How to Use Claude with Niche King — Complete Setup Guide
Connect your Niche King account to Claude (the AI assistant from Anthropic) and you'll be able to run your entire YouTube workflow inside a chat — research, scripts, thumbnails, weekly planning, video brainstorming — all using your real niche profile, voice samples, and channel data. No more copy-pasting between tabs. No more re-explaining what your channel is about every conversation.
This guide walks you through it from zero. If you can install an app and copy-paste a couple of lines, you can do this. Allow about 10 minutes total.
Why connect Claude to Niche King?
Here's what changes the moment you finish setup.
Before: You open Niche King. You generate titles. You copy them out. You open Claude. You paste them in. You explain what your channel is. You ask Claude to refine. You paste back. You start a new chat tomorrow and explain everything from scratch.
After: You open Claude. You say "Generate 10 title ideas for my next video about [topic]." Claude already knows your niche, your audience, your slogan, your brand voice, your custom rules, and the patterns from your competitor research — because it's pulling them live from Niche King through a secure connection. The titles save back to your dashboard. Tomorrow you say "What should I work on today?" and Claude looks at your schedule, your pipeline, and your recent activity, and tells you the one most important thing to do.
The 12 AI tools you already use in the Niche King app — Titles, Thumbnails, Scripts, Descriptions, Hooks, CTAs, Channel Optimization, Podcast Prep, Newsletter, Clip Strategist, Community Posts, Reoptimize — all become available to Claude as commands. Plus 30+ more workflow tools that don't exist in the app: weekly planning, content audits, full video packages, batch generation, and more.
Bottom line: It turns Claude into your personal YouTube strategist that knows your channel as well as you do.
What you need before you start
Three things:
- An active Niche King subscription on a tier that includes API access. AI YouTube Strategist ($497/yr), Group Coaching ($497/mo), and The Inner Circle ($997/mo) all include unlimited API access.
- Claude Desktop installed on your Mac or PC. It's free. Download from claude.ai/download. You don't need a paid Claude subscription for this to work, but a Claude Pro plan ($20/mo from Anthropic) gives you longer conversations and is worth it if you'll be using this daily.
- About 10 minutes and the ability to copy-paste a short config snippet into a settings file.
You don't need to know how to code. You don't need a developer. You don't need to install Node or Python. The hosted setup is two copy-pastes.
Step 1 — Generate your Niche King API key
Your API key is the secret credential that lets Claude talk to your Niche King account. Treat it like a password. Anyone with this key can use your AI tools and rack up your usage, so don't share it.
- Log in to app.nicheking.video.
- In the left sidebar, scroll down to Settings and click API Keys.
- Click the gold Generate New Key button.
- Give the key a label so you remember what it's for —
Claude Desktopworks fine. The label is just for you; it doesn't affect anything. - Click Create Key.
- A long string starting with
sk-nk-will appear once. Copy it immediately. You won't be able to see the full key again after you close the dialog — only the first few characters. If you lose it, you'll have to revoke the key and generate a new one.
If you have multiple YouTube channels in Niche King, the key starts off scoped to your currently active project. You can switch which project the key is "looking at" later from inside Claude itself — more on that below.
Step 2 — Install Claude Desktop
If you don't already have it: go to claude.ai/download, pick Mac or Windows, run the installer, sign in with your Anthropic account. Done.
If you already have Claude Desktop installed, make sure it's up to date. The Niche King connection requires a recent build — older versions don't support custom integrations. Open Claude Desktop, click the menu in the top bar, and check for updates if you see the option.
Step 3 — Connect Niche King to Claude Desktop
Five clicks. No config files, no terminal.
- Open Claude Desktop.
- Click your profile icon (bottom-left) → Settings → Connectors (sometimes shown as "Integrations" or "Custom MCP servers").
- Click Add custom connector.
- Fill in three fields:
- Name:
Niche King - Server URL:
https://mcp.nicheking.video/api/mcp - API Key: paste your
sk-nk-...key from Step 1
- Name:
- Click Save, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop (
Cmd+Qon Mac, right-click the tray icon → Quit on Windows).
You should now see a small tools/plug icon in the chat input area indicating Niche King tools are available. If you don't see a Connectors option in Settings at all, your Claude Desktop is out of date — update it from the app menu and try again.
Step 4 — Verify the connection works
Open a new chat in Claude Desktop and type:
What's my niche profile?
If the connection is working, Claude will pause for a second, show a small indicator that it's calling a Niche King tool, and respond with your real niche details — focused niche, slogan, target audience, keywords, the works.
If Claude says something like "I don't have access to that" or "Could you share your niche profile?", the connection isn't working. Most common causes:
- API key was pasted with extra spaces — go re-copy it cleanly from
app.nicheking.video/api-keysand replace it in the config. - Claude Desktop wasn't fully quit and reopened — do that.
- Config file has a syntax error (extra comma, missing quote). Paste the contents into jsonlint.com to check. Fix and save.
- Your API key was revoked. Generate a fresh one in the app.
Once it's working, try one more:
Generate 5 title ideas for my next video.
Claude will use your real niche, run the title generator, grade each option, and show you the results — same quality as the in-app Titles tool, except now you can iterate in conversation. Push back on any title and Claude will refine it. The titles are saved to your Niche King history automatically.
The 12 AI tools you now control by chat
Anything you can do in the Niche King app, you can ask Claude to do for you. Here's the cheat sheet of what to say.
| Tool | What to say to Claude |
|---|---|
| Titles | "Generate 10 title ideas about [topic]" or "Generate 5 Shorts titles about [topic]" |
| Thumbnails | "Design a thumbnail for my video on [topic]" — Claude will load your saved emotion photos automatically |
| Long Scripts | "Write a long-form script for [video idea]" or "Make my version of this video: [paste YouTube URL]" |
| Shorts Scripts | "Write a 60-second Shorts script about [topic]" |
| Hooks | "Generate 3 opening hooks for [video idea]" |
| CTAs | "Generate 5 CTAs for my channel" |
| Descriptions | "Write the YouTube description for [video title]" |
| Channel Optimization | "Write a new About-section description" or "Suggest 10 playlists for my channel" or "Design a channel banner" |
| Reoptimize | "Reoptimize my video [paste YouTube URL] — new title, thumbnail, and description" |
| Podcast Prep | "Prep a podcast interview with [guest name] on [topic]" |
| Video Newsletter | "Turn this script into a newsletter: [paste]" or "Make a newsletter from this YouTube video: [URL]" |
| Clip Strategist | "Find the best Shorts clips in this video: [paste YouTube URL]" |
| Community Posts | "Generate 3 community posts to drive engagement this week" |
Every output is graded automatically (A+ through F across 5–7 dimensions: niche relevance, hook strength, brand voice, etc.) and saved to your Niche King history so you can come back to it later from the web app.
Slash commands — the killer feature
Slash commands are pre-built workflows that combine multiple tools into one request. Type / in Claude Desktop and you'll see them in a menu. These are the ones to memorize.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/plan-my-week | Pulls your schedule, video pipeline, ideas, and series. Claude builds a day-by-day production plan. |
/video-package | Pick a video idea. Claude generates titles, script, description, hooks, AND thumbnail strategy in one shot. Returns a structured production brief. |
/content-audit | Scans your videos, ideas, schedule, niche, and scorecard. Identifies your biggest content gap and what to do about it. |
/brainstorm | Open-ended ideation session. Claude knows your niche, suggests fresh angles based on what's working in your research data. |
/optimize-titles | Iterative title workshop — generates a batch, you give feedback, it refines, repeat. |
/meet-my-channel | Onboarding command. Claude introduces itself to your channel — loads your full niche, scorecard, recent activity, and saved memory notes. Run this once when you first connect. |
/repurpose-video | One YouTube video in → Shorts clips, newsletter, and community posts out. |
/title-workshop | Like /optimize-titles but with grading bars shown for each title so you can see exactly why one outperforms another. |
/thumbnail-brainstorm | Multi-concept thumbnail exploration before you commit to one design. |
/series-planner | Plan a recurring series — Claude generates episode list, scripts framework, and posting cadence. |
Run /meet-my-channel first thing after setup. It primes Claude with everything it needs and tells Claude to remember your preferences as the conversation continues.
Prompts that work especially well
Steal these. Tweak the bracketed parts.
Daily action recommendation
What's the one most important thing I should work on today?
Claude calls the what_next tool, looks at your schedule + pipeline + recent activity, and gives you ONE focused next action. Better than scrolling your dashboard.
Weekly batch generation
I'm batch-filming on Saturday. Generate scripts for every video scheduled to publish in the next 14 days.
Claude pulls your schedule, identifies the videos, and generates titles + scripts + descriptions in parallel. Auto-detects Long vs Short for each.
Performance-driven coaching
Based on my last 30 days of activity, what's working and what's not? What should I change next month?
Claude calls get_performance, analyzes your monthly report data + recent generations, and gives you a coaching insight you can act on.
Refinement on a previous generation
I don't like the third title from earlier. Make it more curiosity-driven and remove the brand name.
Claude calls refine on the previous tool run, applies your feedback, and saves a new linked version. You can iterate forever without starting over.
Memory: teach Claude your preferences
I prefer titles under 60 characters. Save that as a preference.
Claude calls save_note with category=preference and stores it. Future generations will respect it. You can have up to 100 notes per channel — preferences, decisions, feedback, style notes, brand voice quirks, anything.
To see what Claude remembers: "What notes do you have on my channel?" To remove one: "Forget the note about [topic]."
Multiple channels? Switch projects from chat
If you run more than one YouTube channel in Niche King, you can switch which channel Claude is working on without leaving the chat:
What channels do I have?
Claude calls list_projects and shows you all your channels with the active one marked.
Switch to my [channel name] project.
Claude calls switch_project. From this point on, every tool call uses that channel's data — niche, voice samples, custom rules, history, everything.
This is way faster than logging into the web app, switching channels, and re-running the work.
Common questions
Is this safe? Can Claude see my private data?
Claude only accesses what your API key allows — your own Niche King account data, scoped to whichever project the key is currently active on. It cannot see other Niche King users' data, your YouTube account credentials, your Google account, or anything outside Niche King. The connection is encrypted (HTTPS). You can revoke the key at any time from app.nicheking.video/api-keys and Claude will instantly lose access.
Does this cost extra?
The integration itself is free with any Niche King subscription that includes API access. You'll see usage counted in your dashboard the same as if you used the tools in the web app — every Claude call hits your monthly tool-run limit. Claude Desktop is also free; Claude Pro from Anthropic ($20/mo) gives you longer conversations and is worth it if you use it daily.
Does my work save back to Niche King?
Yes. Every tool call writes to the same tool_runs history table the web app uses. Open app.nicheking.video/history and you'll see everything Claude generated, with the same A+ through F grading and copy-back-to-clipboard buttons. It also saves to my-videos, schedule, and other tables when you ask Claude to update them.
Can I use this on my phone?
Claude has a mobile app, but custom MCP integrations on mobile are limited as of this writing. Use Claude Desktop on a laptop for the full experience. Claude on web also doesn't yet support custom integrations — you need the Desktop app.
What if I want to use this with Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code, or another tool?
The same API key works with all of them. Open app.nicheking.video/api-keys and you'll see setup instructions for 8 different clients. The configuration is similar to Claude Desktop in each case.
My API key got compromised. What do I do?
Go to app.nicheking.video/api-keys, click Revoke next to the compromised key, then click Generate New Key to make a fresh one. Update your Claude Desktop config with the new key. The old key stops working immediately on revoke.
Troubleshooting quick fixes
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Claude says "I don't have access to your niche" | Connection isn't established. Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop (don't just close the window). |
| Tool calls return "Invalid API key" | Re-copy the key from the API Keys page. Watch for trailing spaces. Paste it back into the Connectors panel and restart Claude Desktop. |
| Tool calls return "Rate limit exceeded" | API keys are limited to 500 calls/day. Wait until midnight UTC or contact support if you need a higher limit. |
| Generated content is generic / not on-niche | Run /meet-my-channel to re-prime Claude. Then ask. Claude works better with the niche context loaded fresh. |
| Slash commands don't appear | Slash commands require recent Claude Desktop. Update Claude Desktop. |
| Prefer to manage configs in a file? | If you're a developer who'd rather keep MCP setup in a JSON config (e.g. for dotfile sync), the file-based snippet is shown on your API Keys page at app.nicheking.video/api-keys. Most creators should stick with the Connectors panel above — it's the same connection either way. |
Bonus — Claude Code (for developers)
If you're a developer and use Claude Code (the CLI tool) instead of Claude Desktop, the setup is one terminal command:
claude mcp add nicheking https://mcp.nicheking.video/api/mcp \
--header "Authorization: Bearer sk-nk-YOUR-KEY-HERE"
Replace the key with your actual API key. Verify with claude mcp list. From there, every Niche King tool is available in any Claude Code session — handy for scripting bulk operations or wiring Niche King into your dev workflow.
Next steps
- Run
/meet-my-channeland let Claude introduce itself to your channel. - Save 3-5 preferences with
save_noteso Claude learns your style. - Try
/plan-my-weekon a Sunday night to set up your week. - Try
/video-packageon your next planned video — full production brief in 60 seconds. - Bookmark this guide. Come back when you forget a slash command.
The integration gets more useful the more you use it because Claude learns your channel as you go. Treat it like a strategist you're training, not a tool you're using.
— The Niche King Team