Rendley MCP

The MCP server for Rendley. It gives an AI assistant a full video editor: connect it once, then create and edit video by describing what you want, in the same chat you already work in. Under the hood it drives the hosted Rendley editor in a browser and calls the hosted Rendley API on your behalf:

- Editor: https://app.rendley.com
- API: https://api.rendley.com/v1

The same agent is also reachable over plain HTTP (POST /v1/agent) for backends that don't speak MCP. See REST example.

There are two ways to use it:

1. Use the hosted server at https://mcp.rendley.com/mcp. Nothing to run. See Connect a client.
2. Self-host this server against the hosted Rendley API. See Self-host the server.

📖 Full documentation, with step-by-step setup guides and screenshots: docs.rendley.com/mcp

---

Connect a client

Any client that speaks remote MCP can connect. Point it at the endpoint and authenticate by signing in or with an API key:

https://mcp.rendley.com/mcp

- Sign in with Rendley (recommended): the client opens a Rendley sign-in tab and you approve access. Nothing to copy, and you can revoke it later.
- API key: the client sends an Authorization: Bearer YOUR_RENDLEY_API_KEY header. Create one at Settings → API Keys; see Get an API key.

Most clients accept a JSON config like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rendley": {
      "url": "https://mcp.rendley.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_RENDLEY_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

For sign-in, drop the headers block and let the client run the browser flow.

The docs have illustrated, per-client walkthroughs:

- Claude: desktop, web, and Claude Code.
- Codex: the Codex desktop app and CLI.
- Other clients: any other client that speaks remote MCP, plus the mcp-remote bridge for local-only clients.

For Claude Code specifically:

claude mcp add --transport http rendley https://mcp.rendley.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_RENDLEY_API_KEY"

Try it

Ask the client what it can do, then try a simple request:

> What can Rendley do here?

> List my projects.

If it lists the Rendley tools and your projects, you're connected. From there, describe the video you want and the assistant creates a project, builds the edit, and returns a link.

---

Self-host the server

This repo is the MCP server only; it does not run the full Rendley stack locally. It talks to the hosted Rendley API and editor. When you self-host, point clients at your own https://<host>/mcp instead of https://mcp.rendley.com/mcp.

Requirements

- Bun >= 1.1 (or Docker)
- A Rendley account to connect with. Clients authenticate per request with their own API key (Settings → API Keys, guide) or OAuth sign-in. The server stores no key of its own.

Run locally

git clone https://github.com/rendleyhq/rendley-mcp.git
cd rendley-mcp
bun install

bun dev                       # http://localhost:8787

API_BASE_URL and APP_BASE_URL default to the hosted Rendley API and editor, so the server boots out of the box with no .env at all; copy .env.example only to point at a different stack. The server holds no credentials of its own: every request authenticates with the caller's own API key or OAuth token.

By default the server drives the editor with a local Chrome (BROWSER_MODE=local), so no extra infrastructure is needed. bun install downloads a bundled Chromium; with USE_CHROME_CHANNEL=true it prefers your installed Google Chrome and falls back to the bundled browser. Set HEADLESS=false to watch the editor in a visible window, and CPU_ONLY=true on machines without a usable GPU.

Verify it's up:

```bash
curl http://localhost:8787/health