Qwen3-VL Video Understanding MCP Server (Blaxel)
An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables Claude and other AI agents to analyze videos and images using Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct deployed on Blaxel.
Features
- Video Analysis: Analyze videos via URL with custom prompts
- Image Analysis: Analyze images via URL
- Video Summarization: Generate summaries in different styles
- Text Extraction: Extract on-screen text and transcribe speech
- Video Q&A: Ask specific questions about video content
- H100 GPUs: Fast inference on NVIDIA H100 GPUs via Blaxel
Architecture
Claude/Agent → MCP Server → Blaxel API → Qwen3-VL (H100 GPUs)
Prerequisites
- Blaxel Account: Sign up at blaxel.ai
- Blaxel CLI: Install the Blaxel CLI
- ffmpeg: Required for video frame extraction
- Python 3.10+
Quick Start
1. Deploy the Model to Blaxel
cat << 'EOF' | blaxel apply -f -
apiVersion: blaxel.ai/v1alpha1
kind: Model
metadata:
name: qwen-qwen3-vl-8b-instruct
displayName: Qwen/Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct
spec:
enabled: true
policies: []
flavors:
- name: nvidia-h100/x4
type: gpu
runtime:
model: Qwen/Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct
type: hf_private_endpoint
image: ''
args: []
endpointName: qwenqwen3-vl-8b-instruct-nvidia-h100
organization: adamanz
integrationConnections:
- huggingface-4s2m2h
EOF
Or use the provided config:
blaxel apply -f blaxel-model.yaml
2. Get Your API Key
blaxel auth token
3. Install the MCP Server
cd qwen-video-blaxel-mcp
pip install -e .
Or with uv:
uv pip install -e .
4. Configure Environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Blaxel API key
5. Add to Claude Desktop
Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"qwen3-video-blaxel": {
"command": "uv",
"args": [
"--directory",
"/path/to/qwen-video-blaxel-mcp",
"run",
"server.py"
],
"env": {
"BLAXEL_API_KEY": "your-blaxel-api-key",
"BLAXEL_MODEL": "qwen-qwen3-vl-8b-instruct"
}
}
}
}
6. Restart Claude Desktop
The qwen3-video-blaxel tools should now be available.
Available Tools
analyze_video
Analyze a video with a custom prompt.
analyze_video(
video_url="https://example.com/video.mp4",
question="What happens in this video?",
max_frames=8
)
analyze_image
Analyze an image with a custom prompt.
analyze_image(
image_url="https://example.com/image.jpg",
question="Describe this image"
)
summarize_video
Generate a video summary.
summarize_video(
video_url="https://example.com/video.mp4",
style="detailed" # brief, standard, or detailed
)
video_qa
Ask specific questions about a video.
video_qa(
video_url="https://example.com/video.mp4",
question="How many people appear?"
)
extract_video_text
Extract text and transcribe speech.
extract_video_text(
video_url="https://example.com/presentation.mp4"
)
check_configuration
Check the Blaxel API configuration.
list_capabilities
List all server capabilities.
Configuration
| Environment Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
BLAXEL_API_KEY | Your Blaxel API key | Required |
BLAXEL_API_URL | Blaxel API URL | https://api.blaxel.ai/v1 |
BLAXEL_MODEL | Model name | qwen-qwen3-vl-8b-instruct |
Requirements
- ffmpeg: Required for video frame extraction
# macOS brew install ffmpeg # Ubuntu/Debian apt install ffmpeg
Supported Formats
Video: mp4, webm, mov, avi
Image: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, webp
Comparison: Modal vs Blaxel
| Feature | Modal | Blaxel |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Qwen2.5-VL-7B | Qwen3-VL-8B |
| GPU | A100 | H100 |
| Pricing | Pay-per-second | Subscription |
| Cold Start | ~30-60s | Faster |
| Setup | Deploy code | Apply YAML |
License
MIT