Custom clients and HTTP transport

Custom stdio configuration

The generic helper response uses this shape:

{
  "server": {
    "name": "videosearch",
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["@videosearch/mcp-server"],
    "env": {
      "VIDEOSEARCH_API_KEY": "sk_live_..."
    }
  }
}

Stdio mode

stdio is the default transport mode.

npm install -g @videosearch/mcp-server
VIDEOSEARCH_API_KEY=sk_live_... videosearch-mcp

Environment variables:

• VIDEOSEARCH_API_KEY
• VIDEOSEARCH_BASE_URL
• VIDEOSEARCH_TIMEOUT
• VIDEOSEARCH_MAX_RETRIES

HTTP mode

Set MCP_TRANSPORT_MODE=http to expose the server over Streamable HTTP transport.

MCP_TRANSPORT_MODE=http \
VIDEOSEARCH_BASE_URL=https://playground-api-stg-udk7d32fva-uc.a.run.app/api/v2 \
node dist/index.js

HTTP mode adds:

• PORT
• MCP_HTTP_HOST
• MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_HOSTS
• MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS
• MCP_HTTP_MAX_SESSIONS
• MCP_HTTP_ENABLE_JSON_RESPONSE

HTTP endpoints

The server exposes:

• GET /health
• POST /mcp
• GET /mcp
• DELETE /mcp

Per-request auth can use either:

• Authorization: Bearer sk_*
• X-API-Key: sk_*

When to choose HTTP

Use HTTP transport when the MCP server:

• runs remotely instead of inside a desktop client
• needs origin or host allowlists
• needs readiness probes
• needs session management at the transport layer