Make Story Videos From the Terminal: Claude Code + the StoryShort MCP

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StoryShort has a remote MCP server, which means an AI agent like Claude can create and check story videos for you. We build StoryShort with Claude Code, and the same setup lets Claude drive the product in batches: plan a run of story ideas in conversation, have Claude queue the videos, and come back to finished renders. This is the setup and the workflow, step by step.

Why drive StoryShort from Claude

The web app is the right tool for one video at a time. Claude earns its place when you want ten: it can turn a messy list of ideas into clean topics, keep a consistent tone across a series, queue every render, poll until they finish and hand you a list of links. The part it does not do is decide which stories are worth telling. That stays with you.

Setup

1. Claude Code. It requires a paid Claude plan. If you want to try it first, our Claude guest pass (referral link: 7-day guest pass; we may receive usage credit) gives 7 days of Pro, which includes Claude Code. It needs a card and renews unless you cancel, and there are only a few passes, so it may already be used up.
2. A StoryShort plan. Every paid plan includes API access and starts with a 3-day free trial.
3. An API key from the dashboard's API keys page. It starts with sk_live_. Keep it out of chats, repos and screenshots.
4. Register the server with one command. It is remote, so there is nothing to install:

claude mcp add --transport http storyshort https://storyshort.app/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_key_here"

Open a new Claude Code session and run /mcp; storyshort should show as connected. Ask “what is my StoryShort credit balance?” as a free first test.

The five tools

• list_niches: the valid niches, art styles and durations. Free. Have Claude call it first so it never invents an option the API will reject.
• create_video: queues a video from a topic, with optional niche, duration (30, 60 or 90 seconds), artStyle and language. StoryShort writes the script from the topic. It returns immediately with a video id and a PENDING status.
• get_video: the status of one video, and the playable URL once it is COMPLETED. Free.
• list_videos: your recent videos, filterable by status. Free.
• get_credit_balance: your balance and plan. Free.

If the balance is too low, create_video is refused up front with a clear message saying how many credits it needs, so an agent cannot run up a bill you did not expect.

A story-channel workflow

Here is a loop for a week of scary-story Shorts:

1. Collect raw ideas in a text file: a half-remembered urban legend, an odd news story, a prompt from a reader. Messy is fine.
2. Ask Claude to shape them. “Turn each idea into a one-sentence video topic with a clear twist. Flag any that rely on a real, named person.” Remove the flagged ones; story channels get into trouble fast with real names.
3. Pick the best seven yourself. Ask Claude which ones it would cut and why, then decide. A model is good at structure and weak at taste.
4. Queue them. “Call list_niches, then create a 60-second video for each topic in the scary niche.” Claude calls create_video seven times.
5. Wait and check. Claude polls get_video every 20 to 30 seconds and gives you the links when they finish.
6. Watch every one before it goes out. If an opening drags or a scene misses, regenerate that video with a sharper topic rather than publishing a weak one.

Prompts that work

The topic is the only creative input create_video takes, so put the story's shape into it. Compare:

• Weak: “a scary story about a house”.
• Better: “A night-shift nurse keeps hearing a call bell from a room that has been empty for years; the twist is that the bell is ringing for her”.

The second gives the script a character, a setting, a single escalating detail and a reversal. That is what a one-minute story needs, and it is the same advice we give for turning any written story into a video: one scene, one turn.

If you already have a finished story you want narrated word for word, use the web app, where you can paste your own text. Through MCP the script is written from your topic.

What it costs

• Listing niches, checking status, listing videos and checking your balance: free.
• A standard video: 40 credits with the default voice. A premium voice adds 25, and a few languages only a premium voice speaks cost the same extra.
• The Starter plan is $19 a month for 1,200 credits, about 30 standard videos.
• Claude Code usage is billed on your Claude plan by Anthropic.

Limits and honest caveats

Automation makes it easy to publish a lot, and a lot of mediocre stories is worse than a few good ones: platforms reward videos people finish, not channels that post often. Use the time Claude saves you on choosing better stories and writing better first lines.

Nothing here guarantees views or income. What it gives you is a faster way to test ideas. Track which stories people watch to the end, and make more of those.