LipDub MCP server

Give your AI agent the ability to lip-sync video.

LipDub 2 makes a person in a video appear to speak a different audio track, with matched lip movement. This is an MCP server that exposes it to Claude, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Codex, VS Code, and any other MCP-compatible client.

LipDub 2 does not translate, transcribe, or generate speech. You bring the audio. If you want a video dubbed into another language, generate that audio first with a text-to-speech or voice-cloning tool, host it at a public URL, and pass that URL. It pairs naturally with a text-to-speech server for that first step.

---

What it looks like

You:   Lip-sync https://example.com/keynote.mp4 to https://example.com/spanish.mp3

Claude: I'll use LipDub 2 for that. This will charge credits to your LipDub
        account and can't be refunded — shall I go ahead?

You:   yes

Claude: Started — render_id rnd_88213. A clip this length takes a few minutes; I'll wait.
        ...
        Done. Here's your video: https://…  (link expires, so grab it soon)

---

Setup

1. Get an API key

1. Sign in at app.lipdub.ai.

2. Open Settings → API Keys: app.lipdub.ai/settings/api-keys

   You must be an Owner or Admin on the account. Other roles are redirected to the dashboard with no explanation. If that link bounces you, ask an Owner or Admin on your team to generate the key for you.

3. Generate a key and copy it.

One key per user. LipDub issues a single API key per user, and generating a new one replaces the old one. If your account already uses its key for another integration, generating a fresh key will break it. Reuse the existing key, or use a separate Owner/Admin account for agent work.

2. Point your client at it

Nothing to install: npx fetches it on first run.

<details open> <summary><b>Claude Code</b></summary>

claude mcp add lipdub --env LIPDUB_API_KEY=your_key_here -- npx -y lipdub-mcp

</details>

<details> <summary><b>Claude Desktop</b> — <code>claude_desktop_config.json</code></summary>

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lipdub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "lipdub-mcp"],
      "env": { "LIPDUB_API_KEY": "your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

The file lives at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, and %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows. Restart Claude Desktop after editing it. </details>

<details> <summary><b>Cursor</b> — <code>.cursor/mcp.json</code></summary>

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lipdub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "lipdub-mcp"],
      "env": { "LIPDUB_API_KEY": "your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

</details>

<details> <summary><b>VS Code</b> — <code>.vscode/mcp.json</code> (recommended: prompts for the key)</summary>

{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "lipdub-key", "description": "LipDub API Key", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "lipdub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "lipdub-mcp"],
      "env": { "LIPDUB_API_KEY": "${input:lipdub-key}" }
    }
  }
}

This pattern keeps the key out of a file you might commit. Given that LipDub issues one key per user, that matters more here than it does for most servers. </details>

<details> <summary><b>Gemini CLI</b> — <code>~/.gemini/settings.json</code></summary>

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lipdub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "lipdub-mcp"],
      "env": { "LIPDUB_API_KEY": "your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

</details>

<details> <summary><b>Codex</b> — <code>~/.codex/config.toml</code></summary>

[mcp_servers.lipdub]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "lipdub-mcp"]
env = { LIPDUB_API_KEY = "your_key_here" }

</details>

<details> <summary><b>From source</b> — for development, or if you'd rather not use npx</summary>

git clone https://github.com/marzvfx/lipdub-mcp.git
cd lipdub-mcp
npm ci && npm run build

Then use "command": "node", "args": ["/absolute/path/to/lipdub-mcp/dist/index.js"] instead of the npx pair above. Needs Node 20+; ./manage.sh build does the same inside a container if you have no Node. </details>

3. Check it works

First confirm the server itself runs:

npx -y lipdub-mcp --version

Then ask your agent: "check my LipDub connection". It should reply with your account id. If it asks you to set an API key, the key is not reaching the server. Check the env block above and restart the client.

Or test it without an agent

There is a smoke test that drives the server exactly as a real MCP client does, so a pass means your installation genuinely works. It lives in the repo, so clone it first (see From source above), then:

LIPDUB_API_KEY=your_key_here npm run smoke

That checks the handshake, the tool list and your API key. It renders nothing and costs nothing.

To exercise the whole flow, including a real render. This spends credits:

LIPDUB_API_KEY=your_key_here npm run smoke -- --render \
  --video=https://example.com/speaker.mp4 \
  --audio=https://example.com/speech.mp3

It starts the render, waits for it, and prints the download link.

If you already have assets uploaded to LipDub, pass their ids instead of URLs with --video-id=<shot id> --audio-id=<upload id>, which helps when you have nowhere public to host them. If a run is interrupted, --render-id=<id> re-attaches to the render already in flight rather than paying for a second one.

---

Tools

Tool	What it does	Costs credits?
lipdub_check_connection	Confirms the key works and names the account	No
lipdub_create_render	Starts a render from a video URL and an audio URL	Yes
lipdub_get_render	Status, and the download link once ready	No
lipdub_wait_for_render	Waits for a render instead of polling in a loop	No
lipdub_list_renders	Recent renders, to recover a lost render id	No

There is also a lipdub_quick_dub prompt (a slash command in clients that support prompts) and two reference resources, lipdub://guide/quickstart and lipdub://guide/troubleshooting.

---

What makes a good source video

• One person on camera.
• Face clearly visible and reasonably well lit.

	Accepted
Video	.mp4, .mov, .avi
Audio	.mp3, .wav, .m4a, .aac, .ogg, .flac, plus .mp4 / .mov, since those containers can carry an audio-only track
Size	up to 15 GB per file, or 5 GB on the legacy Basic plan

---

Hosting your files

Both inputs are public URLs, not local file paths, and the link must return the media file itself.

YouTube is the exception: youtube.com, youtu.be and youtube-nocookie.com are resolved for you, so a normal watch URL works as video_url.

These do not work: Google Drive and Dropbox share pages, anything behind a login, and expired links.

For your own files:

# Amazon S3 — a time-limited direct link
aws s3 presign s3://your-bucket/keynote.mp4 --expires-in 3600

# Google Cloud Storage
gcloud storage sign-url gs://your-bucket/keynote.mp4 --duration=1h

# Any web server
scp keynote.mp4 you@yourserver:/var/www/html/
# → https://yourserver/keynote.mp4

Why URLs and not local files? A URL-based render is one API call. The upload-a-local-file path is several calls against endpoints that are rate-limited to roughly ten requests an hour, which works out at about two local-file renders per hour on the entry plan. Keeping this server URL-only also means it behaves identically wherever it runs. Local-file support may arrive later behind an opt-in.

---

Timing and cost

Rendering takes several minutes for a short clip, and longer for longer videos, because generation time scales with the length of the source. LipDub also waits up to 15 minutes to download your two source files before giving up, so slow hosting shows up as a timeout rather than a render.

Renders consume credits from your LipDub account and cannot be refunded; cost scales with the length of the source video, so shorter clips cost less.

Checking status is free and is not rate-limited, so poll as often as you like.

Your credit balance is not available through the API; see app.lipdub.ai.

Spending guardrails

lipdub_create_render is the only tool that spends money. By default it refuses to run until the agent passes confirm_spend, which forces it to state the cost to you first. The server also stops after 5 renders per session.

Variable	Default	Purpose
LIPDUB_API_KEY	—	Your API key. Required.
LIPDUB_API_KEY_FILE	—	Path to a file containing the key, instead of the variable.
LIPDUB_MAX_RENDERS_PER_SESSION	5	Ceiling on renders started per server process.
LIPDUB_REQUIRE_SPEND_CONFIRMATION	true	Set false only for headless pipelines with no human watching.
LIPDUB_LOG_LEVEL	warn	debug, info, warn, error. Logs go to stderr.

These are usability guardrails, not security controls. Anything calling the API directly bypasses them.

---

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
"No LipDub API key is configured"	Generate one at Settings → API Keys and set LIPDUB_API_KEY
"LipDub rejected the API key"	The key was mistyped or has been regenerated. Generate a fresh one and restart the client
"out of credits"	Top up at app.lipdub.ai
"could not download one of your source files"	The link is a share page, needs a login, or has expired. Use a direct link
"downloaded your files but could not start the render"	Usually no credits, or no clearly visible speaking face
Wait tool returned still_running	Normal — the render is still going. Not a failure; call it again
Download link stopped working	Links are signed and short-lived. Call lipdub_get_render again

Full API documentation: lipdub.readme.io

---

Privacy

• Your API key is read from the environment, is used only to call https://api.lipdub.ai, and is never written to disk, logged, or included in any tool result. It is redacted from every log line and error message.
• The video and audio URLs you supply are sent to the LipDub API, which downloads them to produce the render. Do not pass URLs to material you are not willing to have LipDub process.
• This server sends no telemetry and collects no analytics.
• Renders and their outputs are stored in your LipDub account, governed by LipDub's privacy policy and terms.

Acceptable use

LipDub 2 generates synthetic video of real people. By using it you warrant that you have the rights and consent necessary for the likeness and the voice in your source material. Do not use it to impersonate anyone without their permission, to create misleading content about real people, or for anything prohibited by LipDub's terms.

Security

Found a vulnerability? See SECURITY.md. Please do not open a public issue, and never paste an API key into one.

Limitations

• No translation or speech generation. You supply the audio.
• URL inputs only; no local file upload.
• Credit balance and price estimates are not available through the API.
• LipDub issues one API key per user, so a key cannot be scoped to this server alone.

Versioning

Tool names are a public contract and will not change. New capability arrives as new tools; schema changes are additive. See CHANGELOG.md.

Licence

MIT. This licence covers this client. LipDub itself is a commercial service governed by its own terms.