Claude Sonnet 5.5 MCP tools in Claude Code: add Sume video/image tools

To use Claude Sonnet 5.5 with MCP tools in Claude Code, register a remote HTTP server with claude mcp add --transport http, sign in with claude mcp login, and the model can call whatever tools that server lists. For video and image generation, the server is Sume's hosted MCP endpoint, https://mcp.sume.com/mcp.

Anthropic released Sonnet 5.5 on 2026-09-28 (model id claude-sonnet-5-5), and the Claude Code changelog lists v2.1.284, the same day, as the release that added it as the default Sonnet. Facts about the model and the client come from Anthropic's pages, read 2026-09-29; the Sume side comes from the MCP docs.

What changed for Claude Code users on 2026-09-28?

Two things landed together: a new default Sonnet and MCP fixes. The claude mcp add command shape is unchanged in the docs read for this post.

How do I add Sume's MCP server to Claude Code?

Claude Code's MCP page documents claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>. Sume's quickstart uses exactly that shape, then a login step for OAuth.

claude mcp add --transport http sume https://mcp.sume.com/mcp
claude mcp login sume

Which Sume tools can Sonnet 5.5 call?

Ask it to call tools_list first; the tool ids use underscores. The video and image tools are generate_video and generate_image; omit payload.model and they route to sume/auto. Follow-ups are jobs_wait and jobs_result.

OAuth grants read-only access by default (mcp:read). To let the model start a paid generation, switch Write on at the consent page, which adds mcp:write. There is no mcp:paid scope, and a paid tool called without write access returns insufficient_scope.

Does Sonnet 5.5 change how tool calls behave?

Anthropic's page says its testers found the model "batched tool calls together more than Sonnet 5". For Sume that is relevant to jobs_wait, which takes 1 to 20 job ids in one call, so several submitted clips can be awaited together. Treat that as a habit to check in your own runs, not a guarantee.

Claude Code's MCP page says tool search is on by default, so a long tool list is loaded on demand, and the MCP output limit defaults to 25,000 tokens.

What should I check before letting it spend?

Paid Sume tools need an idempotency_key. Have the model call with dry_run=true first: it returns the admission and cost preview without submitting. max_spend_usd is enforced only when the call passes it, so ask for it explicitly.

A wait_slice_expired result from jobs_wait means the job is still running. Wait again on the same ids; never resubmit the create call.