Using ReelBolt from Claude Code

Claude Code is a command-line AI assistant. You can connect it to ReelBolt so that, instead of switching to the dashboard, you can ask it in your terminal to look at your projects, inspect a workflow, check how a run went, or change a workflow for you. It uses the same tools and the same permissions as the ReelBolt assistant that lives in the dashboard — it is another way to reach the same machinery, not a second copy of it.

This page is for people who already use Claude Code and have a ReelBolt account. You do not need to know how ReelBolt is built to follow it.

What Claude Code can do once it is connected

Once connected, Claude Code gets a set of ReelBolt tools. Broadly, it can:

• Look things up. List your projects, read a project's files and the agent list, list a project's workflows, and read the steps of one workflow.
• Check on runs. List recent runs and open one to see each step's status, how long it took, how many credits it used, and the full reason a step failed. Claude Code can also ask for a run's status at any moment: it answers straight away with how far the run has got and, while the run is going, how long to wait before asking again. If a run you asked for in 4K could only be made smaller, the run result says so in a plain sentence.
• Check your credits. Ask how many credits you have, how many are held by runs in progress, and when your plan renews.
• Draft and change workflows. Check a set of steps is valid, show you what a change would do, and apply it after you agree.
• Add files to a project. Upload an audio, video or image file from your computer (up to the storage your plan allows; large files are sent in parts), or import a file from a public web link (https://, up to 512 MB). Claude Code shows you what it is about to add and you approve it.
• Get a link to a result. For any finished video or file in a project, Claude Code can give you its size, length and shape, a short-lived link to download it without signing in again (the link works for about 15 minutes), and a few grids of frames from the video so it can describe what the video looks like. If the frames are not ready yet it tells you to ask again in a minute.
• Keep a result as a project file. Copy a finished video into the project's files so that later runs can use it, for example as music or as a clip to insert. The original stays where it is, and the copy counts toward your storage.
• Put a screen recording on a green screen. Say "put this screen recording onto the green screen in that clip". Claude Code checks the clip and the recording, shows you the workflow it would save (or update, if one with that name exists) and, once you agree, saves it. It uses no AI model (only processing time is charged), and it does not start the run: ask Claude Code to run the workflow afterwards.
• Change a finished video. For an animated video ReelBolt made, ask for a change ("make the title bigger in the last scene") and Claude Code shows you the scenes it can change and the estimated cost before you agree. A change starts a new run and counts as a paid run for the hourly limit below.
• Start a run. Kick off a workflow, subject to the same hourly limit the dashboard assistant has (see Run limits). You can ask for an editing style, a video shape and a resolution for the run ("run it as a vertical video in 4K"); the ExecuteWorkflow tool takes these as styleId or stylePresetKey, outputFormat and outputResolution (Auto, 720p, 1080p or 2160p for 4K).
• Work with the picture open in the picture editor. Read what a picture is made of, look at what it actually shows, and propose changes such as adding text, moving or deleting layers, changing the canvas, or running a paid picture tool.

Every change is confirmed with you before it is written: Claude Code shows you what would change, and nothing is written until you agree. Starting a run, deleting something, and anything that costs money always come back to you first.

Watching a run

A run can take longer than one conversation turn. There are three ways to follow it.

• Ask for the status. Claude Code asks for the run's status and gets an answer straight away. This works in every client.

• Let your client notify you. Each run is available as a resource, reelbolt://runs/<run id>. A client that supports resource subscriptions can subscribe to it and is told when the run changes, with the number of finished steps as progress. Not every client supports this; if yours does not, use the status or the watch command. Each person can hold up to 10 subscriptions (5 per session), and a subscription ends after two hours.

• Use the plugin's run watcher. The ReelBolt plugin includes a small command that prints one short line each time the run changes and stops when it finishes. Claude Code starts it as a Monitor, so each line reaches you as a notification while you carry on. It needs Node.js 22 or later on your computer.

  The first time, you sign in once. Claude Code tells you the command to run (in your terminal, or in Claude Code by typing ! before it). Your browser opens and asks you to approve read-only access to run status for your workspace. There is nothing to copy or paste. The sign-in can only read the status of runs, it is stored in a file only you can read, and you can remove it any time with the plugin's logout command. If Node.js is missing or you would rather not sign in, Claude Code asks for the status instead.

  If you run ReelBolt yourself and use the separate stdio server, its reelbolt-mcp-watch command does the same job with your own token. Ask your administrator for the setup.

Notifications in the ReelBolt dashboard assistant work differently: see Waiting for a run to finish.

Run limits

To protect your credits, there is a limit on how many runs Claude Code and the dashboard assistant can start for you. It is counted for each person in each project over a rolling hour:

• Runs that can use credits (anything that uses AI models or paid services, and every change to a finished video): up to 10 per hour.
• Runs that are free (only fixed editing steps, with no AI model or paid service in them): up to 60 per hour. Free runs never use up your 10.

When you reach a limit, Claude Code tells you how many you used, what the limit is, and how long to wait before trying again. Starting a run yourself with Run in the dashboard is not counted.

If you save a workflow change that makes a free run use paid services right after you asked for it, the run stops before doing anything and is not charged. Claude Code says "This workflow changed after the run started; start it again." Ask it to start the run again.

Connecting

You connect by adding ReelBolt's MCP address to Claude Code. The address is your ReelBolt web address followed by /mcp — for example https://reelbolt.example.com/mcp, or http://localhost/mcp on a local installation.

ReelBolt ships a Claude Code plugin that does this for you: it registers the ReelBolt endpoint and asks you for that one address and nothing else, so there is no token to create, paste or store. Add its public marketplace and install it:

claude plugin marketplace add ReelBolt/reelbolt-claude-plugin
claude plugin install reelbolt@reelbolt --config server_url=https://reelbolt.ai/mcp

Use your own address instead of https://reelbolt.ai/mcp if you self-host, and approve in the browser as described below. You can equally add the server yourself; the steps are the same either way. The plugin's README has the full install guide, including how to change the address later and how to load it from a checkout of the ReelBolt source.

Having set that address, Claude Code then:

1. Registers itself with ReelBolt automatically.
2. Opens your browser at ReelBolt's sign-in page if you are not already signed in.
3. Shows you a consent screen naming what is being asked for, and who is asking.
4. Once you approve, gives Claude Code a credential it stores and uses from then on.

You approve once. If the connection is later revoked, you connect again the same way.

The consent screen asks for use of ReelBolt's assistant tools. If admin tools have been enabled for your account (see below), it also says so, because that is a wider permission. Denying the request simply returns you to Claude Code with nothing connected.

Admin tools over MCP are off by default

ReelBolt's assistant has some tools that only administrators may use — the ones that manage the deployment's own AI provider settings. Those tools are not available over Claude Code unless they have been enabled for your account:

• When they are off (the default), ReelBolt does not even tell Claude Code that they exist. They cannot be called by accident or by a cleverly worded request.
• When they are on, they appear, and they still check your own permissions on every single call. The setting grants nothing by itself: if you are not an administrator, the call is refused.

Turning this on is a setting on your ReelBolt account, and it is not something Claude Code can turn on for itself. At the time of writing there is no switch for it in the portal, so ask whoever administers your ReelBolt installation to enable it for you; then reconnect Claude Code.

What it costs

ReelBolt records every call Claude Code makes — what was asked for, whether it was allowed to run, and how long it took. That record exists so usage is visible and so unusual activity can be seen. A record is not a charge.

Credits are only drawn where the work itself costs ReelBolt money, exactly as when you use the dashboard:

• Looking around — projects, files, workflows, run history, your credit balance, links and frames for a result, a picture's layers — is free.
• Adding a file or keeping a result as a file is free of credits, but the file counts toward your storage.
• Starting a run spends credits as the run's steps use paid services.
• Changing a finished video spends credits, and Claude Code shows the estimate first.
• Paid picture tools (erasing, filling, expanding, relighting, upscaling, generating) and designed graphics spend credits when you apply them. Claude Code is told the estimated cost when it proposes one, so it can tell you before you agree.
• AI-generated video clips are the most expensive item. Claude Code refuses to start a run that would generate them until you have chosen whether to reuse the clips from last time (free) or generate new ones (paid).

See Plans and credits for how credits work in general.

Disconnecting

Removing the ReelBolt server from Claude Code stops it using your account.

A ReelBolt credential that has already been handed out cannot be withdrawn on the spot: it is a signed token that stays valid until it expires, within the hour. What can be stopped is its renewal. Revoking the connection ends the grant that keeps issuing new credentials, so the connection lapses shortly instead of being cut off this second. ReelBolt's OAuth endpoint exists for this; at the time of writing there is no control for it in the portal, so ask whoever administers your ReelBolt installation.

After that, connecting again means approving a new connection from scratch.

Running the server yourself (advanced)

Instead of connecting to a hosted ReelBolt, you can run the ReelBolt MCP server locally and use your own sign-in token. The plugin does not set this up — it registers the hosted endpoint described above. Running the server locally is a separate, manual setup, intended for self-hosted installations and advanced users; it is documented in the plugin repository's README. The short version is that the local server needs two things from you: the ReelBolt address to call, and a ReelBolt token for your own account. It never needs, and should never be given, a platform signing key.

If it does not work

• Claude Code says it needs to sign in. Run the connection again; the browser step has to be completed by a person. Nothing connects silently.
• Claude Code cannot see ReelBolt's tools. Check the server address ends in /mcp and that the session is signed in. Then reconnect the server.
• Calls are refused with a permissions message. The tool exists but your account may not use it, or admin tools are not enabled for you. Refusals like this are answers, not crashes — they say what to do next.
• A run is refused because of too many runs. The dashboard assistant and Claude Code share an hourly limit on how many runs one person can start in one project (see Run limits). The message says how many you used and how long to wait. Wait that long, or start the run yourself with Run in the dashboard.
• Claude Code says the session was not found. After ReelBolt restarts, a connection that was open before the restart is no longer known. Claude Code connects again by itself; if it does not, reconnect the server.
• A link to a result stopped working. Links last about 15 minutes. Ask Claude Code for a new one. A link also stops working if you are no longer a member of the workspace.
• A file import was refused. Only public https:// links work, the file has to be 512 MB or smaller, and it has to fit in your storage. Links to private or internal addresses are refused.
• A run is refused because of the resolution. Your plan sets the highest resolution a run can use (720p on Trial, 1080p on Creator, 4K on Pro and Team). Ask for that resolution or lower, or leave it on Auto; see Export resolution on each ReelBolt plan.