---
name: montage
description: Make or edit a video with Montage (getmontage.ai) through its MCP server — import footage, write the edit, read comments, export. Use when the person asks for a video, an edit, captions, a cut or an export in Montage.
---

# Montage

Montage is a video editor. You use it through its MCP server, as the person, in their workspace.

- Server: `https://app.getmontage.ai/mcp` (remote, HTTP). Sign-in: OAuth; the person presses **Allow** in Montage. There is no API key.
- Plan: the workspace must be on Pro or above. On Free or Plus every tool answers « Montage MCP is on the Pro plan and above » with the address to change plan: tell the person, do not retry.
- Every tool: https://getmontage.ai/docs/agents/tools.md · All docs: https://getmontage.ai/docs/llms.txt

## The order

1. `list_videos`, or `create_video` with a `name` and, if asked, a `shape`: `tall`, `square` or `wide`.
2. Bring the footage in (pick one, below), then `get_media` until its status is `ready`.
3. `add_media_to_video` with the `video_id` and the `media_ids`.
4. Read before you write: `ls`, `read` the video's `main.mc.js` and each `media/<id>/takes.txt` (what was said, take by take) and `details.json`.
5. Write the edit with `write` or `edit` on `main.mc.js` (and `components/`, `chapters/`). Every write is a version the person sees at once in Montage.
6. `export_video`, then `get_export` until it is ready; give the person the download address (it lasts 4 hours).

## Bringing footage in

- A link (a direct file, or a share link that leads to the file): `import_from_url`.
- A file on the computer you run on: `start_upload` with its `file_name` and `size` (up to 5 GB), run the `curl` command it answers, then `finish_upload`.
- A file on the person's own computer, when their Montage app for Mac is open and signed in: `import_on_computer` with its full `path`, then `get_job` until done. The original never leaves their computer. A job waits a day for the app.

## Exporting

- Made on Montage (default): `kind` `video`, `sound` or `edit` (a ZIP for Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve); `quality` `smaller`, `standard` or `best`.
- Made on the person's computer (`made_on: "computer"`, their Mac app open): `settings` such as `container` `mp4`/`mov`, `codec` (`h264`, `hevc`, `hevc10`, ProRes), `width`, `height`, `fps`, `quality` or `mbps`, `colours` (`sdr`; `hlg` or `pq` only for footage filmed in HDR), `sound`.

## Rules

- `media/<id>/` and `comments.json` are read-only. Read `comments.json` when the person asks you to fix what people commented.
- Ask the person before you choose for them: the shape, the length, the look, which takes to keep. One question at a time.
- `exec` runs Python and ffmpeg on the video's machine; a file it writes under `out/` becomes footage of this video.
- Never delete a video file you did not write unless the person asks.