---
name: alpy-video
description: Make a hand-drawn animated YouTube video (explainer, story, faceless channel) from a topic or script with Alpy (tryalpy.com). Use when the user wants an animated or illustrated video, a faceless YouTube video, a stick-figure explainer, or to turn a script, article or notes into a narrated video.
---

# Make Alpy videos

Alpy turns a script into a hand-drawn video: an AI voice reads it, and every scene is drawn with one recurring character (a stickman, a hamster, a raccoon, or the user's own). It runs on the user's Alpy account and video minutes.

## Setup (once)

1. The user makes an API key at https://tryalpy.com/settings (section "Your AI agent"). It starts with `alpy_`.
2. Connect Alpy's MCP server with that key. For Claude Code:

   ```
   claude mcp add --transport http alpy https://tryalpy.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer alpy_..."
   ```

   Other MCP clients: server URL `https://tryalpy.com/mcp`, transport Streamable HTTP, header `Authorization: Bearer <key>`.

Never print the key back to the user or write it into project files.

## Making a video

1. **Script.** If the user has no finished narration, call `write_youtube_script` with the topic and follow the brief it returns. The script is only what is spoken: no scene directions, no headings. 90 to 2,700 words (about 150 words a minute).
2. **Character.** Call `list_characters`. Pick the Alpy character whose `good_for` matches the topic, or the user's saved character if they have one. Pick a `voice` and `tone` from the same answer.
3. **Start.** Call `create_video` with `script`, `character_id`, `character_source`, `voice`, `tone`, and `captions` if they want them burned in. It returns an `id`.
4. **Wait.** Call `get_video` with the id about once a minute. Follow its `next` field. A first video makes the free 10-second preview (`preview_url`); with enough minutes the full video is made straight away (`video_url`).
5. **Finish.** When the preview is ready, show it and ask before calling `make_full_video`: it spends the user's minutes. If they are short of minutes, send them to https://tryalpy.com/pricing.
6. **Deliver.** `video_url` is a 1080p MP4, valid for an hour; `studio_url` opens it in Alpy for edits, scene redraws, and a YouTube title, description and thumbnail.

## Limits

- 10 AI-voiced videos a day per account.
- One free preview per person. A full video costs one minute of video time per started minute.
- Drawings are deliberately simple and hand-drawn on a white background, not realistic animation.