# AI Agents

AI coding agents such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and Cursor can connect to Transloadit and use all 0 Robots to upload, encode, and transform files. There are three ways to integrate: the MCP server for runtime tool access, Agent Skills for repeatable workflows, and llms.txt for documentation context.

## MCP server

The [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) (MCP) gives agents direct runtime access to Transloadit tools.

![Demo: encoding videos to HLS adaptive streaming through the Transloadit MCP Server in Claude](/_next/static/media/mcp-demo.0_tw8arokc4ks.gif?dpl=dpl_HogC2skJwf1axvYU9z8bffEw91cr)

For most teams, the fastest happy path is self-hosted MCP via stdio:

```bash
TRANSLOADIT_KEY=MY_AUTH_KEY TRANSLOADIT_SECRET=MY_SECRET_KEY npx -y @transloadit/mcp-server stdio

```

If you cannot run `npx` in your environment, use the hosted endpoint`https://api2.transloadit.com/mcp` with `Authorization: Bearer <token>`.

Generate the token in another trusted environment (for example your backend, CI, or local shell), then pass it to your agent runtime:

```bash
npx -y @transloadit/node auth token --aud mcp

```

You can also mint tokens via [POST /token](/docs/api/token-post.md) or the[Node.js SDK](/docs/sdks/node-sdk.md).

For client config examples (Claude, Cursor, VS Code/Copilot), auth details, tool docs, limits, and hosted vs self-hosted behavior, see the [MCP Server SDK page](/docs/sdks/mcp-server.md).

## Automation paths

Transloadit agent tooling is useful beyond chat-based coding agents. It gives teams a few practical ways to run the same media workflow from local scripts, CI jobs, operations consoles, and autonomous agents:

* **CLI:** use `@transloadit/node` when a human or CI job needs a repeatable command to create an Assembly, wait for completion, and collect results.
* **MCP:** expose a narrow Transloadit tool surface to embedded or hosted agents that should not get shell access. The agent can inspect Robot docs, lint Assembly Instructions, create Assemblies, and follow status updates through the MCP server.
* **Agent Skills:** keep team-specific media workflow playbooks in version control for agents that already have useful tools, such as terminal access, MCP, the CLI, or SDKs. Skills tell the agent which Templates, verification steps, and fallbacks to use, but do not grant new capabilities by themselves.
* **llms.txt:** give any LLM a current map of Transloadit Robots, parameters, and docs before it proposes an Assembly.

For production automation, keep credentials in your trusted environment and let agents call a self-hosted MCP server or your own backend. Hosted MCP is convenient when the agent runtime cannot start local processes, while the CLI remains the simplest option for deterministic jobs in CI.

## Agent Skills

[Agent Skills](https://agentskills.io/) are markdown files (`SKILL.md`) that teach agents how to accomplish tasks step by step.

![Demo: encoding videos to HLS adaptive streaming through Transloadit Agent Skills in Claude](/_next/static/media/skills-demo.17qq6b.p2vo_b.gif?dpl=dpl_HogC2skJwf1axvYU9z8bffEw91cr) In practical terms, an MCP server is an API surface an agent can call at runtime (via a local or hosted MCP process), while skills are version-controlled playbooks that tell an agent what to do, in what order, and how to verify it. Skills do not add new tool access by themselves. They codify how you want the agent to use the tools available in your environment (MCP, CLI, SDKs) in a consistent way.

* Use **MCP** for embedded, repeatable execution (uploads, Assemblies, polling, results).
* Use **skills** for human-directed, one-off work (setup, scaffolding, templates, migrations).

They also complement each other. A skill can standardize a workflow and then instruct the agent to use MCP (or a local CLI fallback) for the actual execution.

### Install with the Skills CLI

```bash
npx skills add transloadit/skills

```

This installs all 7 Transloadit skills into your project:

* **docs-transloadit-robots**: Offline lookup for Transloadit Robots and their parameter docs/examples via the \`transloadit\` CLI. Use to draft or validate \`steps\` JSON without guessing robot names/params.
* **integrate-asset-delivery-with-transloadit-smartcdn-in-nextjs**: Add Transloadit Smart CDN URL signing to a Next.js App Router project (server-side signing route + optional client demo page).
* **integrate-uppy-transloadit-s3-uploading-to-nextjs**: Add Uppy Dashboard + Transloadit uploads to a Next.js (App Router) app, with server-side signature generation and optional /s3/store export.
* **transform-encode-hls-video-with-transloadit**: One-off HLS encoding (local video -> HLS renditions + playlist) using Transloadit via the \`transloadit\` CLI. Prefer Builtin Templates (\`builtin/encode-hls-video\@latest\`) and download outputs locally via \`-o\`.
* **transform-generate-image-with-transloadit**: One-off image generation (prompt -> image file) using Transloadit via the \`transloadit\` CLI. Prefer Builtin Templates (\`builtin/generate-image\@latest\`) and download outputs locally via \`-o\`.
* **transform-remove-background-with-transloadit**: One-off background removal (local image -> transparent PNG) using Transloadit via the \`transloadit\` CLI. Use a minimal \`/image/bgremove\` steps JSON and download the result to an explicit \`.png\` path via \`-o\`.
* **transloadit**: Main entry-point skill for Transloadit. Route to the right \`integrate-\*\`, \`transform-\*\`, or \`docs-\*\` skill, and prefer executing via \`npx -y @transloadit/node ...\` (CLI) for deterministic behavior.

### Auto-discovery

The skills catalog is also discoverable at[transloadit.com/.well-known/skills/index.json](/.well-known/skills/index.json), following the[Agent Skills Discovery RFC](https://agentskills.io/specification). This means you can also install with:

```bash
npx skills add https://transloadit.com

```

### Manual installation

Clone or symlink the [transloadit/skills](https://github.com/transloadit/skills) repo into your agent's skills directory:

|Agent|Path|
|-|-|
|Claude Code|.claude/skills/|
|OpenAI Codex|.codex/skills/|
|Gemini CLI|.gemini/skills/|
|Cursor|.cursor/skills/|
|Windsurf|.codeium/windsurf/skills/|

## llms.txt

Transloadit publishes an [llms.txt](/llms.txt) file, a structured index of all Robot documentation following the [llms.txt standard](https://llmstxt.org/). Agents and LLMs can fetch this file to get an up-to-date overview of every Robot, its parameters, and links to the full docs.

A detailed variant is available at [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt), which includes complete Robot documentation inline rather than linking out.

## Which approach should I use?

|Approach|Best for|Setup time|
|-|-|-|
|**Hosted MCP**|Production agent workflows, team setups|2 minutes|
|**Self-hosted MCP**|Air-gapped environments, local dev|5 minutes|
|**Agent Skills**|Teaching agents Transloadit best practices and patterns|2 minutes|
|**llms.txt**|Giving any LLM context about Transloadit Robots|Zero (just fetch the URL)|

These approaches complement each other. Use the hosted MCP server for tool access, install skills for workflow guidance, and point your LLM at llms.txt when it needs Robot documentation.