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Connect a coding agent

Coding agents such as Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code can read your library the same way Claude Desktop does. Shotwork has no one-click row for them, so you paste one entry into the agent's own settings instead.

Before you start

  • An agent that can use MCP servers listed in a settings file. Its own documentation says where that file is.
  • The shot lists you want it to see, listed in the Library window.

Steps

  1. Choose File › Connect an AI Assistant….
  2. Click Set it up by hand at the bottom of the window.
  3. Copy the entry named shotwork from the box that opens.
  4. Open your agent's settings file and add the entry inside its mcpServers object. If the object is not there, create it.
  5. Restart the agent.
  6. Ask it: What's in my Shotwork library?

The box opens with Claude Desktop's settings path, because that is the file Shotwork would write for you. For a coding agent, ignore the path and take the entry.

What happens

The agent starts Shotwork's library server itself whenever it needs your library, and asks it the same four things Claude Desktop does. Shotwork does not need to be open, and the same checks apply: restricted shots stay out unless you ask, and everything built lands in Shotwork Reels.

If your agent names the object something other than mcpServers, use its name. The entry inside is the same.

What the entry contains 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shotwork": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\artist\\Shotwork\\python.exe",
      "args": ["-m", "shotwork.mcp"]
    }
  }
}

command is the Python that runs your copy of Shotwork; the box in the dialog fills in the real path. On a source install, that environment also needs Shotwork's mcp extra. When the server starts, it writes two lines to the agent's log, library: and reels:, naming the library it reads and the folder it writes to.