Video Watcher MCP Server

MCP server exposing claude-video functionality for claude.ai web UI via HTTP+SSE.

Wraps the claude-video plugin and serves it over the web so you can watch and analyze videos from claude.ai.

Deployment to Render (Free Tier)

Step 1: Create a Render Account

Go to render.com and sign up. Free tier is fine.

Step 2: Create a GitHub Repository

Push this project to a GitHub repo. Render will auto-deploy from GitHub.

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/video-watcher-mcp.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Step 3: Deploy to Render

1. Go to dashboard.render.com
2. Click New + → Web Service
3. Connect your GitHub repo (video-watcher-mcp)
4. Set these values:
   • Name: video-watcher-mcp
   • Runtime: Docker
   • Region: Choose closest to you
   • Plan: Free (it's free, stays cold until you use it)
5. Under Environment, add:
   • GROQ_API_KEY = your Groq API key (get it at console.groq.com)
   • OPENAI_API_KEY = (optional, fallback)
6. Click Deploy

Render will build the Docker image and deploy. Takes ~5 minutes. You'll get a URL like https://video-watcher-mcp.onrender.com.

Step 4: Register with claude.ai

1. Go to claude.ai
2. Open settings (bottom left)
3. Find MCP or Connected Services
4. Click Add MCP
5. Fill in:
   • Name: Video Watcher
   • Transport: HTTP
   • URL: https://video-watcher-mcp.onrender.com
6. Save

Step 5: Test

In claude.ai, ask:

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... and tell me what happens

Or use the watch_video tool directly if exposed in the UI.

Local Development

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run server
python server.py
# Starts on http://localhost:8000

# Check health
curl http://localhost:8000/health

Notes

• Free tier sleeps after 15 min of inactivity. First request takes 10-15 seconds to wake up. Fine for occasional use (once every few days).
• No bandwidth limits on free tier.
• API keys: Groq is cheaper/faster. OpenAI is fallback if you have it.
• Video limits: See claude-video docs — recommended under 10 min, hard cap 100 frames.
• No persistence: Frames/transcripts live in /tmp and are cleaned up after response.

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" after deploy:

• Free tier may still be spinning up. Wait 30 seconds and retry.
• Check Render dashboard for build logs.

"No transcript available":

• Video has no captions AND Groq/OpenAI API key is missing or invalid.
• Add API key to Render environment vars.

Server crashes:

• Check Render logs: Dashboard → your service → Logs tab.

Architecture

claude.ai (web UI)
    ↓ HTTPS
MCP Server (running on Render)
    ↓
    Calls scripts/watch.py
    ↓
Returns frames + transcript

The server is stateless. Each request downloads, processes, and cleans up independently.

License

Same as claude-video (MIT).