Claude Code + Grok MCP Server

MCP server that brings xAI's Grok to Claude Code — text generation, brainstorming, code review, web search, X/Twitter search, code execution, file analysis, image generation, image editing, video generation, video editing, vision analysis, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and multi-turn conversations. Supports Grok 4.5 (default), Grok 4.3, Grok 4.20, Grok Build, Imagine (image/video), and Voice models.

Quick Start

Step 1: Get Your API Key

1. Go to console.x.ai
2. Create an account or sign in
3. Generate an API key
4. Copy the key (you'll need it in Step 3)

Step 2: Install Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ - Download here
• Claude Code CLI - Installation guide

Step 3: Install the MCP Server

3.1 Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/wynandw87/claude-code-grok-mcp.git
cd claude-code-grok-mcp

3.2 Install dependencies

macOS / Linux:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Windows:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3.3 Register with Claude Code

Choose your install scope:

Scope	Flag	Who can use it
User (recommended)	-s user	You, in any project
Project	-s project	Anyone who clones this repo
Local	-s local	Only in current directory

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual xAI API key, and use the full path to server.py.

Tip: To get the full path, run this from the cloned directory:

• macOS/Linux: echo "$(pwd)/server.py"
• Windows: echo %cd%\server.py

macOS / Linux:

claude mcp add -s user -t stdio Grok python3 /full/path/to/server.py -e XAI_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY

Windows (CMD):

claude mcp add -s user -t stdio Grok python "C:\full\path\to\server.py" -e "XAI_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY"

Windows (PowerShell):

claude mcp add -s user -t stdio Grok python "C:\full\path\to\server.py" -e "XAI_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY"

Note: Windows uses python while macOS/Linux use python3. Use the full absolute path to where you cloned the repository.

Alternative: Use Setup Scripts

The setup scripts handle dependency installation and registration automatically.

macOS / Linux:

chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh YOUR_API_KEY

Windows (PowerShell):

.\setup.ps1 -ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY

Step 4: Restart Claude Code

Close and reopen Claude Code for the changes to take effect.

Step 5: Verify Installation

claude mcp list

You should see Grok listed with a ✓ Connected status.

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Usage

Once installed, use trigger phrases to invoke Grok:

Trigger	Tool	Example
use grok, ask grok, grok:	Ask	"use grok: what is quantum computing?"
grok review, have grok review	Code Review	"grok review this function for security"
grok brainstorm, grok ideas	Brainstorm	"grok brainstorm ideas for authentication"
grok search, grok web search	Web Search	"grok search for latest React 19 features"
grok search x, grok twitter search	X Search	"grok search x for posts about Claude Code"
grok run code, grok calculate	Run Code	"grok calculate the first 50 prime numbers"
grok upload file	Upload File	"grok upload file at ./report.pdf"
grok generate image, grok image	Generate Image	"grok generate image of a sunset over mountains"
grok edit image, grok modify image	Edit Image	"grok edit image at ./photo.jpg to look like an oil painting"
grok generate video, grok video	Generate Video	"grok generate an 8 second video of ocean waves"
grok edit video, grok modify video	Edit Video	"grok edit ./clip.mp4 to change the sky to sunset"
grok analyze image, grok vision	Analyze Image	"grok analyze image at ./screenshot.png"
grok speak, grok tts, grok say	Text-to-Speech	"grok speak: welcome to the demo"
grok transcribe, grok stt	Speech-to-Text	"grok transcribe ./meeting.mp3"
grok chat, chat with grok	Chat (multi-turn)	"grok chat: let's discuss our API design"
grok sessions	List Sessions	"grok sessions"
end grok session	End Session	"end grok session abc123"

Or ask naturally:

• "Ask Grok what it thinks about this approach"
• "Have Grok review this code for security issues"
• "Brainstorm with Grok about scaling strategies"
• "Grok search the web for the latest news on AI"
• "Grok search X for what people are saying about TypeScript 6"
• "Grok run code to calculate compound interest over 10 years"
• "Upload this CSV to Grok and ask it to summarize the data"
• "Grok generate an image of a futuristic city"
• "Grok edit this image to add a sunset background"
• "Grok generate a 10 second video of a drone flying over a forest"
• "Grok edit this video to swap the red car for a blue one"
• "Grok describe what's in this screenshot"
• "Have Grok read this paragraph aloud and save it as an MP3"
• "Grok transcribe this meeting recording with speaker labels"
• "Start a conversation with Grok about database design"

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Multi-Turn Conversations

Have an ongoing conversation with Grok where it remembers the full context. Uses the xAI Chat Completions API with server-side session management.

Starting a conversation:

grok chat: let's discuss the pros and cons of microservices

Grok responds and returns a session_id. Use it to continue:

grok chat (session abc123): what about event-driven architectures?

Parameters:

• message (required) — the message to send
• session_id (optional) — omit to start a new session, provide to continue an existing one
• model (optional) — override model (first message only)
• system_prompt (optional) — set a system prompt (first message only)

Managing sessions:

• Sessions expire automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity
• Use grok sessions to list active sessions
• Use end grok session <id> to clean up a session

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Web Search

Search the web with real-time results and citations. Grok autonomously searches, browses pages, and synthesizes answers.

Parameters:

• query (required) — the search query or question
• allowed_domains (optional) — only search within these domains (max 5)
• excluded_domains (optional) — exclude these domains from search (max 5)

Results include inline citations with source URLs.

X / Twitter Search

Search X (Twitter) posts. Find tweets, threads, and discussions from specific users or timeframes.

Parameters:

• query (required) — the search query
• allowed_x_handles (optional) — only search posts from these handles (max 10, without @ prefix)
• excluded_x_handles (optional) — exclude posts from these handles (max 10)
• from_date (optional) — start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• to_date (optional) — end date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Code Execution

Execute Python code in Grok's sandboxed environment. Pre-installed libraries include NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, and SciPy.

Parameters:

• prompt (required) — description of what to compute or analyze

Grok writes and executes Python code automatically. Useful for calculations, data analysis, and generating visualizations.

File Upload & Analysis

Upload documents for Grok to analyze. Optionally ask a question about the file immediately.

Parameters:

• file_path (required) — absolute path to the file
• query (optional) — question to ask about the file after upload

Supported file types: txt, md, py, js, ts, java, c, cpp, go, rs, rb, php, css, html, xml, yaml, json, csv, pdf, sql, and more. Max 48MB per file.

Returns a file ID that can be reused with the ask tool's file_ids parameter for follow-up questions.

Image Generation

Generate images using Grok's image models.

Parameters:

• prompt (required) — description of the image to create
• model (optional) — "grok-imagine-image" (default, $0.02/img) or "grok-imagine-image-quality" ($0.05/img, higher quality)
• n (optional, 1-10) — number of images to generate
• aspect_ratio (optional) — "1:1", "16:9", "9:16", "4:3", "3:4", "3:2", "2:3", "2:1", "1:2", "19.5:9", "9:19.5", "20:9", "9:20", "auto"
• resolution (optional) — "1k" (~1024px) or "2k" (~2048px)
• save_path (optional) — where to save the file; auto-saves with timestamp if omitted
• overwrite (optional) — set true to replace an existing file at save_path (default: false)

Images are saved to disk. The default save directory is ./generated-images/, configurable via the GROK_OUTPUT_DIR environment variable.

Image Editing

Edit existing images using natural language with Grok's Imagine models. Supports style transfer, iterative refinement, and content modification.

Parameters:

• prompt (required) — description of the desired edits (e.g., "make it look like an oil painting", "add a sunset background")
• image_path (required) — absolute path to the source image
• model (optional) — "grok-imagine-image" (default, $0.02/img) or "grok-imagine-image-quality" ($0.05/img)
• save_path (optional) — where to save the edited image; auto-saves if omitted
• overwrite (optional) — set true to replace an existing file at save_path (default: false)

Video Generation

Generate videos using Grok's Imagine video model (/v1/videos/generations). Supports text-to-video and image-to-video. Video generation is async and may take 1-5 minutes.

Parameters:

• prompt (required) — description of the video to generate
• duration (optional, 1-15) — video duration in seconds (default: 8)
• aspect_ratio (optional) — "1:1", "16:9" (default), "9:16", "4:3", "3:4", "3:2", "2:3"
• resolution (optional) — "480p" (default), "720p", or "1080p"
• image_path (optional) — source image for image-to-video mode
• model (optional) — "grok-imagine-video" (default, $0.05/sec, text-to-video and image-to-video) or "grok-imagine-video-1.5" ($0.08/sec, higher quality, image-to-video only — image_path is required with it)
• save_path (optional) — where to save the video; auto-saves if omitted
• overwrite (optional) — set true to replace an existing file at save_path (default: false)

For editing an existing video, use the separate edit_video tool.

Videos are saved to disk. The default save directory is ./generated-videos/, configurable via the GROK_VIDEO_OUTPUT_DIR environment variable. Pricing is $0.05 per second of generated video.

Video Editing

Apply natural-language edits to an existing MP4 (H.264 / H.265 / AV1) using /v1/videos/edits.

Parameters (provide exactly one of video_path, video_url, or file_id):

• prompt (required) — natural-language edit instructions (e.g. "give the woman a silver necklace", "change the background to a snowy mountain")
• video_path — absolute path to a local MP4 (uploaded inline as base64)
• video_url — public URL of the source MP4
• file_id — xAI file_id of a previously uploaded video
• model (optional) — only "grok-imagine-video" supports editing ($0.05/sec). grok-imagine-video-1.5 is image-to-video only and is rejected here.
• save_path (optional) — where to save the edited video; auto-saves if omitted
• overwrite (optional) — set true to replace an existing file at save_path (default: false)

Image Analysis (Vision)

Analyze images using Grok's vision capabilities. Uses your configured default model (Grok 4.5, 4.3 and the 4.20 variants all support vision natively).

Parameters:

• image_path (required) — absolute path to the image file
• prompt (optional) — question about the image (default: "Describe this image in detail")
• model (optional) — vision model override: "grok-4.5", "grok-4.3", "grok-4.20-0309-reasoning", etc.

Text-to-Speech

Convert text to natural-sounding speech using Grok's TTS API. Supports inline speech tags for emotion (laughter, whispers, pauses) and 20+ languages. Pricing: $15.00 per 1M characters.

Parameters:

• text (required) — the text to synthesize
• voice (optional) — built-in voice ID (default: eve; see list below) or a custom cloned voice ID (8 lowercase alphanumeric chars)
• language (optional) — language code (default: "en")
• audio_format (optional) — mp3 (default), wav, pcm, mulaw, alaw
• sample_rate (optional) — 8000, 16000, 22050, 24000 (default), 44100, or 48000 Hz
• bitrate (optional, MP3 only) — 32, 64, 96, 128 (default), or 192 kbps
• save_path (optional) — where to save the audio; auto-saves to ./generated-audio/ with a timestamp if omitted
• overwrite (optional) — set true to replace an existing file at save_path (default: false)

Built-in voices:

Voice	Description
ara	Warm female
eve	Energetic female (default)
leo	Authoritative male
rex	Confident male
sal	Neutral

To switch the default voice permanently, see Changing the Default Voice. To override for a single call, pass voice (e.g. "grok speak with voice rex: ...").

Custom cloned voices: xAI supports voice cloning from a short reference clip. Create one via the xAI Console (free tier: up to 30 voices) or the POST /v1/custom-voices API (Enterprise plan). Custom voice IDs are 8-char lowercase alphanumeric (e.g. nlbqfwie) and can be passed to text_to_speech directly in place of a built-in voice. Currently US-only (excluding Illinois).

Speech-to-Text

Transcribe audio files using Grok's STT API (/v1/stt). Supports 24 languages, per-channel transcription, speaker diarization, and keyterm boosting. Pricing: $0.10/hr (REST), $0.20/hr (streaming).

Parameters (provide exactly one of audio_path or audio_url):

• audio_path — absolute path to a local audio file
• audio_url — public URL of the audio
• language (optional) — ISO language code (e.g. "en", "es"); auto-detected if omitted
• format (optional, bool) — apply text formatting (punctuation, casing)
• diarize (optional, bool) — speaker diarization (per-speaker labels)
• multichannel (optional, bool) — per-channel transcription
• channels (optional, int) — channel count for raw/headerless audio
• keyterm (optional, array of strings, max 100) — boost recognition for jargon / proper nouns
• filler_words (optional, bool) — include "um", "uh", etc. in the transcript

Supported audio formats: mp3, wav, flac, m4a, ogg, opus, aac, webm, mp4, mpga, mpeg, wma. Max 500MB per file.

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Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
XAI_API_KEY	Your xAI API key (required)	—
GROK_OUTPUT_DIR	Directory for auto-saved generated images	./generated-images
GROK_VIDEO_OUTPUT_DIR	Directory for auto-saved generated videos	./generated-videos
GROK_AUDIO_OUTPUT_DIR	Directory for auto-saved TTS audio output	./generated-audio
GROK_TIMEOUT	Default timeout in seconds for API calls	180

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Reliability Behavior

File safety. Tools that write output (generate_image, edit_image, generate_video, edit_video, text_to_speech) never overwrite an existing file. Pass overwrite: true to replace one. Writes are atomic — an interrupted write leaves the original file untouched rather than a truncated one.

Input validation. Files you pass in (image_path, video_path, audio_path, file_path) are checked for extension and size before being read and sent to xAI. Images are capped at 20MB (.jpg/.jpeg/.png/.gif/.webp/.bmp), source videos at 100MB (.mp4), audio at 500MB, uploads at 48MB.

Retries. HTTP 429 and 503 are retried up to 3 times with exponential backoff, honoring Retry-After. Ambiguous 5xx responses are retried only on read-only requests (status polls, downloads) — never on generation calls, where a duplicate request could bill you twice.

Cancellation. Video generation and editing poll for up to 10 minutes. Cancelling the request in Claude Code stops the poll within about a second, and the server sends no response for a cancelled request. The job itself continues on xAI's side and is still billed — the request_id is logged to stderr so you can retrieve it. On Windows, cancellation is not detected mid-poll and the call runs to completion or timeout.

Recoverability. Every video error message includes the request_id, so a job that outlives the poll timeout can still be fetched manually from the xAI API.

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Changing the Default Model

The default model is grok-4.5 (xAI's flagship, 500k context window).

1. See available models

Run from the claude-code-grok-mcp folder:

macOS / Linux:

python3 server.py config --list-models

Windows:

python server.py config --list-models

Output:

Available Grok models:
--------------------------------------------------
  grok-4.5 *
    Grok 4.5 flagship (500k context, $2/$6 per 1M tokens) - Default
  grok-4.3
    Grok 4.3 (1M context, $1.25/$2.50 per 1M tokens)
  grok-4.20-0309-reasoning
    Grok 4.20 with reasoning (1M context, $1.25/$2.50)
  grok-4.20-0309-non-reasoning
    Grok 4.20 without reasoning (1M context, $1.25/$2.50)
  grok-4.20-multi-agent-0309
    Grok 4.20 multi-agent (2M context, $1.25/$2.50)
  grok-build-0.1
    Grok Build 0.1 coding model (256k context, $1/$2)
  grok-imagine-image
    Imagine image gen + editing (text,image→image, $0.02/img)
  grok-imagine-image-quality
    Imagine higher-quality image gen + editing ($0.05/img)
  grok-imagine-video
    Imagine video generation (text,image,video→video, $0.05/sec)
  grok-imagine-video-1.5
    Imagine video 1.5 (image→video ONLY - no text-to-video, no editing; $0.08/sec)

* = currently selected

2. Set your preferred model

macOS / Linux:

python3 server.py config --model grok-4.20-0309-reasoning

Windows:

python server.py config --model grok-4.20-0309-reasoning

3. Restart Claude Code

Close and reopen Claude Code for the change to take effect.

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Changing the Default Voice

The default text-to-speech voice is eve (energetic female). You can switch it permanently with the same config CLI used for models. You can also override the default per-call by passing voice to the text_to_speech tool — e.g. "grok speak with voice rex: ...".

1. See available voices

Run from the claude-code-grok-mcp folder:

macOS / Linux:

python3 server.py config --list-voices

Windows:

python server.py config --list-voices

Output:

Available TTS voices:
--------------------------------------------------
  ara
    Warm female voice
  eve *
    Energetic female voice (default)
  leo
    Authoritative male voice
  rex
    Confident male voice
  sal
    Neutral voice

* = currently selected

2. Set your preferred voice

macOS / Linux:

python3 server.py config --voice rex

Windows:

python server.py config --voice rex

3. Restart Claude Code

Close and reopen Claude Code for the change to take effect.

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Troubleshooting

Fix API Key

If you entered the wrong API key, remove and reinstall:

claude mcp remove Grok

Then reinstall using the command from Step 3.3 above (use the same scope you originally installed with).

MCP Server Not Showing Up

Check if the server is installed:

claude mcp list

If not listed, follow Step 3 to install it.

Connection Errors

1. Verify your API key is valid at console.x.ai

2. Check Python version (needs 3.10+):

   • macOS/Linux: python3 --version
   • Windows: python --version

3. Ensure requests is installed:

   • macOS/Linux: pip3 install requests
   • Windows: pip install requests

View Current Configuration

Run from the claude-code-grok-mcp folder:

macOS / Linux:

python3 server.py config --show

Windows:

python server.py config --show

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How It Works

This MCP server uses the xAI REST API directly to communicate with Grok models. No SDK required — just the requests library for HTTP calls. Text-based tools use the Responses API (/v1/responses) with server-side tool support, multi-turn conversations use the Chat Completions API (/v1/chat/completions) with server-side session management, and image/vision tools use their dedicated endpoints.

Tools provided:

Tool	API	Model
ask	Responses	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
code_review	Responses	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
brainstorm	Responses	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
search_web	Responses + web_search	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
search_x	Responses + x_search	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
run_code	Responses + code_interpreter	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
upload_file	Files + Responses	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
generate_image	Image Generations	Configurable (default: grok-imagine-image)
edit_image	Image Edits	Configurable (default: grok-imagine-image)
generate_video	Video Generations (/v1/videos/generations)	Configurable (default: grok-imagine-video)
edit_video	Video Edits (/v1/videos/edits)	Configurable (default: grok-imagine-video)
analyze_image	Chat Completions	Configurable (default: your configured model)
text_to_speech	TTS (/v1/tts)	Grok Voice (configurable voice, default: eve)
speech_to_text	STT (/v1/stt)	Grok Voice
chat	Chat Completions	Configurable (default: grok-4.5)
list_sessions	— (local)	—
end_session	— (local)	—
server_info	— (local)	—

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Contributing

Pull requests welcome! Please keep it simple and beginner-friendly.

Tests

python3 test_server.py

Covers input validation, overwrite protection, atomic writes, model-config fallback, retry/backoff, session windowing and eviction, and cancellation handling. No network access or API key required — all HTTP is stubbed.

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License

MIT - Use freely!

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Made for the Claude Code community