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vidIQ MCP

vidIQ MCP explained

Written by Megan

vidIQ MCP lets you connect AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible tools directly to vidIQ’s real-time YouTube and Instagram intelligence.

Once connected, your AI can research channels, analyze videos, identify trends, review thumbnails and titles, and interpret creator analytics using live data from vidIQ, all through natural conversation.

Instead of manually searching through videos, comments, analytics, and competitor channels, creators can ask questions in plain English and get instant insights powered by vidIQ’s database of 135M+ channels and 12B+ videos.

vidIQ MCP is designed for creators, strategists, agencies, and developers who want AI tools that understand what’s actually happening on YouTube and Instagram right now, not what existed in outdated training data.

Which plans include vidIQ MCP?

vidIQ MCP is available on all plans (Free, Boost, and Max). It uses the same credit allowance as the rest of vidIQ's AI features, so credits you spend in ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI tool come out of the same balance you use in the vidIQ web app.

Most research tools cost 5 credits per call. Video analysis and content generation cost more, and some tools are free. See How are credits used? for details. To see how many credits your plan includes, read Features & Credits by Plan.

How do I get started?

The fastest way to set up depends on which AI tool you use.

Option 1: ChatGPT

Install our official ChatGPT app. No MCP URL or pasting required.

  1. Open the vidIQ ChatGPT app listing

  2. Click Install (or Try it)

  3. Sign in with your vidIQ account when redirected. Your vidIQ email does not need to match your ChatGPT email.

  4. Grant permission. The vidIQ tools are now available in your ChatGPT conversations.

Option 2: Claude

There are two ways to add vidIQ to Claude. They give you different sets of tools, so choose based on what you want to do.

A. Claude connector directory (quickest)

  1. Open the vidIQ listing in the Claude directory (or search for vidIQ in Claude's connector directory)

  2. Click Connect, then sign in with your vidIQ account and grant permission

The directory version includes vidIQ's research, analytics, title, script, clipping, and video-editing tools. It does not include thumbnail generation or editing, AI video generation, music, voiceovers, video file import, Comment Insights, comment-reply drafts, chapter generation, connecting a YouTube channel, or making changes to your YouTube videos.

B. Custom connector (full tool set)

  1. In Claude, go to Customize → Connectors (called Settings → Connectors in some versions)

  2. Click Add custom connector, name it vidIQ, and paste this URL: https://mcp.vidiq.com/mcp

  3. Click Connect. This opens vidIQ's sign-in and permission screen

  4. Sign in with your vidIQ account. Your vidIQ email does not need to match your Claude email.

  5. Grant permission. You're done. Start asking Claude about YouTube and Instagram.

Good to know:

  • Claude's free plan allows only one custom connector. If you already use one, remove it or use the directory version.

  • A Claude subscription is separate from vidIQ. Your vidIQ plan doesn't include a paid Claude plan, and a paid Claude plan doesn't add vidIQ credits.

Option 3: Other AI tools (Cursor, Visual Studio Code, Gemini CLI, Grok, Perplexity, OpenClaw)

Cursor and Visual Studio Code (VS Code) are two separate apps. Both are code editors, mostly used by developers:

  • Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is Microsoft’s free code editor.

  • Cursor is a different code editor with AI built in. It’s based on VS Code, so it looks similar, but it’s its own app with its own setup.

If you don’t already use either one, you don’t need them. ChatGPT or Claude (Options 1 and 2) is the simplest way to connect vidIQ.

Step-by-step setup guides for these tools are on your vidIQ MCP settings page (app.vidiq.com → Account Settings → MCP).

  • The server URL is always the same: https://mcp.vidiq.com/mcp

  • Some tools connect by signing in with your vidIQ account. Others (Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, Perplexity, and OpenClaw) use an API key, which you can create on the same MCP settings page. Treat your API key like a password.

  • Tools that aren't listed may still work if they support remote MCP servers. If sign-in is rejected, try connecting with an API key instead.

  • Some features, like making changes to your YouTube videos or publishing Instagram Reels, only work when you connect by signing in with your vidIQ account, not with an API key.

What can vidIQ MCP do?

Research and analysis

vidIQ MCP turns your AI assistant into a real-time YouTube and Instagram research partner. Instead of manually searching through channels, videos, comments, trends, and analytics, you can ask questions naturally and pull live data directly from vidIQ.

Here are some of the most common ways creators are using vidIQ MCP today.

Discover breakout trends early

Find fast-growing channels, viral videos, and emerging content patterns before they become saturated.

Example prompt: “Show me small cooking channels that blew up this month.”

Creators use this to spot underserved niches, identify repeatable formats, and discover trends before they peak.

Research competitors and successful creators

Analyze how top creators structure their videos, thumbnails, titles, and upload strategies.

Example prompt: “Find channels similar to @AliAbdaal under 500K subscribers.”

This is useful for benchmarking your channel, studying successful formats, and discovering adjacent creators in your niche.

Improve titles and thumbnails

Use vidIQ’s scoring models to get feedback on clickability, clarity, and viewer appeal.

Example prompt: “Score this title and suggest stronger variations.”

Creators commonly use this workflow to improve CTR, strengthen hooks, and test creative directions faster.

Analyze why videos succeed or fail

Use Video Watch to analyze pacing, hooks, structure, and retention risks.

Example prompt: “Watch this video and tell me where viewers are most likely dropping off.”

This is especially helpful for diagnosing underperforming videos and improving audience retention.

Turn comments into content ideas

Analyze comments to uncover recurring questions, frustrations, and viewer interests.

Example prompt: “What questions appear repeatedly in these comments?”

Creators use this to identify audience pain points and generate highly relevant video ideas directly from viewer demand.

Research Instagram creators and reels

Analyze public Instagram profiles, reels, and viral outliers to understand what’s performing well.

Example prompt: “Run a creator audit on @creator_handle.”

This helps creators study successful reel formats, editing styles, and high-performing hooks within a niche.

Understand your own channel performance

For channels connected to vidIQ, MCP can pull your YouTube Analytics directly into your AI conversation.

Example prompt: “What were my top traffic sources last month?”

This makes it easier to interpret analytics, identify growth opportunities, and understand which content performs best with your audience.

Best workflows to try

The biggest wins come from chaining multiple MCP tools together in one conversation. Instead of asking one-off questions, treat your AI like a research partner that can analyze trends, channels, videos, comments, and performance data together.

Below are some of the most effective workflows creators are using with vidIQ MCP.

Workflow 1: Find breakout channels before everyone else

One of the strongest uses of MCP is discovering fast-growing creators before they become saturated.

Try this flow:

  1. "Find channels in [your niche] under 100K subscribers that are growing unusually fast."

  2. "Show me their top-performing videos from the last 30 days."

  3. "What patterns do these channels have in common? Hooks, thumbnails, pacing, titles, upload style?"

  4. "Based on those patterns, give me 10 video ideas adapted for my channel."

This workflow is especially powerful because the AI can combine:

  • growth metrics

  • trending video analysis

  • title patterns

  • niche clustering

  • thumbnail analysis

Workflow 2: Diagnose why a video underperformed

This is where Video Watch becomes valuable.

Instead of guessing why a video stalled, MCP can watch the actual content and analyze retention risks.

Try this workflow:

  1. "Watch this video and tell me where viewers are likely dropping off."

  2. "Analyze the first 30 seconds and score the hook strength."

  3. "What moments slow the pacing down?"

  4. "Rewrite the intro to improve retention."

  5. "Now generate 5 stronger title options."

Tip: Video Watch costs more credits because the AI is analyzing the actual video frame-by-frame, not just metadata.

Workflow 3: Turn comments into content ideas

Comments are one of the best sources of future videos.

Try this workflow:

  1. "Pull the top comments from these videos."

  2. "What questions or frustrations appear repeatedly?"

  3. "Group them into themes."

  4. "Which of these themes has the strongest viral potential?"

  5. "Turn the top 3 themes into Shorts ideas."

Making changes to your channel and posting

When you connect by signing in with your vidIQ account (not with an API key or the Claude directory version), your AI can:

  • Update an existing YouTube video on a channel you own: title, description, tags, privacy (public, unlisted, private), and scheduled publish time

  • Change an existing YouTube video's thumbnail

  • Publish a Reel to a connected Instagram account

  • Update the competitor list saved in your vidIQ account

What to expect:

  • Your AI should show you the exact change and wait for your approval before making it.

  • You may be asked to verify your YouTube account before a change goes through. Complete it in the window or link your AI shows you, then tell the AI you're done. If the verification prompt never appears, start a new chat and try again, or contact Support.

MCP cannot upload a new video to YouTube. Importing a video file into vidIQ only lets vidIQ tools work with it. To publish a new video, upload it in YouTube Studio, then ask your AI to help with the title, description, and thumbnail.

Credits

How are credits used?

Every vidIQ tool your AI uses is charged to your vidIQ credit balance. Costs depend on the tool:

  • Free (0 credits): checking your credit balance, listing your connected channels, checking job status, bookmarks, your competitor list, browsing trend categories, listing voices, importing a video file, and submitting feedback

  • Most research tools: 5 credits per call (keyword research, outliers, channel and video stats, comments, transcripts, title and thumbnail scoring, title ideas, and similar tools)

  • Short-form video analysis (Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts): 10 credits

  • Video Watch (full analysis of a long-form YouTube video): 25 credits

  • Updating a YouTube video's details or thumbnail: 5 credits each

  • Thumbnail generation or editing: 22 credits each

  • Music: 25 credits per track

  • Voiceovers: 14 credits per 1,000 characters of script

  • Scripts: 1 credit per minute of script

  • Clips: 9 credits per minute of the source video. If you don't ask for a specific section, the whole video is charged, so a 60-minute video costs 540 credits even if you only want a few clips. Ask your AI to clip a specific time range to keep the cost down.

  • AI video generation: depends on the model, length, and resolution. Your AI receives the exact price when the job starts, and an 8-second clip can cost well over 100 credits.

A few things to know:

  • One request can trigger several tool calls behind the scenes. Before running a big task, ask your AI how many credits it will use.

  • Every generation is charged, including retries and new versions you ask for. Generating the same thing twice costs twice.

  • If a generation or analysis fails, its credits are refunded automatically. If a result was delivered but is broken or unusable, contact Support.

  • You can check your balance and reset date any time by asking your AI: "How many vidIQ credits do I have left?"

I've run out of credits

When your balance runs out, vidIQ tools that cost credits stop working until your credits refresh. Free tools, like checking your balance, keep working.

Generated files and uploads

Where do my generated files go?

Thumbnails, videos, voiceovers, music, and scripts you create through vidIQ MCP are delivered inside your AI conversation, so save anything you want to keep.

  • Voiceovers, edited or combined videos, and motion graphics come as temporary links that stop working after about 12 hours. Download them as soon as they're ready.

  • Thumbnails: use the image link your AI provides to open and save the file. The preview shown inside the chat isn't downloadable.

  • Scripts and text stay in your AI conversation. Copy them somewhere safe.

  • AI-generated videos (from a text prompt or image) can be saved to your vidIQ bookmarks. Ask your AI to "save this video to my vidIQ bookmarks," then in any later chat ask "show my saved generated videos."

  • Lost track of a job? Ask your AI to "list my recent vidIQ jobs" to see what's still running or finished.

  • Review each result before asking for another version, since each new version uses credits.

Can I use my own files, uploads, or Claude/ChatGPT Projects?

  • Projects and uploaded documents (like Claude Projects or files you attach in ChatGPT) are features of your AI tool, not vidIQ. Your AI can read them and combine them with vidIQ data, but vidIQ doesn't store them, and vidIQ tools can't open files on your computer.

  • Importing your own video: the file must be an MP4 of 200 MB or less. In ChatGPT you can attach it. In Claude and most other tools, provide a direct public download link. Share-page links that redirect (for example, Google Drive or Dropbox share links) won't work.

  • vidIQ AI Coach is separate from MCP. To get AI Coach feedback on something you made with ChatGPT or Claude, paste it into AI Coach yourself.

Fixing common problems

I can't finish connecting vidIQ

  • First, sign in to app.vidiq.com in the same browser with the vidIQ account you want to connect, then start the connection again from your AI tool.

  • Disable pop-up blockers and ad blockers temporarily. These can block the redirect.

  • Clear cookies and cache for vidiq.com, or try a private/incognito window.

  • Make sure your browser is up to date.

  • If you're using a tool not listed in this article and sign-in is rejected, connect with an API key from your MCP settings page instead.

  • Still stuck? Contact Support and tell us which AI tool you're using and the exact error message you see (a screenshot helps).

My Claude or ChatGPT email is different from my vidIQ email

That's fine. The MCP connection authorizes against your vidIQ account specifically. The email on your AI tool is unrelated. Just make sure you're signed in to the correct vidIQ account when you click Authorize.

My AI says I'm on the Free plan or have 0 credits, but I pay for vidIQ

This usually means the connection is linked to a different vidIQ account than the one with your subscription. To fix it:

  1. Disconnect vidIQ in your AI tool (see Disconnecting vidIQ MCP).

  2. Sign out of app.vidiq.com, then sign in with the account that has your paid plan.

  3. Reconnect vidIQ in your AI tool and authorize again.

  4. Ask your AI to "check my vidIQ credit balance" to confirm.

If your balance still doesn't match, contact Support with the email of your paid vidIQ account.

Channel Analytics isn't working

The Channel Analytics tool only works for YouTube channels you have authorized to your vidIQ account. To enable it:

  1. Go to app.vidiq.com → Channel Settings

  2. Connect the YouTube channel you want analytics for

  3. Once connected, your AI will be able to pull full analytics for that channel

If you connected by signing in (not with an API key or the Claude directory version), you can also ask your AI to "connect my YouTube channel to vidIQ" and follow the link it gives you.

MCP cannot return private analytics for channels you don't own.

My AI says it doesn't have access to vidIQ tools

  • Make sure the MCP connection shows as authorized in your AI tool's settings.

  • Some AI tools require you to explicitly enable the connector in each new conversation. Check for a tools/connectors menu inside the chat.

  • Try refreshing the AI app or starting a new conversation.

  • In Claude, the directory version of vidIQ has fewer tools than the custom connector. See Option 2: Claude.

  • If problems persist, disconnect vidIQ MCP from your AI tool's settings, then reconnect (paste https://mcp.vidiq.com/mcp, or reinstall from the ChatGPT App Store if you're using ChatGPT).

Instagram tools say the profile can't be found

Instagram research tools only work for public Instagram profiles. If the account is private, the AI won't be able to fetch its reels or profile data. Double-check the handle is spelled correctly and the account is public.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a paid Claude or ChatGPT subscription to use vidIQ MCP?

You need an account with whichever AI tool you want to connect, but most of these have free tiers. Some free tiers have limits, for example Claude's free plan allows only one custom connector. You'll also need a vidIQ account (any plan) to authorize the connection. AI tool subscriptions are billed separately by those companies and aren't included in your vidIQ plan.

Is my data secure?

The connection uses OAuth: the same standard used when you "Log in with Google" elsewhere. Your AI tool never sees your vidIQ password, only an authorization token. You can disconnect at any time from your AI tool (see Disconnecting vidIQ MCP). If you use an API key, you can revoke it from app.vidiq.com → Account Settings → MCP.

Can I use vidIQ MCP on mobile?

vidIQ MCP works wherever your AI tool runs. If Claude or ChatGPT supports MCP connectors / apps on mobile, vidIQ MCP will work there too. Most desktop AI apps support MCP today; mobile support varies by provider.

Does this replace the vidIQ web app or browser extension?

No, it complements them! Many creators use all three: the browser extension for quick keyword and metric overlays on YouTube itself, the web app for deep analysis, and MCP for conversational research with their AI assistant.

Does vidIQ MCP work for TikTok or YouTube Shorts?

YouTube Shorts: yes. Many YouTube tools can filter by Shorts vs. long-form, and your AI can analyze individual Shorts. TikTok: not yet. We currently support YouTube (full coverage) and Instagram (public profiles + reels).

Can I use vidIQ MCP with other AI tools or my own setup?

Yes. The server endpoint is https://mcp.vidiq.com/mcp and it uses the standard MCP protocol. Supported AI tools connect by signing in with your vidIQ account. For tools that need an API key, create one on your MCP settings page.

Use of vidIQ MCP is subject to our Terms of Service, and data from YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms remains subject to their terms.

Disconnecting vidIQ MCP

If you no longer want to use vidIQ MCP, disconnect it from your AI tool. If you connected with an API key, you can also revoke the key in your vidIQ account.

ChatGPT

  1. Open ChatGPT and go to Settings → Connectors (or Apps & Connectors)

  2. Find vidIQ

  3. Click Disconnect or Uninstall

Claude

  1. Open Claude and go to Customize → Connectors (Settings → Connectors in some versions)

  2. Find vidIQ in your connectors list

  3. Click Disconnect

Once removed, Claude will no longer have access to vidIQ tools.

Cursor, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), and other AI tools

Remove the vidIQ MCP server entry from your tool’s MCP settings or configuration, then restart or refresh your AI tool if needed.

Revoke an API key

  1. Go to app.vidiq.com → Account Settings → MCP

  2. Under API Keys, find the key

  3. Click Revoke

To connect a different vidIQ account, disconnect first, then reconnect while signed in to the account you want.

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