FFmpeg Video Manipulation MCP server

FFmpeg-MCP is a server that allows you to perform various video operations through dialogue-based interactions. It leverages the FFmpeg command line tool to enable local video searching, trimming, concatenation, playback, and other video manipulation functions using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Installation

Prerequisites

Before installing FFmpeg-MCP, ensure you have:

• Git installed on your machine
• UV package manager
• FFmpeg installed on your system

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository and set up dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/video-creator/ffmpeg-mcp.git
cd ffmpeg-mcp
uv sync

2. Configure in Cline by adding the following to your configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ffmpeg-mcp": {
      "autoApprove": [],
      "disabled": false,
      "timeout": 60,
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/your/ffmpeg-mcp",
        "run",
        "ffmpeg-mcp"
      ],
      "transportType": "stdio"
    }
  }
}

Note: Replace /path/to/your/ffmpeg-mcp with the actual directory where you downloaded the FFmpeg-MCP project.

Available Tools

Find Video Path

Recursively searches for video files in a specified directory.

find_video_path

Parameters:

• Directory to search
• Filename (can be partial without suffix)

Returns the full path to the matching video file.

Get Video Information

Retrieves detailed information about a video file.

get_video_info

Parameters:

• Video path

Returns information such as duration, fps, codec, width, and height.

Clip Video

Trims a video to a specified segment.

clip_video

Parameters:

• File path
• Start time
• End time or duration

Returns the path to the trimmed video file.

Concatenate Videos

Joins multiple video files into a single video.

concat_videos

Parameters:

• List of video files to join
• Output path

Automatically uses quick mode if video properties (width, height, frame rate) are consistent.

Play Video

Plays video or audio using ffplay.

play_video

Parameters:

• Video path
• Speed (playback rate)
• Loop (play count)

Supports various formats like mov, mp4, avi, mkv, 3gp.

Overlay Video

Places one video on top of another.

overlay_video

Parameters:

• Background video path
• Overlay video path
• Output path
• Position (relative location)
• dx (x offset)
• dy (y offset)

Scale Video

Resizes a video to specified dimensions.

scale_video

Parameters:

• Video path
• Width (use -2 to maintain aspect ratio)
• Height (use -2 to maintain aspect ratio)
• Output path

Extract Frames from Video

Extracts images from a video file.

extract_frames_from_video

Parameters:

• Video path
• FPS (frames to extract per second, 0 for all frames, 1 for one frame per second)
• Output folder
• Format (0: PNG, 1: JPG, 2: WEBP)
• Total frames (maximum number to extract, 0 for no limit)

Platform Support

Currently, FFmpeg-MCP only supports macOS platforms, including both ARM64 and x86_64 architectures.

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.