (with the loopback callback server); callTool / callApiRequest proxies.
• src/api-client.ts — ApiClient over callApiRequest; enforces read-only.
• src/catalog.ts — the endpoint catalog surfaced by list_endpoints.
• src/tools.ts — tools as plain functions (smoke-testable).
• src/index.ts — registers the tools as MCP tools over stdio.

Adding a tool

1. Add async function fooBar(api, args) in src/tools.ts (use api.get(...) / api.request(...), which proxy through /mcp).
2. Register it in src/index.ts with a Zod inputSchema.
3. Add it to scripts/smoke.ts if it's a GET.

Everything is already reachable through api_request; convenience tools just make the common paths first-class.

About Reel Estate

Reel Estate helps real-estate agents and marketers turn ordinary listing photos into professional property videos — AI virtual staging, twilight conversion, motion/drone clips, voiceover narration, and one-click rendering for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. This MCP server brings that workflow into your AI assistant. Get started at tryreelestate.com →

Keywords: real estate video generator, AI listing video, virtual staging, MCP server, Model Context Protocol, Claude, Cursor, property video marketing, drone real estate video, twilight photo editing.