Edit videos with Claude Desktop
Claude Desktop ships official one-click installation of MCP servers via the Desktop Extension format (.mcpb). Drag the PandaStudio extension into Claude, click Install, then ask Claude to edit your video. No JSON config, no terminal commands.
Install PandaStudio + Claude Desktop
PandaStudio from writepanda.ai. Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download. Sign into Claude with any paid plan (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise) so tool use is available.
Make sure PandaStudio is running at least once after install. The first launch writes a local credentials file that the extension auto-discovers; no token entry or env-var setup is required.
Download the PandaStudio Desktop Extension
pandastudio.mcpb
Official Claude Desktop Extension. ~70 KB. Always the latest released version.
If your browser asks "open with Claude Desktop?" you can accept and skip step 3.
Drag the file into Claude Desktop
Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Extensions and drag the downloaded pandastudio.mcpb into the window. A preview appears showing PandaStudio's icon, version, and capabilities. Click Install.
Claude Desktop bundles its own Node.js runtime, so there's nothing else to install. The PandaStudio tools appear in Claude's tool list immediately after install.
Ask Claude to edit your video
Start a fresh chat in Claude Desktop and try something like:
- "Open my latest recording, transcribe it, remove filler words and silences, then export an MP4."
- "Create a new 9:16 project, import the file at ~/Recordings/launch.mov, add bold captions, and preview it."
- "List all my projects from this week and tell me which one is longest."
Claude will use the PandaStudio tools to drive the editor. It opens the project in PandaStudio, runs edits, renders previews, and shows you what it did. You stay in the chat; the editor stays open as a visual checkpoint you can inspect any time.
Troubleshooting
- "Server failed to start" or empty tool list — make sure PandaStudio has been launched at least once on this machine. Settings → Automation → confirm "Allow local automation" is on (it's the default). The extension auto-discovers credentials from this; without PandaStudio ever running, there are none to discover.
- Extension installed but tools don't appear in a new chat — Claude Desktop's tool registry refreshes on cold start. Quit and reopen the app and the PandaStudio tools should show up in the tools picker.
- "Why doesn't this need an API token?" — The extension talks to PandaStudio's local automation server (loopback only, not exposed to the internet). The desktop app writes a token + port to
~/.config/pandastudio/(or the Windows equivalent), and the extension reads them at startup. No remote calls, no token to manage. - Prefer the legacy JSON config? — You can still edit
claude_desktop_config.jsonmanually if you want version-controlled config — see the CLI/MCP reference for the JSON shape. The .mcpb path above is the recommended one.