Descript API and MCP: How to Connect, Automate and Stay in Budget

Descript's API comes with paid plans at no extra cost, so the cheapest standard way in is the Hobbyist plan at $16 per person a month billed annually, or $24 billed monthly.^[1] Eligible nonprofits, students and educators can get Hobbyist features on the Education / Nonprofit plan for $8 per Editor a month billed annually or $12 billed monthly. There is no separate developer fee.

Every import and every AI edit draws on the same media minutes and AI credits you spend in the app, and when either pool runs dry, calls return a 402 error. You can reach the platform four ways: an AI assistant through the Descript MCP, Zapier, a command-line CLI, or direct HTTP requests. For most teams the MCP is the fastest start. Developers who need DOCX transcripts or webhooks should go straight to the API.

Pick your route: MCP, Zapier, CLI, Raycast or raw HTTP

Descript presents one platform with several doors, and they differ in sign-in, output formats and who handles the waiting. The MCP signs in with your Descript login and needs no token. Raycast and the direct API run on a personal API token. With raw HTTP you own job orchestration, error handling and webhooks, while the CLI polls for you and shows live progress. Whichever door you use, the work lands in the same Drive and spends the same pools, so a project an assistant created can be finished by hand in the editor a minute later.

Before the first call: plan, token and the one-Drive rule

Start in App settings, under API tokens, and create a token for the Drive you want to automate.^[2] Copy it immediately. Descript shows a token once and never again, so store it in a secrets manager rather than a chat thread. Each token is tied to a single Drive, and editing a project on a different Drive returns an error. If your company keeps separate Drives for podcast and marketing work, plan one token per Drive and label each one. A token also acts as you: it spends media minutes and AI credits exactly as your own clicks would.

Because every Drive has its own plan and billing, a token inherits that Drive's allowance. Hobbyist gives 10 media hours and 400 AI credits a month. Creator gives 30 hours and 800 credits per Editor, and Business 40 hours and 1,500 credits per Editor. Pools are shared across the Drive and reset at renewal with no rollover. Viewers and single-project collaborators cannot use features that need minutes or credits, so the account behind the automation should hold an Editor seat on that Drive.

Set expectations on maturity too. The API page still calls the program early access, with a Discord channel and weekly office hours for help. Every edit call runs through Underlord (Descript's help center still labels it beta and warns it can get things wrong). Treat outputs as drafts. On Enterprise Drives, one admin setting also bites: once the General workspace is hidden, neither the API nor the MCP can add projects or folders to it.

Connecting Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor through the MCP

The MCP server lives at api.descript.com/v2/mcp and authenticates with OAuth, so any assistant that supports remote MCP by URL and OAuth can connect.^[3] Official connectors exist for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, and since June 2026 Descript sits in Claude's connector directory and ChatGPT's app marketplace. Descript says Claude Code and other MCP clients work too, with nothing to install. You pick one Drive at connection. Switching later means logging out of Descript on the web and reconnecting.

Each assistant has its own switches. In Claude, use the web or desktop app in Chat mode rather than Cowork, and turn on network egress and code execution under Settings, Capabilities. In ChatGPT you need a plan that supports apps and connectors, and Team or Enterprise admins may have to enable third-party connectors first. One gap matters for creative teams: the connector in Claude's directory has no generative image or video tools. You need the custom MCP setup for those.

Once connected, the assistant can import media, run any Underlord edit, create projects and compositions, organize folders, search the Drive, publish to a web link, and track or cancel jobs. Since October 2026, MCP search results include direct links to projects and files, while the Search API also adds thumbnail previews. Transcripts export as TXT, Markdown, HTML, RTF or SRT, but not DOCX. Timelines export as EDL, AAF, SESX, FCPXML, Premiere XML or DaVinci Resolve XML, so an editor can finish in another tool. Ask for an MP4, though, and it cannot hand one over; you publish and use the download link instead.

Zapier, the CLI and Raycast for repeatable jobs

The public Descript app arrived in the Zapier marketplace in September 2026, at parity with the API. It offers actions (Import Media, Edit Project With AI, Publish Project, Export Transcript, Cancel Job) plus searches. It has no triggers. Descript cannot start a Zap when a project changes, so another app has to kick things off, such as a new file in cloud storage. Search Drive returns between 1 and 100 results, 30 by default. If you are still choosing an automation platform, our Zapier alternatives guide covers the field.

The Zapier transcript action is narrower than the API. Export Transcript returns plain text, Markdown, HTML or RTF. DOCX and SRT transcripts, multitrack sequences, per-file language and folder placement all need a direct API request. Inside Zapier, that request goes through the API by Zapier step, which Descript notes is a premium feature that may not be available on every Zapier plan. Check your Zapier plan before you design a workflow around captions.

The CLI installs from npm as @descript/platform-cli, and version 0.11.0, released in June 2026, added export-transcript, list-folders and list-projects commands. It handles polling and shows live progress, so a shell script can import a file, run an edit and wait without a hand-written job loop. The Raycast extension is lighter: it imports media, browses projects, runs Underlord prompts, publishes compositions and tracks jobs from the keyboard, with a personal API token, on macOS only. Treat it as one editor's shortcut.

Calling the HTTP API: jobs, callbacks and results

Import, agent edit and publish endpoints are asynchronous. Each returns a job_id. You either poll the jobs endpoint at descriptapi.com/v1/jobs or pass a callback_url and let Descript call your webhook when the job finishes.^[4] Callbacks scale better. Job lists cover the last 7 days by default and reach back up to 30 days; after that the records are gone, so log job ids and outcomes on your side. When jobs stall, the status page lists the Agent API, Import API, Jobs API and MCP connector as separate components.

A typical pipeline has three calls. Import from a direct file URL or an upload, because YouTube links are rejected as sources. Run an Underlord edit with a plain-language prompt, such as removing filler words and tightening gaps, or create a whole project from a prompt. Then publish to a web link. Publishing returns signed URLs to the MP4 or audio file, and that is the only way to pull rendered media out. This route is also the only one that exports DOCX transcripts, alongside text, Markdown, HTML, RTF and SRT.

What automation costs, and the 402 wall

The bill is your plan, nothing more. The catch is that automation spends faster than people do. Underlord costs are non-deterministic, even chatting with it uses credits, and each prompt pays for the reasoning and the tools it runs, with thinking capped at 200 credits per turn. Descript itself warns that trying the API can burn through AI credits quickly. Out of either pool, uploads stop and every API or MCP call returns a 402 until the reset or a top-up.

Run the numbers before you schedule anything. Say a pipeline imports 20 episodes of 30 minutes a month and runs Studio Sound on each, which is capped at 30 credits per file. By our arithmetic that is 600 minutes, or 10 hours, plus up to 600 credits. Hobbyist covers the 10 hours exactly but its 400 credits stop after 13 files. Creator, at $24 per person a month billed annually or $35 monthly, covers the whole run with 200 credits left for prompts.

Top-ups exist only on Creator and Business, as one-time purchases that expire 12 months after purchase. AI credits sell in one-time packs good for 12 months: 350 for $35 (one-time), 1,000 for $80 (one-time) or 4,000 for $200 (one-time). Media time sells in one-time packs good for 12 months: 5 hours for $25 (one-time), 20 hours for $80 (one-time) or 50 hours for $150 (one-time). Both kinds are non-refundable; the rest of the billing rules sit in our Descript pricing guide. If you mostly want an assistant on top of a recording studio, Riverside also offers an MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor from its Grow plan. Riverside lists Grow at $34 a month billed annually or $45 monthly.

The bottom line

Descript's automation layer is broad and cheap to start: one token per Drive, four ways in, and no fee beyond the plan. The MCP gets a non-developer editing by conversation in minutes, while the HTTP API is the route for webhooks, DOCX transcripts and signed media links. The real constraints are the early-access label, the lack of Zapier triggers and direct downloads, and credit burn. Size your pools against your job volume first, and pick Creator over Hobbyist if any month could run past 400 credits or 10 media hours.