MCP

HiAPI runs a hosted remote MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. One connection gives any MCP-compatible client — Claude Code, Cursor, and others — a set of image and video generation tools backed by the Unified Async API. There is nothing to install or run locally.

https://mcp.hiapi.ai/mcp

The server is stateless about credentials: it never stores your API key, it only forwards the Authorization header of each request to api.hiapi.ai.

Connect

Authentication uses your HiAPI API key as a Bearer token. Create one at Dashboard → API Keys.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http hiapi https://mcp.hiapi.ai/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

JSON config

For clients configured via a JSON file (Cursor, Claude Desktop, and most others):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hiapi": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.hiapi.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

After connecting, ask your client to list tools or just say “generate an image of …” — the client discovers and calls the right tool on its own.

Tools

Tool	What it does	Default model
generate_image	Text-to-image, plus reference-image generation on models that support it	qwen-image-2.0
edit_image	Edit or transform an existing image (image-to-image)	Nano-Banana-2
generate_video	Text-to-video and image-to-video	seedance-2-0
list_models	List all supported image and video models with capability summaries	—
get_model_capabilities	Per-model parameters: aspect ratios, resolutions, output formats, reference-image limits, durations	—
get_pricing	Live pricing metadata from /api/pricing	—

All generation tools create tasks through POST /v1/tasks and poll GET /v1/tasks/:id for up to 3 minutes. For longer generations, pass wait_for_completion: false to get the taskId immediately and check it later via the task detail endpoint.

Supported models match the public catalog — see the model pages for exact parameters. Model-specific fields (for example Seedance reference videos, Wan ratio, FLUX safety_tolerance) are exposed directly as tool arguments and documented in get_model_capabilities.

Output links expire

Task output CDN links expire after about 7 days. Download anything you want to keep.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
401 / 403 from tools	Check the Authorization: Bearer … header in your client config
Balance or quota errors	Add funds at Dashboard → Billing
Tool call times out	The task may still be running — re-run with wait_for_completion: false and poll GET /v1/tasks/:id
Client cannot connect	Verify the URL is exactly https://mcp.hiapi.ai/mcp and the transport is HTTP (streamable)

Prefer a per-model workflow inside an agent runtime? Install the Skills instead. Building your own product or backend? Call the Unified Async API directly.