Sandcastles MCP

Turn Claude into a
social media machine

Give Claude the social media data it needs to actually generate winning content.
Begin Setup (2 Mins)
Try this

“Deep analyze the top 50 biggest outliers from my niche and breakdown the top performing topics, hooks, formats, and scriptwriting tactics. Visualize in dynamic HTML.”

/videos-watchlist/analyze/topic/hooks-watchlist/formats-watchlist
  • Deep analyze any video and understand why it went viral
  • Bulk analyze the top performing outliers from your niche
  • Build an AI Content Strategist that finds hidden patterns in your best videos
  • Research the hooks, formats, and scriptwriting tactics winning in your niche
  • Build an Outlier Detection System that alerts you anytime something goes viral
  • Compare your video scripts to other top performers in your niche (find out why yours failed)

Your AI is bad at making content

AI platforms get smarter with data. Your version of Claude can't easily access social media data. That's why the ideas, scripts, and hooks it produces are not good. The Sandcastles MCP feeds Claude the transcript, idea, topic, format, hook, scripts, and all other performance data for winning outlier videos so it can actually produce winning content.

Get the top outliers

Ask for the best-performing videos across the channels you track, ranked by how far each one beat its own creator's baseline.

Research hooks and formats

Surface the hooks, formats and topics working on your subject right now, and the patterns behind why they land.

Replicate what works

Turn those patterns into a script in the same conversation, so you reproduce what wins instead of guessing.

Setting Up The MCP

Five steps, about two minutes, and you only do it once. Everything below matches the walkthrough in our help docs.
  1. 1
    STEP 1

    Download the MCP Plugin from Sandcastles

    1. Log into sandcastles.ai.
    2. Open Settings in the left-hand sidebar of Sandcastles.
    3. Click Connectors.
    4. You'll see an API section and an MCP section — you want the MCP one.
    5. Click Download Plugin vX.X.X and keep the .zip handy.
    Log in at
    https://www.sandcastles.aiOpen
    Note
    The MCP is available on Pro, Visionary and Titan. On Starter, upgrade first under Settings → Subscription.
  2. 2
    STEP 2

    Install the plugin in Claude

    1. Install the Claude desktop app from claude.com/download — the plugin can't be added from the browser chat.
    2. In the desktop app: Customize → Plugins (bottom-left) → Add (upper right) → Upload Plugin.
    3. Drag the Sandcastles plugin .zip into the drop area and press Upload.
    4. Once it loads, press Connectors in the middle of the Plugins page — not Connectors in the bottom-left nav yet — and click Install next to it.
    5. An Add custom connector window opens with the name and URL already filled in.
    6. Leave Advanced settings alone. A standard setup needs nothing there.
    7. Click Add.
    Connector URL (pre-filled)
    https://mcp.sandcastles.ai/
    Note
    The Add button can look like it did nothing. That's expected — the connector registers in the background. If you try to add it again, Claude will tell you it's already there.
  3. 3
    STEP 3

    Log in with your Sandcastles account

    1. Click Connectors in the lower-left nav.
    2. Find Sandcastles (Custom) in the list. The Status column shows a Connect button — click it.
    3. A browser tab opens asking you to log in to Sandcastles. Enter your credentials to authorize the connection. You only do this once.
    4. You'll see a Connected message. Close that tab and go back to the desktop app.
    How to know it worked: Sandcastles (Custom) now shows a check in the Status column.
    Note
    If there's one place to get stuck, it's here. When the login tab doesn't appear, it's almost always a pop-up blocker or a corporate Claude account with connectors restricted.
  4. 4
    STEP 4

    Set the tool permissions

    1. Click your connected Sandcastles connector to see its Tool permissions — these decide what Claude is allowed to do through Sandcastles.
    2. Pick a setting for each tool. There are four:
    Always allow
    Claude uses the tool without asking.
    Needs approval
    Claude asks you every time.
    Blocked
    Claude can't use the tool at all.
    Custom
    Finer-grained control, rarely needed.
    Note
    For the smoothest experience, set all of them to Always allow.
  5. 5
    STEP 5

    Start using it in chat

    1. Switch to the Home or Code tab. Home → Cowork is the one we'd recommend.
    2. Ask for what you want in plain language. Claude works out which Sandcastles skills to use on its own.
    3. For more control, use a / command to call a specific skill directly.
    Try asking

    “Can you give me a list of the top 10 performing videos from my watchlist in the last 7 days? Let me know if there are any that haven't yet been analyzed that we need to analyze.”

Stuck somewhere?

Email support@sandcastles.ai and we'll walk you through it.

Watch a video demo of the MCP installation

Social media skills included

Claude picks these on its own when you ask in plain language. Type the / command when you want a specific one. Each links to its own walkthrough.
/analyze

Deep-analyze any video and get the breakdown behind its performance.

/channels-add

Add creators to the watchlist you research against.

/channels-recap

Catch up on what a channel has been posting and how it did.

/channels-search

Search across the channels you're already tracking.

/channels-suggest

Find creators worth watching in your niche.

/topic

See which topics are actually working right now.

/formats-watchlist

Pull the video formats winning across your watchlist.

/hooks-watchlist

Pull the hooks that are landing across your watchlist.

/video-suggest

Get video ideas built from what's overperforming.

/videos-watchlist

Pull the top-performing videos from your watchlist.

Workflows worth stealing

Once it's connected, these are the things people build first. Each video walks through the whole setup.

A full end-to-end content system

The whole thing start to finish — research, ideas, scripts — running as one system in a single chat.

Watch the walkthrough

Deep-analyze any channel

Point Claude at a creator and it comes back with a visual report on what's carrying their channel.

Watch the walkthrough

Build a video idea pipeline

Auto-detect the best performers in your niche and turn them into a running list of ideas.

Watch the walkthrough

Build a hook machine

Write and remix hooks against the ones already proven to work on your subject.

Watch the walkthrough
More of them, plus a breakdown of every skill, live in the MCP section of help.sandcastles.ai.

Setup questions

Contact Us →
Which plans include the MCP?

Pro, Visionary and Titan. If you're on Starter you can upgrade under Settings → Subscription and the plugin download appears straight away.

Do I need the Claude desktop app?

Yes. Plugins can only be installed from the desktop app — you can't add one from the browser-based chat. You can download it at claude.com/download.

I clicked (Add) on the connector and nothing happened.

That's expected. The window can look like it did nothing while the connector registers in the background. If you try adding it a second time, Claude will tell you it's already there.

The login tab never opened.

This is the most common sticking point. It's usually a pop-up blocker, or a corporate Claude account with custom connectors restricted. Allow pop-ups for Claude and click Connect again.

How do I know it actually worked?

In Connectors, the Sandcastles (Custom) row shows a check in the Status column. From there, ask Claude for the top videos on your watchlist and it should come back with real data.

Do I have to log in every time?

No. You authorize the connection once and Claude keeps it. You'd only reconnect if you disconnect it yourself.

Which tool permissions should I pick?

Always allow, for all of them. Needs approval works, but Claude will stop and ask you mid-task every time it wants data.

Something else is broken.

Email support@sandcastles.ai and we'll get you sorted.

Stop letting your AI make slop content

The MCP comes with Pro, Visionary and Titan. Connect it once and Claude gets a social media brain that actually works.
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