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openclip-remove-background

Design & creation

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Updated 10-20 16:12

About this skill

OpenClip: background removal

remove_background takes an image and returns a transparent PNG with the background cut out. It is FREE, it needs an OpenClip account but no subscription and no credits. There are no parameters to tune, one call does the whole job.

Setup (once)

OpenClip is a remote MCP server at https://openclip.app/mcp. Sign in with your OpenClip account when the OAuth prompt appears, there is no API key to copy.

  • Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http openclip https://openclip.app/mcp, then /mcp to authorize.
  • Claude Desktop / web: Settings, Connectors, "Add custom connector", paste the URL, sign in.
  • Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json): { "mcpServers": { "openclip": { "url": "https://openclip.app/mcp" } } }
  • Header-only clients: mint an MCP token at openclip.app/settings/connect and connect to https://openclip.app/mcp/key with Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Sanity check: call get_account.

The loop

  1. Upload. create_upload(filename, content_type) returns an id and an upload_url. PUT the raw bytes to upload_url, then pass the id as file. Do NOT call complete_upload, that starts the paid clipping pipeline. Free tools read the uploaded file directly.
  2. Call. remove_background(file). No other params.
  3. Poll. Returns a tool_job hashid. Poll get_tool_job_status(tool_job) every 5 to 10 seconds. queued / processing are in flight, completed returns a permanent CDN outputs URL for the transparent PNG, failed returns error.
  4. Return the PNG URL. It is transparent, so it will look like it has a checkerboard or a black background in some previews. That is expected, the alpha channel is there.

Rules

  • Always poll, the tool is async.
  • The output is always PNG. Transparency needs an alpha channel, so jpg is not an option. If the user wants it flattened onto a colour or resized afterwards, chain edit_image (see openclip-thumbnails).
  • Output URLs are permanent CDN links, not signed or expiring.
  • Free usage is rate limited per day with a per-file size cap. The error text explains how to lift a limit.

Example prompts to actions

  • "Remove the background from this photo" - create_upload, PUT bytes, remove_background(file), poll, return the transparent PNG URL.
  • "Cut out the product for a listing" - same, then edit_image(file, operation="resize", ...) on the output if they need specific dimensions.
  • "I need this logo on transparent" - same, then hand back the PNG.

Related

Resizing, cropping, and reformatting images is openclip-thumbnails (edit_image). Pulling a frame out of a video to cut out is also openclip-thumbnails (extract_thumbnails).