Setup
Pick your client, install, and sign in when prompted. A Cartesia MCP API key is created for your organization if one does not exist yet.- Cursor
- Claude Code
Install in Cursor
Click install, then sign in to the Playground when your browser opens.
Try it
Ask your agent things like:- List all available Cartesia voices
- Convert text to audio with a chosen voice (speed, volume, emotion) — returns
file_idand usually a shareabledownload_url - Transcribe an audio file to text
- Create a pronunciation dictionary and use it in TTS
- Check credit usage for your account
- Localize an existing voice into another language
- Change an audio file to use a different voice
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
text_to_speech | Convert text to audio; default save=true returns file_id and usually a 24-hour download_url (plus local file_path when running MCP locally) |
speech_to_text | Transcribe an audio file; default mode=batch (batch STT), or mode=stream (STT WebSocket) |
list_voices | List available voices (filter by language, search, gender, etc.) |
get_voice | Fetch metadata for a voice by ID |
clone_voice | Clone a voice from an audio sample |
update_voice | Update a cloned voice’s name or description |
delete_voice | Delete a cloned voice |
voice_change | Re-render audio with a different voice |
localize_voice | Adapt a voice to another language or dialect |
list_pronunciation_dicts | List pronunciation dictionaries |
create_pronunciation_dict | Create a pronunciation dictionary |
get_pronunciation_dict | Get a pronunciation dictionary by ID |
update_pronunciation_dict | Update a pronunciation dictionary |
delete_pronunciation_dict | Delete a pronunciation dictionary |
download_file | Fetch a cloud file by file_id (from text_to_speech or playground history); returns a fresh download_url and a local copy |
get_credit_usage | Credit usage over time (org admins only) |
Advanced configuration
Advanced configuration
Hosted server
Default endpoint:https://mcp.cartesia.ai/mcp. The install flows above use this automatically.You can also connect from API Keys in the Playground. Org admins can opt in to admin tools when approving connect.Local development
To run your own checkout with stdio and env vars (OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, CARTESIA_ADMIN_API_KEY, etc.), see the cartesia-mcp README.Local audio files
Tools likespeech_to_text and voice_change need paths to existing audio files on disk. Pass the full path to each file when prompting your agent.For speech_to_text, use the default batch mode for typical file transcription (mp3, flac, wav, and other common containers). Use mode="stream" for mono PCM WAV (for example TTS output) or raw PCM with encoding and sample_rate.TTS downloads
text_to_speech persists audio to your org’s cloud storage by default (save=true) and returns:file_id— pass todownload_fileto mint a fresh link or download againdownload_url— when link creation succeeds, a time-limited URL (24 hours) you can open in a browser or hand to a hosted agent (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.). If omitted, calldownload_filewith thefile_id.file_path— copy on the machine running MCP. With localuvx, use this path forspeech_to_texton the same machine. On hosted MCP (mcp.cartesia.ai), paths are on the server — usedownload_urlinstead.
save=false for a local-only generation with no cloud fields.API version
Cartesia MCP usesCartesia-Version: 2026-03-01.cartesia-mcp
The official Cartesia MCP Server