Use Hookova from your code

The parts that you can use

There are four parts. This list shows them in the usual order of use. We support the MCP server. The command line is the same server in a different mode. The MCP server and the command line both use the API.

The Hookova MCP server

The Hookova MCP server is a local server that uses stdio. It gives an assistant 45 tools. With these tools, an assistant can use your saves, your inspiration boards and their hook guides. It can publish to your connected accounts. It can also get free sound effects and music. Bun runs the server from one TypeScript file. The server uses the same routes as the apps. The setup guide gives the installation, all tools and their arguments, other clients, environment variables and troubleshooting. This section gives only an overview.

The installation has three steps. A person uses the setup guide. An agent uses the runbook. Both have the same commands. This page does not show the commands. Thus they cannot become incorrect here.

CLI guide

Use hookova in your terminal. With it, you can sign in, look at your saves, export a project guide and publish finished media. The name hokova also works. Both names run the same commands. You do not need an AI client.

Install the CLI

Download the Hookova zip and extract it. Then run these commands in its folder. If you have an older installation, first extract the latest zip into your installed folder. The CLI commands need v1.7.0 or later.

bun install
bun link
hookova --help

If the terminal shows “command not found”, add the directory from bun pm bin -g to your PATH. On macOS or Linux, run export PATH="$(bun pm bin -g):$PATH". Add that line to your shell profile, for all new terminals. On Windows, add that directory to your user Path. Then open a new terminal. Do not delete the extracted folder, because the commands use it. To get the latest release, run hookova update. Your next command uses the new version. Restart all MCP clients that are open to load it.

These are typical commands, in the usual order for a first session:

# who am I, what plan, what's left today
hookova status

# the boards, then one board's hook guide written to a folder with its stills
hookova projects
hookova guide '{"projectId":"<id>","dir":"./hook"}'

# save a link, then search for it
hookova save '{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/…"}'
hookova saves '{"q":"sourdough","limit":5}'

# what a post can go to, then a draft
hookova accounts
hookova publish '{"files":["./final.mp4"],"caption":"…","draft":true}'

hookova login
# Open this URL to approve (Chrome or Edge): https://www.hookova.com/connect/mcp?port=…&state=…
# …waits, up to five minutes, then prints {"connected":true, …account, "savedTo":…} and exits 0

Installation by an agent

www.hookova.com/install/mcp gives the full installation as text/plain. It is written for the program that controls the shell, not for a person. It gives the zip to download and the folder for it. It gives the registration line with the absolute path, and the JSON block for other clients. It also gives the shell commands to use until the client restarts. Tell an assistant “install www.hookova.com/install/mcp”. The assistant gets the file and does the steps. At the end, you do the sign-in in the browser. The file is not in /api/. Thus a program that obeys robots.txt can read it.

curl -s https://www.hookova.com/install/mcp

The board pages use the same route. Each inspiration project has an AI prompt button. It gives one block of text to paste. The block installs the server, signs in and exports the hook guide of that board. Then the work continues in the same session.

Sound effects and music

Two modules of the server give sound effects and music. Neither module needs an account. With them, an agent that makes a video can get its own audio. For example: “find a boom and put it in ./sfx” or “find calm piano music, less than one minute long, for ./music”. On the local server, each download tool gives the absolute path of the MP3 file that it wrote. ffmpeg or an editor can use this path directly. The hosted server at www.hookova.com/mcp cannot write to your disk. Thus it does not have the four download tools. Each result from its search tools and its get tools gives the URL of the MP3 file.

You do not install these modules separately. Install the Hookova MCP server one time, with the setup guide. The sound and music tools then operate before you sign in. The exception is recommend_music.

The HTTP API

One backend serves the web app, the iOS app, the macOS app, the Chrome extension and the MCP server. All of them use the same authentication. In the browser, this is a NextAuth session cookie. Other clients send an Authorization: Bearer header with the JWE from POST /api/auth/token. A bearer token identifies the user. It does not limit what the client can do. The MCP server is the supported client, and we designed the routes for it. This list shows the routes that it uses. Use them if you write your own client.

# mint a bearer (30 days)
curl -s https://www.hookova.com/api/auth/token \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"email":"you@example.com","password":"…"}'
# → {"token":"…", …}

# use it
curl -s https://www.hookova.com/api/saves -H "authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Versions and downloads

The server is a zip of plain TypeScript. bun install gets its two dependencies. The version on the zip is the same as the version in its package.json. We do not release a new zip until the two versions are the same.

The iOS app, the macOS app and the Chrome extension are on the Downloads page.

Frequently asked questions