Golpo AI — Free AI Whiteboard Animation Videos

TL;DR

TL;DR: Golpo AI turns text prompts, scripts, audio, or documents into whiteboard animation videos in about 2 minutes, free to try, with a Claude Code plugin and MCP server for programmatic use.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Project page: video.golpoai.com — visited and verified
• Source repository: github.com/Golpo-AI/golpo-claude-skill — README read end-to-end
• MCP server: github.com/Golpo-AI/golpo-mcp — verified via GitHub API
• License: MIT (verified via LICENSE file in repo)
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42587850
• Source last checked: 2026-07-21 (commit main branch)

What Is Golpo AI?

Golpo AI is a browser-based tool that generates whiteboard animation videos from text prompts, scripts, audio files, or PDF documents. It is built around a “whiteboard style” — the hand-drawn-on-whiteboard aesthetic commonly used in explainer and educational content — and aims to make it accessible to anyone without design or animation skills.

The product positions itself as free to try, with a usage-based API tier for higher volume. The core workflow is straightforward: paste a prompt or upload a document, choose a visual style and voice, and receive an MP4 within a few minutes.

Claude Code Plugin

The main draw for developers is the official Claude Code plugin (MIT license, v0.2.0). Once installed, you can ask Claude Code to produce a video as part of a larger task:

You:   "Make a 30-second video about why the sky is blue."
Agent: ✓ Submitted (job 1b489b1c…). Polling…
         status=generating … status=generating … status=completed
       Saved to ~/Golpo/videos/20260429-015856_why-is-the-sky-blue_1b489b1c.mp4
       Hosted at https://golpo-podcast-inputs.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/files/894abde8-…mp4

The agent polls the Golpo API until the job completes, then downloads the MP4 to a predictable location. Filenames and hosted URLs are returned verbatim so they can be used in downstream steps.

MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol server is also available at Golpo-AI/golpo-mcp, offering the same generate, list, and download operations for any MCP-compatible client.

Setup Workflow

Prerequisites

• Golpo account (free tier available at video.golpoai.com)
• API key from your Golpo dashboard
• Python 3.8+ (for CLI use or Claude Code plugin)

Option 1 — Claude Code Plugin

# Install the skill into Claude Code
# The README recommends cloning the repo and following the install instructions:
git clone https://github.com/Golpo-AI/golpo-claude-skill.git
cd golpo-claude-skill

The skill registers a golpo helper. After installation, set your GOLPO_API_KEY in the environment and invoke the skill through a natural-language request in Claude Code.

Option 2 — MCP Server

# Install the MCP server
npm install -g @golpoai/mcp-server
# or
pip install golpo-mcp

Configure your MCP client (Cursor, Windsurf, etc.) to use the server with your GOLPO_API_KEY.

Option 3 — Direct API

# Submit a video job
curl -X POST https://api.golpoai.com/v1/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GOLPO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "Why the sky is blue explained in 30 seconds",
    "duration": 30,
    "style": "whiteboard",
    "voice": "en-US-Neural"
  }'

Poll the returned job ID until status: completed, then download the MP4.

Visual Styles and Voices

The README documents several visual styles (refer to the full input matrix in the source). Voices and languages are configurable — the skill supports multiple languages and a selection of Neural voices. Music overlay is also available.

Pricing

From the README pricing section:

• Free tier: available for trying the product
• API tier minimum: $200 USD = 200 credits
• Cost per credit: $1 USD = 1 credit
• Video cost: 2 credits per minute of generated video — approximately $0.50 for a 15-second video, $2 for a one-minute video

Billing is managed server-side through your Golpo dashboard.

Practical Evaluation Checklist

• Free tier works for evaluation without a credit card
• Whiteboard animation style renders cleanly (demo videos on the product page)
• API returns a hosted MP4 URL and a local save path
• Job polling works reliably in the Claude Code plugin smoke test
• MCP server compatible with standard MCP clients
• Pricing is transparent and predictable (per-minute billing)

FAQ

Q: Is there a free tier? A: Yes, the product is free to try. The API tier starts at $200 for 200 credits.

Q: What input formats are supported? A: Text prompts, scripts, audio files, and PDF documents. The agent also supports direct text-to-video from a natural-language request.

Q: How long does generation take? A: The README notes a 2-minute target for the generation loop to complete.

Q: Is the code open source? A: The Claude Code plugin and MCP server are open source under the MIT license. The Golpo service itself is a hosted product.

Q: What is the video output format? A: MP4, downloaded to ~/Golpo/videos/ by the Claude Code plugin, with a hosted URL also returned.

Conclusion

Golpo AI fills a specific niche — fast, free-to-try whiteboard animation — with a well-integrated developer story via its Claude Code plugin and MCP server. The MIT-licensed skill is a clean implementation that handles API key management, job polling, and file download automatically. If your workflow involves producing explainer content programmatically, or if you want to add a video output step to an AI coding agent session, Golpo is worth a look. The API pricing is predictable at $2 per minute, and the free tier is sufficient to evaluate quality before committing.