API and integrations
API keys, webhooks and connecting Claude or ChatGPT
Create API keys for the REST API, connect AI assistants through the MCP server, and get webhooks when videos, exports and posts finish.
Updated
You can drive Reeltopus from your own code, automation tools and AI assistants. There are three ways in: the REST API with an API key, the MCP server for AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT, and webhooks that tell your systems when something finishes. All three are on every plan. Set them up under API at /app/settings/api.
API keys
Only workspace owners and admins can create keys.
- Open Settings, API.
- Under API keys, give the key a name (for example "n8n") and press Create key.
- Copy the key now. We store only a fingerprint of it, so it can't be shown again. If you lose it, create a new one.
A key acts for the workspace with the rights of the person who created it. It can process videos (which spends hours), export clips and post. Keep it secret. Press Revoke to stop a key at once. A key also stops working if its creator leaves the workspace or moves to a role that can't hold keys.
The REST API
The API docs have a quickstart that goes from a long video to export links in five calls, plus the full list of endpoints and an OpenAPI file.
- Send the key as a bearer token in the
Authorizationheader. - Processing a video spends hours exactly like an upload in the app, and failed jobs are refunded. Exports, caption files, editor timelines and posts are free.
- Rate limits are per key, per minute, by plan: Free 60, Creator 120, Pro 300, Agency 600.
- Send an
Idempotency-Keyheader on writes so a retry can't create a second project or post. - Every response has an
X-Request-Id. Include it if you contact support about a request.
Connect Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant (MCP)
The MCP server lets an assistant clip, edit, export and post for you. The server URL is https://reeltopus.com/api/mcp.
In claude.ai, Claude Desktop or ChatGPT: add a custom connector with that URL. You sign in to Reeltopus, pick the workspace, and choose what the app may do. No key needed.
In Claude Code: run claude mcp add --transport http reeltopus https://reeltopus.com/api/mcp. It signs in the same way. You can also pass an API key in an Authorization header instead.
Other tools, such as Cursor, take a JSON config; Settings, API shows one you can copy.
What a connected app can do
On the consent screen you choose from four permissions:
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| See your workspace | Hours left, projects, clips, exports, styles, brand kits, templates, connected accounts and posts. |
| Process videos | Import YouTube links and upload files to clip. This spends hours. |
| Edit and export clips | Change captions, trims, titles and layouts, apply brand kits and templates, and render MP4s and caption files. Free. |
| Post to your connected accounts | Publish or schedule clips, and cancel scheduled posts. |
An app never gets more than your role allows. Viewers and clients can only grant read access.
Connected apps are listed under Connected apps on Settings, API. Press Disconnect to cut one off at once. Owners and admins see every member's apps; others see their own.
Webhooks
Owners and admins can add up to 10 webhook endpoints. Reeltopus sends a signed POST when something happens:
project.ready: a video finished processingproject.failed: a video couldn't be processed (its hours were refunded)clip.exportedandclip.export_failedpost.publishedandpost.failedaudit.event: something was recorded in the audit log (sent only to endpoints that list it)
To add one, enter the URL, tick the events you want (none ticked sends all of them, except audit.event), and press Add endpoint. Copy the signing secret it shows. Press Send test to check your endpoint. Recent deliveries are listed under each endpoint.
Your endpoint should answer with any 2xx within 10 seconds. Failures are retried with backoff for about a day. Signatures follow the Standard Webhooks spec; the API docs show how to verify them.