Steps
- Claude (web or desktop): add the connector. Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Name: WhipScribe. URL:
https://whipscribe.com/mcp - Sign in when Claude asks. Claude opens a WhipScribe page that says what the connector can do: submit audio for transcription, check job status and fetch finished transcripts for you. Sign in with Google and press Allow. This step is the person's.
- Ask in chat. Paste a link to a video, podcast episode or audio file and say “transcribe this”. Claude calls WhipScribe and works on the transcript in the same chat.
- Claude Code: the same connector. Add it once; Claude Code opens the browser for the same sign-in.
claude mcp add --transport http whipscribe https://whipscribe.com/mcp - Claude Code or Claude Desktop: local server with a key. If you prefer a key to a sign-in, run the local MCP server. Create the key first (whipscribe.com/agents/api-key).
claude mcp add whipscribe -e WHIPSCRIBE_API_KEY=paste-the-key -- uvx --with "mcp<2" whipscribe-mcp - Claude Code: no MCP at all. Put the key in the environment and point Claude Code at the instructions file; it will write the three calls itself.
export WHIPSCRIBE_API_KEY="paste-the-key" # then tell Claude Code: # Read https://whipscribe.com/agents/instructions.md and transcribe ./recordings/*.mp3 to SRT
What we checked
On 5 October 2026: whipscribe.com/mcp answers an unauthenticated request with 401 and a pointer to its sign-in metadata, which is how Claude discovers the sign-in; a client can register itself; and the consent page offers Google sign-in. On our test system we completed the whole flow (register, sign in, Allow, token) and called the transcription tools with the token.
The local server, started with the command above and a key, listed six tools (transcribe_url, transcribe_file, get_job_status, get_transcript, list_recent_jobs, transcribe_urls_batch) and transcribed a link. The --with "mcp<2" part matters today: without it the current package fails to start.
What needs a person
- Creating the account: sign-in is Google, or an email address plus a 6-digit code sent to that inbox. An agent with no access to the inbox has to ask the person for the code.
- Paying: the checkout asks for a card or PayPal. The person enters those details or approves the payment; an agent should hand this step over, not type card numbers.
- Keeping the key: an API key is shown once, when it is created. Whoever creates it stores it; nobody can look it up later.
Credit
The connector spends the signed-in account's credit; the local server and the API spend the credit of the account that owns the key. $4 = 500 min · $8 = 1,000 min · $12 = 2,000 min · $24 = 5,000 min; credits never expire. When the balance is empty, finished transcripts are kept locked until credit is added: whipscribe.com/agents/buy-credits.