tscaps.docs
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Use tscaps in Claude and ChatGPT

Add animated captions to a video without leaving Claude or ChatGPT. Connect the tscaps MCP server, drop a video in the captioner, pick a style, and download the result.

Tscaps connects to Claude and ChatGPT as an app. In a chat, ask for captions, drop your video in the captioner that opens, and pick a style. You get the captioned video back in the chat, ready to download, and a link to open it in the tscaps editor if you want to change the words, the style, or the timing.

It runs on your own tscaps account and uses your automation minutes. The captioned video has no watermark, on any plan.

You add it as a custom connector, with the server URL below. It takes about a minute.

Server URL

https://api.tscaps.io/v1/mcp

This is a remote MCP server. Sign-in uses OAuth: you sign in to tscaps in your browser and approve the connection. You never paste a password or an API key into the chat.

Add tscaps to Claude

Custom connectors work on every Claude plan, Free included. On the Free plan you can add one. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds the connector for the organization first, and you then connect to it.

  1. In Claude, open Settings, and under Customize select Connectors (claude.ai/#customize/connectors).
  2. Select + Add, then Add custom connector.
  3. Enter a name, for example tscaps, and the server URL: https://api.tscaps.io/v1/mcp. Leave the other settings as they are.
  4. Select Add, then Connect. A tscaps page opens.
  5. Sign in to tscaps, or create an account, then select Allow to approve the connection.

To use it in a chat, make sure tscaps is turned on in the chat’s tools menu (the + button under the message box).

Add tscaps to ChatGPT

ChatGPT adds custom MCP servers as plugins. Which plans and workspaces can add one is OpenAI’s to decide, and it has changed over time; if you don’t see the option, check OpenAI’s help center.

  1. In ChatGPT, open Plugins (chatgpt.com/plugins).
  2. Select Add, then Add custom MCP server.
  3. Enter a name, for example tscaps, a short description, and the server URL: https://api.tscaps.io/v1/mcp.
  4. Set authentication to OAuth, read the warning, select I understand and want to continue, then Create as a plugin. A tscaps page opens.
  5. Sign in to tscaps, or create an account, then select Allow to approve the connection.

Once it is added, ask for captions in any chat. To point ChatGPT at tscaps directly, type @tscaps in your message.

Menu names in Claude and ChatGPT change from time to time. If a step does not match what you see, look for “connectors” or “plugins” in the app.

Caption a video

  1. In a chat with tscaps turned on, ask for captions. For example: “Add captions to a video.” The captioner opens in the chat.
  2. Drop your video in the captioner, or click to choose one. MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, and AVI work.
  3. Pick a style. Your saved templates from the tscaps editor are under Your styles.
  4. Select Add captions. The video uploads, then tscaps transcribes it and renders the captions. Most videos take one to five minutes, and you can keep chatting meanwhile.
  5. When it is ready, play it in the captioner, select Download, or select Edit in tscaps to open it in the editor.

The spoken language is detected automatically.

In ChatGPT you can also attach the video to your message instead of using the captioner. In either app you can give a direct public link to a video file (a link to the file itself, not to a page that shows it). In both cases, describe the look you want (for example, “bold, yellow, one word at a time”) and Claude or ChatGPT picks a matching style, or uses the default.

The captioner shows in Claude on the web and in the desktop app, and in ChatGPT on the web. Other versions may not show it yet.

Minutes and limits

Each captioned video uses automation minutes equal to its length, with a minimum of 1 minute per video. A 90-second video uses 1.5 minutes. A 30-second video uses 1 minute. The style does not change the cost.

Nothing is charged for a video that fails or is cancelled.

The Free plan includes 5 automation minutes each month, and paid plans include more. You can also buy minute packs on tscaps.io. Nothing is sold inside the chat.

Your plan also sets the longest video you can caption, the output resolution, and how many videos you can start each day. See Limits for the numbers on each plan. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT how many minutes you have left, and what your plan allows, at any time.

Your video and your projects

To caption a video, tscaps needs the video itself. When you add one:

  • The video is uploaded to tscaps and processed on our servers: transcription, styling, and rendering.
  • The captioned video is saved as a project in your tscaps account, so you can open it in the editor later. It counts toward your plan’s saved projects and is kept for as long as your plan keeps projects (see Pricing). You can delete it from your projects at any time.
  • The download link works for 7 days. The captioner and the chat tell you the date. After that, open the project in the editor and export it again.

Tscaps receives what Claude or ChatGPT sends to it: the video, the style, the request to caption it, and technical context such as your language or approximate country, which tscaps does not store. It does not get access to the rest of your conversation. See the Privacy Policy for details.

Disconnect tscaps

Remove or disconnect tscaps from the same place you added it: Settings → Connectors in Claude, or Plugins in ChatGPT.

Tscaps does not yet show a list of connected apps in your account, so disconnect from the app.

Disconnecting does not delete anything. Projects already created stay in your tscaps account until you delete them.

Troubleshooting

Claude asks you to attach the video

Claude cannot pass a file attached to a message to tscaps. Ask it to open the captioner instead, for example: “Open the tscaps captioner.” Then drop the video there.

You are out of automation minutes

The captioner or the chat says so before anything is uploaded, and nothing is charged. Your minutes refill at the start of each period, or you can buy a minute pack on tscaps.io.

The video is too long

Each plan has a longest video it can caption (see Limits). The captioner checks the length before uploading. Trim the video, or move to a plan that allows longer ones.

Your projects are full

Every captioned video is saved as a project, so tscaps does not start a new one when all your plan’s projects are in use. Delete a project you no longer need in the tscaps editor, then try again.

You have captioned as many videos as your plan allows today

Each plan has a daily limit on new videos. Try again later.

Sign-in does not finish

Start the connection again from the app’s settings. If the tscaps page was open for a long time, it may have expired: sign in again from the app, not from an old browser tab.

If something else goes wrong, write to [email protected].