Control DaVinci Resolve with AI

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, OpenCode, 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

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

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

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

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+ (3.10-3.12 is the lowest-risk range). Python 3.13/3.14 also work on recent Resolve builds (verified on Studio 20.3.2); older builds may fail to connect on 3.13+, in which case use 3.10-3.12.
• 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 21.0 scripting additions (audio classification, speaker-detection transcription, IntelliSearch, slate analysis, motion-deblur, speech generation, session background-task control) are exposed behind runtime capability detection, so they stay inert on older builds and activate automatically on Resolve 21+.

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.

Author

Samuel Gursky (samgursky@gmail.com)

• GitHub: github.com/samuelgursky