DaVinci Resolve MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets AI assistants control DaVinci Resolve Studio through the official Scripting API. It provides full API coverage plus guarded workflow helpers for editing, media pool organization, render setup, review markers, grading, Fusion, Fairlight, project lifecycle tasks, extension authoring, and source-safe media analysis.

A local browser control panel ships with the server for inspecting Resolve state, running source-safe analysis, drilling into analyzed clips and shots, and editing analysis output inline. See the Control Panel Guide for the full tour.

Quick Start

npx davinci-resolve-mcp setup

Before connecting, open DaVinci Resolve Studio and set Preferences > General > External scripting using to Local. The npm launcher installs a managed copy under your user application-data directory, then runs the universal Python installer. The installer creates a virtual environment, detects Resolve paths, and can configure Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Zed, Continue, Cline, Roo Code, and JetBrains IDEs.

For source installs:

git clone https://github.com/samuelgursky/davinci-resolve-mcp.git
cd davinci-resolve-mcp
python install.py

For platform paths, client-specific config, and manual setup, see Installation and Configuration.

The installer and server check the latest GitHub release for MCP updates. Checks are best-effort and throttled; the server never blocks MCP startup for a prompt. The installer can prompt, snooze, ignore a release, disable checks, or apply an opt-in safe auto-update for clean git checkouts.

Local Control Panel

Launch the single-user local control panel from the repository root:

venv/bin/python -m src.control_panel

The command starts a localhost server and opens the control panel in your browser. To have an AI coding agent do this, ask: "Open the Resolve MCP control panel for this repo." Agents should use venv/bin/python -m src.control_panel unless your Python environment is already active. Persisted analysis jobs refresh the local search index automatically after successful slices; the manual Build Index action is for rebuilding from existing reports.

Server Modes

Mode	Entry point	Tools	Best for
Compound	src/server.py	32	Default mode for most assistants. Related Resolve operations are grouped behind action parameters to keep context usage low.
Full / granular	src/server.py --full or src/resolve_mcp_server.py	329	Power users who want one MCP tool per Resolve API method.

The compound server is recommended unless you specifically need the granular one-tool-per-method surface.

What You Can Do

"List all projects and open the one called 'My Film'"
"Create a timeline called 'Assembly Cut' from all clips in the current bin"
"Build a multicam prep timeline from selected camera angles and preserve source media"
"Detect 2-pops or slate claps and suggest record offsets for sync prep"
"Publish analysis summaries, keywords, people, and slate hints into Resolve clip metadata"
"Probe this timeline for gaps, overlaps, missing media, and source frame ranges"
"Safely import this image sequence, organize it into bins, and normalize clip metadata"
"Build a ProRes 422 HQ render plan, validate the settings, and queue the job"
"Copy review markers from the timeline to the selected clip and export a review report"
"Snapshot this clip's grade, validate a CDL update, and export a temp LUT"
"Create a Fusion TextPlus overlay on the selected clip and verify graph connections"
"Report audio channel mappings, voice isolation availability, and subtitle support"
"Install this MCP-marked DCTL or script, classify refresh/restart needs, then remove it"

Core Capabilities

Area	What the compound server supports
App and project control	Launch/reconnect, page switching, project CRUD, project folders, databases, cloud project wrappers, settings, presets, archives
Media pool and ingest	Safe import, image sequences, multicam prep timelines, bin organization, metadata normalization, metadata field inventory, marks, annotations, relink/proxy/full-resolution guards
Media analysis	Source-safe file/clip/bin/project analysis, 2-pop/slate-clap sync-event detection, default Resolve metadata and Media Pool marker writeback, persisted analysis artifacts, existing-report reuse, host_chat_paths visual analysis (finalized per clip with commit_vision, works with any vision-capable MCP client) with opt-out, transcription with opt-out
Timeline editing and conform	Track/item probing, title text key scans/writes, copy/move/duplicate helpers, range operations, gaps/overlaps, source ranges, checked interchange exports/imports
Review annotations	Timeline/item/clip markers, custom data, flags, clip color, copy/move/sync cleanup, review reports, marker thumbnail review
Color and grading	Node graph probing, CDL validation, grade copy, DRX/LUT helpers, versions, Gallery stills, color groups
Fusion	Timeline-item comps, safe tool creation, input writes, port inspection, validated connections, scoped bulk writes
Audio and Fairlight	Track/item probes, source mapping, guarded audio property writes, voice isolation, auto-sync planning, transcription/subtitle probes
Render and deliver	Format/codec matrix probing, render settings validation, queued job lifecycle checks, guarded Quick Export
Extension authoring	Fuse, DCTL, ACES DCTL, and Resolve-page Lua/Python script lifecycle helpers with safe MCP-marked install/remove

Source Media Safety

This project treats camera originals and source media as immutable. Analysis tools read source files and write reports only to sidecar, scratch, or project analysis directories; confirmed metadata publishing writes only to Resolve's project database. The server must not modify, transcode, proxy, or create derivatives of source media unless the user explicitly asks for that. See Media Analysis Guide for the detailed source-safe workflow.

Security Posture

The default server is a local stdio process launched by your MCP client; it does not expose a network listener or built-in multi-user auth surface. Tool metadata includes MCP client-safety hints for read-only, destructive, idempotent, and external-resource operations. See Security Policy for operational boundaries, confirmation guidance, and vulnerability reporting.

Key Stats

Metric	Value
MCP Tools	32 compound / 329 granular
Kernel Actions	136 guarded workflow actions across 9 compound tools
API Methods Covered	336/336 (100%)
Methods Live Tested	331/336 (98.5%)
Live Test Pass Rate	331/331 (100%)
Tested Against	DaVinci Resolve 19.1.3 Studio + Resolve 20.3.2 Studio

For method-by-method status, see API Coverage and Test Results. For current workflow support, see Kernel Action Coverage.

analyze_media executes directly by default, persists inspectable reports/artifacts under the analysis root, requests host-chat visual analysis via the host_chat_paths protocol (analyze returns absolute frame paths + a JSON schema; the host chat reads each frame as an image and calls media_analysis(action="commit_vision", ...) to finalize), runs transcription through the configured local backend, and writes analysis summaries plus source-time Media Pool clip markers back to the Resolve project. Pass include_visuals=false, include_transcription=false, publish_metadata=false, timed_markers=no, or dry_run=true only when you want to opt out of those default behaviors. Skipping commit_vision leaves the run in pending_host_vision_analysis — surfaced as a failure mode, not silently downgraded.

Documentation

Document	Use it for
Installation and Configuration	Requirements, installer options, supported clients, server modes, manual config
API Coverage and Test Results	Key stats, API coverage table, live-test status, full method reference
Kernel Action Coverage	Current guarded workflow action map
AI Skill Reference	Operational context for AI assistants using the compound server
Control Panel Guide	Local browser panel tour: Overview, Review (bin/clip/shot), Analyze, Setup, Preferences
Media Analysis Guide	Source-safe FFprobe, FFmpeg, Whisper, sidecar, and analysis-root workflows
Multicam Setup Helper Guide	Stacked timeline prep, helper/API boundary, and Resolve UI conversion steps
Editorial Decision Guide	Project-owned editorial craft guidance for analysis and timeline decisions
Color Decision Guide	Project-owned color correction guidance and Resolve color API boundaries
Contributing and Project Layout	Contribution workflow, platform support, security notes, repository structure
Security Policy	Local stdio trust boundary, tool metadata, confirmation guidance, reporting
Release Process	Maintainer release checklist, version surfaces, validation, tags, and release notes
Changelog	Historical release notes

Extension authoring references live in docs/authoring. Resolve developer-package notes live in docs/notes and docs/integrations. Prompt recipes live in examples.

Requirements

• DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.5+ on macOS, Windows, or Linux. The free edition does not support external scripting.
• Python 3.10-3.12 recommended. Python 3.13+ may have ABI incompatibilities with Resolve's scripting library.
• Resolve external scripting set to Local.

Resolve 19.1.3 remains the compatibility baseline. Resolve 20.x scripting calls are additive, version-guarded, and live-tested on 20.3.2. Resolve 21 beta APIs are intentionally deferred until stable.

Development

python src/server.py          # Compound server
python src/server.py --full   # Granular server
venv/bin/python tests/test_import.py
venv/bin/python scripts/audit_api_parity.py

Release and validation rules are in docs/process/release-process.md. AI agents working in this repository should start with AGENTS.md; Claude Code users can also read CLAUDE.md, which points to the same canonical instructions.

License

MIT

Author

Samuel Gursky (samgursky@gmail.com)

• GitHub: github.com/samuelgursky

Acknowledgments

• Blackmagic Design for DaVinci Resolve and its scripting API
• The Model Context Protocol team for enabling AI assistant integration
• Anthropic for Claude Code, used extensively in development and testing