Picsart API (MCP)

The picsart MCP server at https://mcp.picsart.io/v1 exposes four Picsart REST APIs as MCP tools. Each tool name equals the OpenAPI operationId verbatim — dashes preserved (e.g. genai-text2image, image-remove-background, video-trim, vd-export-replay).

When to Use

Use this skill whenever the user asks to:

• Generate net-new content from a prompt — image, video, sticker, logo, speech, sound, music, SFX, or text completion.
• Edit, enhance, resize, reformat, recolor, or transform an existing image or video.
• Remove backgrounds or objects; inpaint, outpaint, or extend canvas.
• Apply effects, masks, styles, adjustments, blur, color/style transfer.
• Extract, transcribe, or manipulate audio tracks in video.
• Upscale, FPS-upscale, super-resolve, or enhance faces.
• Watermark, crop, trim, concat, or fit media.
• Render bulk personalised creative assets via a Replay.

If the request touches any of the above, read the relevant doc in references/ BEFORE calling any picsart-*, image-*, video-*, genai-*, or vd-* MCP tool.

Prerequisites

The picsart MCP server must be connected and a Picsart API key available:

• MCP server. This repo ships the server config at the repo-root .mcp.json. Claude Code auto-loads it when the repo (or the installed skill) is in scope. For other hosts (Cursor, Codex) or a manual setup, register an HTTP MCP server named picsart pointing at https://mcp.picsart.io/v1:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "picsart": {
        "type": "http",
        "url": "https://mcp.picsart.io/v1",
        "headers": {
          "X-Picsart-API-Key": "${PICSART_API_KEY}",
          "Accept": "application/json"
        }
      }
    }
  }

• API key. Export PICSART_API_KEY in the environment before starting the agent. Never hardcode it — the config interpolates ${PICSART_API_KEY} at runtime.

• Two servers, two auth models. The repo-root .mcp.json registers two Picsart servers. Use the one that matches your setup:

  • picsart at https://mcp.picsart.io/v1 — the server this skill uses. Auth via the X-Picsart-API-Key: ${PICSART_API_KEY} header (shown above). Exposes all image-*, video-*, genai-*, and vd-* tools.
  • picsart-gen-ai at https://api.picsart.com/gen-ai/mcp — the generative-AI server. Auth via OAuth: the host (Cursor, Claude Code) runs an interactive sign-in the first time it connects; no API-key header is needed. Its tools overlap with the genai-* surface of the picsart server, so pick one path per session rather than mixing.

How to Run

1. Identify the user's intent and read only the matching references/ doc (see Quick Reference). Do not read docs for surfaces the task won't touch.
2. Look up the exact tool name (= OpenAPI operationId) in that doc's tool index.
3. Call the tool verbatim via the picsart MCP server. For async tools, chain through the paired poller until the job is terminal (see Procedure).
4. Return the final result URL(s) to the user.

Quick Reference

Four API surfaces, four reference docs in this skill's references/ folder:

• Image (references/image-api.md) — background removal, upscale, effects, masks, adjust, watermark, crop, blend, segmentation, tagging, vectorize, design-import. Base: https://api.picsart.io/tools/1.0.
• Video (references/video-api.md) — edit, trim, crop, concat, fit, effects, FPS upscale, thumbnails, metadata, audio adjust / extract / transcribe, CTV encoding, watermark. Base: https://video-api.picsart.io/v1.
• GenAI (references/genai-api.md) — text→image, text→sticker, logo gen, image edit / inpaint / outpaint, object removal, smart-background, expand / bleed, text→video, image→video, text→speech, text→sound, text→text completions. Base: https://genai-api.picsart.io/v1.
• Variable Data (references/variable-data-api.md) — bulk personalised rendering from Picsart Replay templates. Base: https://vd-api.picsart.io/v1.

Load the doc(s) that match the user's intent:

Known submit → poller pairs (read the per-API doc for the authoritative list):

• genai-text2image → genai-text2image-getresult
• genai-text2sticker, genai-text2sticker-laser-engraving → genai-text2sticker-getresult
• genai-generate-logo → genai-generate-logo-getresult
• genai-image-edit, genai-image-inpainting, genai-image-outpainting, genai-remove-object, genai-smart-background, genai-expand-image, genai-generate-image-bleed → genai-image-inpainting-getresult
• genai-text2video, genai-image2video → genai-text2video-getresult
• genai-text2speech, genai-text2sound → genai-text2audio-getresult
• image-ultra-upscale → image-ultra-upscale-getresult
• image-design-import → image-design-import-getresult
• video-upscale-fps → video-upscale-fps-getresult
• video-transcribe-audio → video-transcribe-audio-getresult
• video-set-thumbnail → video-set-thumbnail-getresult
• Other video operations that return a job id → video-getresult (or video-getaudioresult for audio outputs).
• vd-export-replay → vd-export-replay-getresult
• vd-export-variable-data-content → vd-export-variable-data-content-getresult

Procedure

Core principles

1. Tool name = operationId. Look up the exact name in the doc's tool index, then call it verbatim via the MCP server. Dashes stay dashes.
2. Async jobs must be polled. Many tools return a job id and complete later. Never tell the user "done" on the submit call alone — always chain through the paired poller until the job's status is FINISHED / succeeded.
3. Inputs: file OR url. Most endpoints accept either an uploaded file or an *_url string (e.g. image_url, video_url). Prefer URLs when the asset is already hosted publicly — avoids upload overhead. For a file on the user's own machine, an MCP server cannot read it — you need a URL first. Open the upload widget (picsart_upload_widget or mp_upload, whichever connector is present) and wait for the URL it reports back. Full procedure, including the two-turn handshake, in picsart-add-media.
4. Credits before expensive calls. Each API exposes a balance tool (image-credits-balance, video-credits-balance, genai-credits-balance, vd-credits-balance). For a first call in a session that may be heavy (video generation, bulk exports, long upscales), call the matching balance tool so the user isn't surprised by a 402.
5. Enum values are exact. Effect names, aspect ratios, styles, voices, and output formats are closed enums in the docs. Copy values verbatim — do not paraphrase. Invalid enums fail the call and waste a round trip.
6. Prefer specialised tools over generic ones. For a 4× or larger upscale use image-ultra-upscale over image-upscale; for face shots use image-face-enhance; for video cuts use video-trim over video-edit.

Async polling pattern

1. Call the submit tool, capture the returned id (field names vary: id, inference_id, transaction_id).
2. Call the paired poller with that id. If status is pending (IN_PROGRESS, PENDING, etc.), wait briefly and call again.
3. Stop when status is terminal (FINISHED / succeeded / FAILED). Surface the result URL(s) to the user, or the error on failure.

Keep polling quiet — a single "still rendering…" update is enough; do not narrate each poll.

Common workflows (each step is one MCP tool call; consult the per-API doc for exact parameter names)

• Generate image from prompt — genai-text2image → genai-text2image-getresult → return image URL.
• Generate short video from prompt — genai-text2video → genai-text2video-getresult → return mp4 URL.
• Animate an existing image — genai-image2video → genai-text2video-getresult → return mp4 URL.
• Text-to-speech (voice-over) — genai-text2speech → genai-text2audio-getresult → return audio URL.
• Text-to-sound / SFX / music — genai-text2sound → genai-text2audio-getresult → return audio URL.
• Remove background from a photo — image-remove-background (sync) → return result URL.
• Upscale an image — small factor or quick job → image-upscale (sync); 4× / 8× or heavy → image-ultra-upscale → image-ultra-upscale-getresult.
• Edit photo with a natural-language instruction — genai-image-edit → genai-image-inpainting-getresult → return image URL.
• Fill in a region of a photo — genai-image-inpainting → genai-image-inpainting-getresult.
• Extend a photo beyond its edges — genai-image-outpainting or genai-expand-image → genai-image-inpainting-getresult.
• Remove an object from a photo — genai-remove-object → genai-image-inpainting-getresult.
• Transcribe a video's audio — video-transcribe-audio → video-transcribe-audio-getresult → return transcript.
• Trim / crop / concat a video — video-trim / video-crop / video-concat → poll with video-getresult if it returns a job id.
• Bulk personalised renders from a Replay — vd-export-replay → vd-export-replay-getresult. For variable-data-driven batches: vd-describe-variable-data-content → vd-export-variable-data-content → vd-export-variable-data-content-getresult.

Pitfalls

• Don't declare success on a submit-only response. Async jobs return a job id; wait for the paired poller to report a terminal status before telling the user the task is done.
• Disambiguate similar intents:
  • "Enhance this photo" with no prompt → Image API (image-upscale, image-ultra-enhance, image-face-enhance).
  • "Edit this photo to …" with a natural-language instruction → GenAI (genai-image-edit).
  • "Remove background" from a still → Image API (image-remove-background); from a video → Video API (video-remove-background).
  • "Extend / widen / fill beyond edges" → GenAI (genai-image-outpainting, genai-expand-image, genai-generate-image-bleed).
• Enum drift fails calls. Paraphrasing an effect name, style, voice, or aspect ratio wastes a round trip — copy enum values verbatim from the docs.
• Watch limits and content policy. Respect the Picsart Developer Guidelines — no disallowed content. Image upload size / format limits: see references/image-api.md. Video duration, resolution, and codec limits: see references/video-api.md. GenAI prompt-length caps, seed / count limits, and safety filters: see references/genai-api.md. Variable Data batch size and Replay compatibility notes: see references/variable-data-api.md.

Verification

• Return the final result URL(s) in the response.
• For async jobs, wait for completion before declaring success. A submit-only response is not a finished task.
• Preserve URLs exactly as returned — they're signed / time-bound.
• If the user hasn't specified an output format, use the endpoint default (noted in each doc).

References

Official portal: https://docs.picsart.io/

Spec sources used to produce the docs in this skill:

• https://apidocs.picsart.io/picsart-image-tools-api.yaml
• https://apidocs.picsart.io/picsart-video-tools-api.yaml
• https://apidocs.picsart.io/picsart-genai-tools-api.yaml
• https://apidocs.picsart.io/picsart-variable-data-tools-api.yaml