# WhipScribe: instructions for AI agents

If you are an AI agent setting up or using WhipScribe (audio and video to text) for a person, follow this file.
Checked 5 October 2026. Human-readable version: https://whipscribe.com/agents

## What you can do yourself

- Read the API: https://whipscribe.com/openapi.json (OpenAPI 3.0) and https://whipscribe.com/docs
- Sign in to an existing account with email and password at https://whipscribe.com/apis/keys
- Open checkout with a pack selected (links below) and fill in everything except the payment
- Create an API key at https://whipscribe.com/apis/keys once the account has API access ($24 pack or Workspace)
- Call the API with the key, check the balance, download transcripts

## What you must hand to the person

- New account: sign-up is Google, or email plus a 6-digit code sent to that inbox. If you cannot read the inbox, ask for the code. Use the person's own address; never invent one.
- Payment: do not type card numbers. Give the person the pack link and wait for the balance to change.
- The API key is shown once. Store it as WHIPSCRIBE_API_KEY in an environment variable or secret store. Never print it, commit it or put it in front-end code.

## Order of operations, from nothing to a working key

1. Account: https://whipscribe.com/apis/keys -> "Sign in & create a key" -> sign up or sign in.
2. API access: open https://whipscribe.com/credits?sku=team-monthly ($24, 5,000 minutes) or the Workspace link while signed in. The person pays.
3. Key: back on https://whipscribe.com/apis/keys -> name the key -> "Create key" -> store it.
4. Verify: GET https://whipscribe.com/api/v1/credits with header X-API-Key. A positive payg_hours_remaining means you are ready.

## Packs (USD; credits never expire; authority: https://whipscribe.com/pricing)

- $4: 500 minutes. https://whipscribe.com/credits?sku=mini-4
- $8: 1,000 minutes. https://whipscribe.com/credits?sku=basic-8
- $12: 2,000 minutes. https://whipscribe.com/credits?sku=pro-monthly
- $24: 5,000 minutes, includes API access. https://whipscribe.com/credits?sku=team-monthly
- $19 a month: Workspace: unlimited transcription, fair use 300 hours a month, includes API access. https://whipscribe.com/credits?sku=workspace-monthly

There is no free API tier, no purchase API and no sign-up API. API access comes with the 5,000-minute pack ($24) or the Workspace plan ($19/month). The smaller packs work on the website and top up an account that already has API access.

## The API in four calls

Base URL: https://whipscribe.com/api/v1   Auth: header X-API-Key: $WHIPSCRIBE_API_KEY

1. Balance: GET /v1/credits -> payg_hours_remaining (hours of pack credit left)
2. Submit: POST /v1/transcribe/url with JSON {"url": "<public link>"} -> {"job_id": "...", "status": "queued"}
   (file upload: POST /v1/transcribe, multipart field "file"; large files: POST /v1/uploads/init then /v1/uploads/{job_id}/commit)
3. Poll: GET /v1/jobs/{job_id} every 3 seconds or slower until status is "done" or "failed"
4. Fetch: GET /v1/jobs/{job_id}/result?format=txt (or json, srt, vtt, docx); summary: GET /v1/jobs/{job_id}/insights

## Rules

- Call from a server or script. Browsers are blocked from calling the API.
- 60 requests a minute per account. On 429 wait for Retry-After seconds.
- Send an Idempotency-Key header on submits so a retry cannot start a second job.
- Files up to 10 hours or 5 GB each. 99+ languages, detected automatically.
- Failed jobs and recordings with no speech are not charged.
- Errors are JSON with "error" (a sentence for people) and "code" (stable; branch on it).

## When the balance is empty

A job that finishes with no credit is kept and marked "locked": true with an unlock_url. Other formats and the summary answer 402 with code transcript_locked.
Do this: stop submitting; tell the person the balance is empty and give them https://whipscribe.com/credits?sku=mini-4 (or a larger pack); poll GET /v1/credits about once a minute; when the balance is positive, fetch the same job again. Do not re-upload.

## Connector instead of a key

MCP clients (Claude, Claude Code) can add https://whipscribe.com/mcp and sign in; no key is handled. An unauthenticated request gets 401 with a pointer to the sign-in metadata. The person completes the sign-in.
Local MCP server with a key: uvx --with "mcp<2" whipscribe-mcp   (reads WHIPSCRIBE_API_KEY)

## Do not

- Do not create accounts for people who did not ask, or with addresses that are not theirs.
- Do not tell the person a pack was bought until GET /v1/credits shows the balance.
- Do not promise live captioning or per-line speaker labels; WhipScribe transcribes recordings.
- Do not quote a price from memory; read the list above or https://whipscribe.com/pricing.

## More

- How does an AI agent create a WhipScribe account? https://whipscribe.com/agents/sign-up.md
- How does an AI agent buy WhipScribe credit? https://whipscribe.com/agents/buy-credits.md
- How does an AI agent create a WhipScribe API key and keep it topped up? https://whipscribe.com/agents/api-key.md
- How do I get Claude or Claude Code to transcribe with WhipScribe? https://whipscribe.com/agents/claude.md
- How do I get ChatGPT to transcribe with WhipScribe? https://whipscribe.com/agents/chatgpt.md
- How do I get Cursor or a coding agent to use the WhipScribe API? https://whipscribe.com/agents/cursor.md
- How do I get an n8n, Make or Zapier agent to transcribe with WhipScribe? https://whipscribe.com/agents/n8n-make-zapier.md
- How do I transcribe from an Apify Actor or an Apify-based agent? https://whipscribe.com/agents/apify.md
- Product facts for assistants: https://whipscribe.com/llms.txt
- Support: contact@whipscribe.com