Clipbait API

Turn any video into short, captioned, viral-ready vertical clips — and auto-clip live streams — from your own code, an AI agent, the CLI, or MCP. One API key powers all of them.

Grab your key from Me → Developers / API in the app. Generating clips spends your account credits, just like the UI.

Authentication

Every request is authenticated with your API key, which looks like cbk_live_…. Send it any of three ways:

# 1. Header (recommended)
curl -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/jobs

# 2. Bearer token
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer cbk_live_xxx" https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/jobs

# 3. Query param (for tools that can't set headers)
curl "https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/jobs?api_key=cbk_live_xxx"

Generate clips

Kicks off an async job that finds the best moments in a video and renders vertical clips with captions. Returns a jobId immediately — poll Get a job for finished clip URLs.

curl -X POST https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/generate \
  -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videoUrl":"https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc","aspectRatio":"9:16","maxClips":9}'

# → { "jobId": "6650f1a2c3..." }

Get a job

Returns a job's live status and, once ready, the finished clips with their download URLs. Poll every few seconds while status is processing.

curl -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" \
  https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/status/6650f1a2c3

# →
{
  "status": "complete",        // queued | processing | complete | failed
  "progress": 100,
  "currentStep": "done",
  "videoTitle": "...",
  "clips": [
    {
      "hook": "You won't believe...",
      "url": "https://.../clip1.mp4",
      "start_sec": 124,
      "end_sec": 158
    }
  ]
}

List recent jobs

Returns your recent clip jobs with their status and clip counts.

curl -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/jobs

Check credits

Sanity-check your balance and plan before starting a job. 1 credit ≈ 1 minute of source video.

curl -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/credits

# → { "credits_remaining": 847, "credits_total": 1200, "plan": "Pro" }

Probe a video

Get a source video's duration before you clip it — useful to validate a URL or estimate credits.

curl -X POST https://app.clipbait.ai/api/clips/probe-url \
  -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc"}'

# → { "durationSeconds": 3720, "source": "youtube" }

Live auto-clipping

Put a live Twitch stream on autopilot: Clipbait watches it and generates clips automatically as viral moments happen. Stop with POST /api/live/:id/stop. (Pro plan.)

curl -X POST https://app.clipbait.ai/api/live/start \
  -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"videoUrl":"https://twitch.tv/somestreamer","cadenceMin":7}'

Schedule clips to social

Schedule a finished clip to post on X (Twitter) at a future time. TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram are in progress — X is the only live platform today. Check the connection with GET /api/auth/social/status; connect at /me.

curl -X POST https://app.clipbait.ai/api/scheduled-posts \
  -H "X-API-Key: cbk_live_xxx" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"clipUrl":"https://.../clip1.mp4","platforms":["x"],"scheduledTime":"2026-05-01T15:00:00Z","caption":"..."}'

List with GET /api/scheduled-posts, cancel with DELETE /api/scheduled-posts/:id.

Errors

Errors return the appropriate HTTP status and a JSON body with a stable error code you can branch on, plus a human-readable message.

Resubmitting an identical videoUrl + aspectRatio while a recent job is still in flight or done returns that existing job with "duplicate": true — no extra credits are charged.

Connect via MCP

Give any MCP-capable agent the full Clipbait toolset: generate_clips, get_job, list_recent_clips, get_credits, start_live_autoclip, probe_video, download_clip (saves a clip to ~/Downloads), plus scheduling — list_social_accounts, schedule_post, list_scheduled_posts, cancel_scheduled_post. So an agent can clip a video and schedule the best clips to your socials in one conversation.

Claude Code (remote, one command)

npx clipbait@latest      # easiest — also installs the /clipbait command
# or: claude mcp add --transport http clipbait https://app.clipbait.ai/api/mcp/cbk_live_xxx

ChatGPT / claude.ai connectors (remote URL)

Add a custom MCP server with this URL — the key is in the path, so no headers or local install needed. Nothing runs on your machine (nothing to pin or update):

https://app.clipbait.ai/api/mcp/cbk_live_xxx

Claude Desktop / Cursor / Cline / Windsurf (local)

These run MCP servers as a local process. Drop this into the client's MCP config. This is also the only way to use download_clip, since it writes to your disk:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clipbait": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "clipbait@latest", "mcp"],
      "env": { "CLIPBAIT_API_KEY": "cbk_live_xxx" }
    }
  }
}

Command line

Zero-install via npx (Node 18+). Fastest path — one command wires Clipbait into Claude Code (grabs your key, installs a /clipbait slash command, connects the MCP server):

npx clipbait@latest
# then in Claude Code:  /clipbait https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc

Or drive it straight from your terminal:

npx clipbait login cbk_live_xxx
npx clipbait generate "https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc" --aspect 9:16 --max 9
npx clipbait status <jobId>
npx clipbait jobs
npx clipbait live "https://twitch.tv/somestreamer"

See it on npm →

Install as a Skill

For agents that support skills, install the Clipbait skill so the agent knows how to clip on its own:

npx skills add spiritscripts/clipbait-agent

Source on GitHub →

Changelog

clipbait CLI + MCP 1.6.0

• Local stdio MCP server (npx clipbait mcp) — works in Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf.
• New tools: get_credits and download_clip (saves a finished clip to ~/Downloads).
• New endpoint GET /api/clips/credits.
• /api/clips/generate now dedupes identical recent jobs ("duplicate": true) — no double charge.

Agent surface launch

• API-key auth on every endpoint (cbk_live_…).
• Hosted MCP server at /api/mcp; clipbait published on npm; /clipbait Claude Code slash command.