Hermoso is a marketing MCP server: 922+ tools over one OAuth’d endpoint that let an agent research the ads already running in a market, generate finished image and video ads, publish them, and build the paid campaigns behind them. Cursor reaches all of it through one connection. This page covers one slice of that: what Cursor can actually do on TikTok, and what TikTok will not let it do.
Connect Hermoso to Cursor
- Install and sign in.
Your browser opens once. Nothing to create and nothing to paste: the credential is stored owner-only innpm install -g hermoso && hermoso auth login~/.hermoso/config.json. On a machine with no browser,hermoso auth login --token hmk_…takes a key from MCP & CLI → Terminal & API keys instead. - Add it to
~/.cursor/mcp.json(or the project’s.cursor/mcp.json). No key goes in the file, becausehermoso mcpreads the sign-in above:{ "mcpServers": { "hermoso": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "hermoso", "mcp"] } } } - Or use the one-click install from the MCP page. That deeplink installs the hosted URL and leaves authentication to Cursor’s own OAuth flow. Both work, they are just different prerequisites.
- Ask Cursor for something. “Pull my three closest competitors’ longest-running ads and remix the best hook into a 9:16 video,” or “post this render to the channel.” The agent picks the tools; you approve the spend.
The block above runs the published hermoso npm package on your machine, which is why nothing is pasted and why the tool list costs nothing until a tool is called. If you use the deeplink instead, Cursor performs dynamic client registration against our authorization server and you never hold a key either.
Then connect TikTok itself, once, under Settings → Connectors in Hermoso. That is an OAuth consent screen, so it is the one step that needs a browser. Everything after it is a tool call.
The TikTok tools Cursor gets
post_to_tiktok: publishes a finished video, or a photo post of up to 35 images, live on the profile at the privacy you choose, or into your TikTok drafts to finish in the app. It also carries the interaction settings (comments, duet, stitch), the cover frame and the branded-content disclosure.schedule_post: queues it for later on the shared calendar, with the privacy fixed when you queue it.tiktok_account / tiktok_creator_info: the account’s bio, verification, follower and video counts, and the privacy levels the account itself allows.tiktok_post_status: follows a post TikTok is still processing, so a slow upload is checked rather than posted twice.list_tiktok_videos / tiktok_account_insights: recent posts with views, likes, comments and shares, and the account’s own analytics, with follower demographics on a Business account of 100 or more followers.list_tiktok_comments / reply_to_tiktok_comment / moderate_tiktok_comment: reads the comments on your posts, replies as the account, and likes, hides or deletes, once the TikTok account authorization is connected.search_tiktok: keyword search across public TikTok, which is the research half.
Two more operational facts. TikTok photo posts are pulled from a URL rather than uploaded, so the host serving the images has to be verified in TikTok’s developer portal before photo posts can go out at all. And a draft carries no cover frame: on a direct post Hermoso sets the video’s best frame as the cover, while for a draft you pick the cover in the TikTok app.
TikTok limits worth knowing before you automate anything
| Text | A TikTok video caption is capped at 2,200 characters, a photo-post caption at 4,000, and a photo title at 90. It is enforced when the post is created or queued, so an overlong post is refused while you are still there to fix it instead of being silently cut on the way out. |
|---|---|
| Visibility | Everyone, followers, friends, only you, or a draft, and you choose. Hermoso passed TikTok’s Direct Post audit in August 2026, so a post can go live on the profile. TikTok’s rule is that the creator picks the privacy for every post, with nothing pre-selected, and only from the levels tiktok_creator_info says the account allows, so Hermoso asks instead of defaulting and refuses a post that names none before anything uploads. A draft goes to the TikTok inbox for you to finish in the app, which is also where you add a TikTok sound. There is no unlisted. Branded content cannot be combined with a private (only you) post, and that combination is refused rather than resolved for you. |
| Carousel | Up to 35 images as a TikTok photo post, images only. That number is TikTok’s: “An array containing up to 35 photo content URLs.” The order is the slideshow, so slide order is the product. One image is simply a one-slide post, not a refusal. |
| Which account | None. TikTok publishes to the connected account. |
Try it in Cursor
Ask for it in ordinary language. These are plain sentences, not a DSL:
“Build a TikTok photo post from the images in ./assets/slides in filename order, set slide 3 as the cover, and ask me which privacy to post it with.”
That walks search_tiktok → plan_ad → render_ad → post_to_tiktok. Cursor surfaces each tool call in the composer before it runs, so a publish is a click rather than a side effect.
Cursor on TikTok: the part that bites
Photo posts are the TikTok format an editor is unusually good at, because the slides are files and the order is the story. One prerequisite that is not obvious: TikTok pulls photo posts from a URL rather than accepting an upload, so the host serving those images has to be verified in TikTok’s developer portal first. Video is unaffected. The privacy rule applies to both: TikTok wants it chosen per post, so Cursor will ask.
Put the config in the project’s .cursor/mcp.json rather than the home directory when a repo should always run against one brand; hermoso auth login is what pins the workspace otherwise.
Research TikTok before you post
Hermoso has no TikTok ad-library search of the kind it runs on Meta, so TikTok research is organic: search_tiktok finds what is working by keyword, and analyze_video will pull a clip apart into its hook, beats and on-screen text so the pattern can be reused rather than guessed at.
The paid half
TikTok Ads is one of the twelve paid platforms Hermoso builds and reads campaigns on, including Smart+ campaigns and Spark Ads that promote an organic post, and it is a separate connection from the organic one. Campaigns run on TikTok’s Marketing API and posting runs on its content-posting approval, so Hermoso reports each one on its own rather than letting one imply the other. Only a confirm-gated status switch arms real money.
What Cursor cannot do on its own
An agent with a budget is only useful if the blast radius is bounded, so the fence is in the server rather than in a prompt. Every ad campaign, ad set, ad group and ad is created paused, and the status switches that arm real money refuse to run without an explicit confirmation flag. Every render is quoted first (hermoso_capabilities publishes each model’s exact credit cost before anything spends). Credits are reserved before the first provider call and settled at the exact cost afterwards, so a failed dispatch refunds rather than leaving you billed for nothing. Deletes are confirm-gated too, and every campaign tree is read back from the ad platform before your agent tells you what it built.
One step is deliberately not headless: linking an account is an OAuth consent screen, so you connect the channel once in a browser. Everything after that is a tool call.
The rest of the matrix
From Cursor, post to: Facebook · Instagram · Threads · YouTube · X · LinkedIn · Pinterest · Bluesky · Telegram. Or see everything Cursor can publish to.
Post to TikTok from: Claude · ChatGPT · Claude Code · Codex · Cline · OpenClaw · Grok Bot · Hermes · Gemini CLI · Perplexity · Le Chat · Claude Cowork · Perplexity Computer · Paperclip
Frequently asked questions
Can Cursor post to TikTok?
Yes, through Hermoso's MCP server. Run npm install -g hermoso && hermoso auth login, then point ~/.cursor/mcp.json at npx -y hermoso mcp. The browser sign-in stores the credential, so no key goes in the file. Cursor then has 922+ tools, including the ones that publish to TikTok, plus the ones that research the ads already running in your market and render the creative in the first place.
How do I connect TikTok to Cursor?
Two steps, once each. Run npm install -g hermoso && hermoso auth login, then point ~/.cursor/mcp.json at npx -y hermoso mcp. The browser sign-in stores the credential, so no key goes in the file. Then connect TikTok inside Hermoso under Settings → Connectors, which is an OAuth consent screen in a browser. After that Cursor publishes to TikTok as an ordinary tool call.
Can Cursor post privately or as a draft to TikTok?
Yes. A TikTok post can go out to everyone, to followers, to friends or to only you, or go to your drafts instead. TikTok wants the creator to pick the privacy for each post, from the levels the account allows, so Hermoso asks rather than choosing for you. Hermoso refuses a visibility TikTok cannot honour at the moment you ask for it, rather than quietly publishing something weaker.
Can Cursor run TikTok ads as well as posting?
Yes. TikTok Ads is one of the twelve paid platforms Hermoso manages, and it connects separately from organic TikTok publishing. Each half runs on its own TikTok approval, and Hermoso reports each one on its own instead of inferring one from the other.
What is the TikTok caption limit when posting from Cursor?
A TikTok video caption can run to 2,200 characters and a photo-post caption to 4,000. Hermoso enforces it when the post is created or queued, so Cursor is told immediately rather than failing later when nobody is watching.
Can Cursor research TikTok before it posts?
Yes, organically: Hermoso has no TikTok ad-library search. search_tiktok finds what is working by keyword, and analyze_video breaks a clip into its hook, beats and on-screen text.
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