How to connect Claude to Final Cut Pro.

Final Cut Pro has no MCP server, so Claude connects through an app beside it. Switch on access for one project, press Add to Claude Desktop, ask for selects.

What is MCP, in one paragraph?

MCP is an open standard that lets an AI assistant use apps on your Mac. An app that supports it runs a small server; the assistant connects to that server and learns what it is allowed to do there, such as read a transcript or add a select. You make the connection once and from then on ask in plain words. Which apps an assistant can reach depends entirely on which apps run a server, which is why the first question is about Final Cut.

Does Final Cut Pro have MCP built in?

No. Final Cut Pro has no MCP server, so Claude cannot open a library, read the browser or cut a timeline in it directly, and nothing in Final Cut's preferences changes that. DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 ships with one. For Final Cut, the route is an app beside it that runs its own server and trades FCPXML with Final Cut, the same file Final Cut already exports and imports.

Doza Assist is that app for interviews and dialogue, and it is what the rest of this guide connects. The free guide the MCP workflow Final Cut doesn't have yet covers the whole episode setup around it; this page is the connection itself.

What can Claude do once it is connected?

Through Doza Assist's connector, a connected assistant can list the projects you have switched on, read a project's transcript with timecodes and speakers, search it, see the selects in the Clip Library, add its own selects, labeled "AI assistant" so you always know which are yours, and build a selects stringout you open in Final Cut Pro.

It cannot delete or change your clips, see your media files, see projects you have not switched on, or read your My Style profiles. You approve every step, and the cut still happens in Final Cut.

How do you connect Claude to Final Cut Pro?

1. Install the Claude app for Mac and Doza Assist. The connection runs between those two apps, so both have to be on the Mac. Doza Assist needs Apple silicon, and the free trial runs every feature on the first 2 minutes of each file, which is enough to test the connection end to end.
2. Export the interview from Final Cut Pro as XML. Select the project, or the multicam or synchronized clip in the browser, and choose File > Export XML. Do not drag the library bundle anywhere; the export is the file the next step reads. The export guide covers what to select and which version.
3. Open the FCPXML in Doza Assist and transcribe it. Drop the file on the dashboard. The app reads the multicam or sync-clip spine, transcribes on the Mac and labels the speakers. This is the transcript Claude will read, so finish it, and rename the speakers, before you connect.
4. Switch on AI assistant access for the project. It is off by default and per project. On the project page, open the gear menu and choose AI assistant access. Only projects you switch on are visible to a connected assistant; every other project stays invisible. On a collection page the same item switches every interview in the collection at once.
5. Press Add to Claude Desktop. The button in the same panel hands the Claude app the connector. Claude asks you to confirm, and Doza Assist appears in its connector list. No config files, no restart. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code connect with the command and config shown under Other assistants in the same panel.
6. Ask a first request. In a Claude chat, type "list my Doza projects". The switched-on project comes back by name. Then ask for something real: "Read the transcript, find the three strongest moments about the move, and make them selects." The selects appear in the open project within seconds, labeled AI assistant, with a toast and a View button.
7. Check the selects and send the stringout to Final Cut Pro. Play each one in Doza Assist and keep, trim or delete it as you would your own. Then export: a pre-cut timeline opens in Final Cut Pro automatically, with keyword ranges and chapter markers, and a multicam project comes back as a multicam with its angles. That is the stringout you cut from.

What leaves the Mac, and what does not

The media files never leave the Mac. The connection itself runs there, and the assistant cannot see your footage. The transcript text and selects of a switched-on project do go to the assistant, and Claude is a cloud service under its own terms, not part of Doza Assist. Access stays on until you turn it off. A project that must stay entirely private stays switched off, and a switched-off project is invisible to the assistant.

Common questions