Codex Video Generation: Add Ziztu as an MCP Server

• A Ziztu account. 40 free credits for scripts, character art, storyboards, voices and sound, plus your first 5 second video free, no card. More video starts at $12.
• Codex. The Codex CLI, the ChatGPT desktop app and the IDE extension share one MCP configuration, so you set Ziztu up once. OpenAI's page lists Streamable HTTP servers, bearer token authentication and OAuth as supported.
• Tested. This was verified with Codex CLI 0.155 against Ziztu's server.
• A browser for the one-time Ziztu sign-in. Or an API key, if you would rather skip the browser (see the last step).

Once the first plan is back, these prompts take you from the plan to a film. Each one that costs credits tells the app to use a cap, and the app shows you the price first.

Make the first frames for that project with max_credits set to the quote. When they are done, show me the frames and wait. I will tell you whether to animate.

Animate shot 1 only, with max_credits set to its quote. Tell me what it cost and show me the clip before you do any other shot.

When I am happy with the clips, quote the music, make it with max_credits set to the quote, then export the film and tell me how to download it.

Use Ziztu to plan a 45 second anime episode in a hand-painted look about a girl who finds a sleeping whale made of cloud over her village. Give the girl and the whale a fixed look, plan the shots, and quote the first frames. Do not spend anything yet.

On a server, in a script or in CI, a browser login is awkward. Make an API key in the Ziztu studio under Settings, then API keys, with only the scopes you want: read to look, generate to plan and make, export to download films. Put it in an environment variable and point Codex at it. Codex then sends it as a bearer token and needs no login.

[mcp_servers.ziztu]
url = "https://getziztu.com/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "ZIZTU_TOKEN"

A key acts as your account. Give an unattended agent a read key, or a generate key that you only use with small max_credits caps, and revoke it in Settings, API keys when you are done.

Codex is a coding agent, so it fits when your project has files. Ask it to read story.md or a Fountain script, create a Ziztu project, and ask the Director to plan it. Ziztu does the generation, so Codex does not need a GPU or a video model of its own. Every step that spends credits needs a max_credits cap, and Codex shows the quote first.

Codex waits up to 60 seconds for a tool to answer by default, which is why the config above sets tool_timeout_sec = 180: a Director call can run longer than a minute. Ziztu's make tools return at once with job ids and run in the background.

Ziztu is a studio for micro dramas and anime series, so the connection gives your AI app 30 tools for the whole job, not a single clip button:

• Plan. Ask the Director for the cast, the places and every shot of an episode, then apply the plan to a project.
• Price. Quote frames, clips or music before anything runs. The quote also lists any shot that is blocked and why.
• Make. Make the first frame of each shot, animate the shots you pick and generate the music, each with a spend cap you set.
• Keep going. Check jobs, check your credit balance and export the finished film as an MP4. The same project opens in the Ziztu studio, where you can edit it.
• Run apps. Start the one-shot Ziztu apps (animation, manga, story video and more) from the same chat.

The cast stays the same across every shot and every episode, because the characters live in the project and not in the chat.

This is The Wrong Wedding, a 32 second vertical episode made in Ziztu with the same three characters in all seven shots. It started from one sentence, the same kind of prompt you give your AI app.

The Wrong Wedding, episode 1: 32 seconds, seven shots, three characters, made in Ziztu from one sentence.

9:16 · 32 s

The prompt that made it

A live-action vertical micro drama, episode 1: on her wedding day a bride reads a message on the groom's phone and walks down the aisle anyway, smiling. End on a cliffhanger when she takes the microphone.

Giving an AI app a way to spend money needs hard limits. These are enforced by the Ziztu API, not by the chat, so the app cannot talk its way around them:

• A spend cap on every paid call. max_credits is required on first frames, clips, music and app runs. If the exact price is higher, the call is refused before anything starts.
• A second yes above 500 credits. A bigger spend also needs confirm: true, and the tool descriptions tell the app to ask you first.
• Price before spend. The quote tool and dry_run: true return the exact credits and start nothing.
• You choose the permissions. The consent screen lists three: see your account, create and generate, and export films. Untick Create and generate and the app can look but cannot spend.
• Disconnect any time. Open getziztu.com/oauth/connections, find the app and end it. The next call fails at once.

A connection itself costs nothing. You pay in credits, on your own Ziztu account, and the price of each step is shown before it runs.

• Free to start: 40 free credits for scripts, character art, storyboards, voices and sound, plus your first 5 second video free, no card. More video starts at $12.
• Video needs a plan. Plans start at $12 a month. On Starter, a 5 second clip costs about $0.37 at 480p or $0.60 at 768p. See pricing for every plan and pack.
• Your app is billed separately. Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Grok and Cursor have their own plans and limits. Ziztu only charges for what runs in Ziztu.

• codex mcp list shows ziztu but the tools are missing. Run codex mcp login ziztu. Without a login Codex can connect without signing in, and Ziztu then refuses tool calls.
• The login opens a browser page that cannot finish. Codex returns to a local address on your own machine. Make sure nothing blocks it, finish the login in the same browser session, and run the command again.
• A tool call times out. Raise tool_timeout_sec (180 above, default 60) in the [mcp_servers.ziztu] table. If the server itself is slow to start, raise startup_timeout_sec (default 10 seconds).
• The sign-in window does not open or closes at once. Allow pop-ups for the app, then start the connection again. In a terminal app, copy the link it prints into your browser.
• The app can plan but says it cannot spend. The connection was made without Create and generate. Disconnect it at getziztu.com/oauth/connections, connect again and keep that box ticked.
• A call is refused with over_max_credits. The cap was lower than the exact price. Ask the app for the quote, then set max_credits at or just above it.
• A call is refused with confirm_required. The price is above 500 credits. Read the price, and if you agree, tell the app to continue with confirm set to true.
• It says you have no credits (HTTP 402). Ask the app to check your balance. Free credits cover the planning and a new account's first 5 second clip; more video starts on a plan.
• The app asks you to sign in again. Do it. Access renews by itself, but ending a connection on the connected apps page removes it for good.

The steps for each app follow its own official page, read on 18 October 2026. Apps change their menus, so if a label looks different, trust the app and the page below.

• OpenAI Codex docs: Model Context Protocol (Codex CLI)