DaVinci Resolve MCP Server

Control DaVinci Resolve Studio from MCP clients such as Claude Desktop.

This project exposes Resolve projects, timelines, media, Fusion, color, audio, playback, and rendering operations through a local Model Context Protocol server.

What it does

The server provides:

• 32 MCP tools for editing and controlling Resolve;
• 6 read-only MCP resources describing the current Resolve state;
• automatic discovery of the DaVinci Resolve scripting API on Windows, macOS, and Linux;
• a protected native-module probe, so a broken fusionscript import does not crash the MCP server;
• Windows runtime isolation to prevent Resolve from loading an incompatible Python DLL.

Example requests from an MCP client:

Create a project called “Product Launch”.

Import these three clips and create a timeline called “Rough Cut”.

Add a blue marker at frame 240 with the note “Review transition”.

Save the current grade as a still in the “Approved Looks” album.

Requirements

• DaVinci Resolve Studio 18 or newer. External scripting must be enabled.
• 64-bit CPython 3.10 or 3.11. Resolve's scripting module still imports imp, which was removed from Python 3.12.
• The DaVinci Resolve scripting API installed with Resolve.
• An MCP client such as Claude Desktop.

Before starting the server, open Resolve and set:

Preferences → System → General → External scripting using → Local

The free edition of Resolve does not expose the external scripting connection used by this server. The MCP process can start, but it will remain disconnected.

Installation

Clone the repository first:

git clone https://github.com/Tooflex/davinci-resolve-mcp.git
cd davinci-resolve-mcp

Windows

Use a regular 64-bit Python from python.org. Do not use a uv-managed standalone Python on Windows: Resolve's fusionscript.dll is known to crash with those builds.

Install Python 3.10:

winget install --id Python.Python.3.10 -e

Create the environment and install the dependencies:

& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Python\Python310\python.exe" -m venv .venv310
.\.venv310\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip
.\.venv310\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -e .

Start the server through the Windows launcher:

.\run_server.ps1

Always use run_server.ps1 on Windows. It pins Resolve to the correct Python runtime, isolates PATH, and configures the scripting API paths before starting the server.

macOS

Create a virtual environment with CPython 3.10 or 3.11:

python3.11 -m venv .venv
./.venv/bin/python -m pip install --upgrade pip
./.venv/bin/python -m pip install -e .

Start the server:

./.venv/bin/davinci-resolve-mcp

The standard Resolve API locations are detected automatically:

• /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Developer/Scripting/Modules
• ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Developer/Scripting/Modules

Both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs use the same Resolve application and scripting paths.

Linux

Create the environment and install the dependencies:

python3.11 -m venv .venv
./.venv/bin/python -m pip install --upgrade pip
./.venv/bin/python -m pip install -e .
./.venv/bin/davinci-resolve-mcp

The default Linux scripting path is /opt/resolve/Developer/Scripting/Modules.

If you use uv as an installer, target an existing compatible CPython environment explicitly:

uv pip install --python .venv/bin/python -e .

On Windows, continue to use the regular python.org environment and run_server.ps1; do not let uv provision a standalone Python runtime.

MCP client configuration

The server uses the MCP standard I/O transport. Configure your client to launch the server as a local process.

Claude Desktop on Windows

Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "davinci-resolve": {
      "command": "powershell",
      "args": [
        "-NoProfile",
        "-ExecutionPolicy",
        "Bypass",
        "-File",
        "C:\\absolute\\path\\to\\davinci-resolve-mcp\\run_server.ps1"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop on macOS

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "davinci-resolve": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/davinci-resolve-mcp/.venv/bin/davinci-resolve-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Other MCP clients

Use the same command and argument pairs shown above:

• Windows: powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File <run_server.ps1>
• macOS/Linux: <venv>/bin/davinci-resolve-mcp

Use absolute paths. Keep Resolve running, restart the MCP client after changing its configuration, and then check that the davinci-resolve tools are available.

Available MCP resources

URI	Description
system://status	Connection, project, and timeline status
project://current	Current project name and timeline count
timeline://current	Current timeline name, duration, and video-track count
timeline://items	Items on the first video track
mediapool://current	Current media-pool folder and clip count
gallery://albums	Gallery album names

Available MCP tools

Projects and navigation

Tool	Operation
refresh	Refresh cached Resolve objects
create_project	Create a project
load_project	Open an existing project
save_project	Save the current project
export_project	Export a project to a file
import_project	Import a project file
set_project_setting	Change a project setting
open_page	Open Media, Edit, Fusion, Color, Fairlight, or Deliver

Media and timelines

Tool	Operation
import_media	Import files into the media pool
add_sub_folder	Add a media-pool subfolder
create_timeline	Create an empty timeline
set_current_timeline	Select a timeline by its 1-based index
append_to_timeline	Append named clips
create_timeline_from_clips	Build a timeline from named clips
import_timeline_from_file	Import a timeline such as XML or EDL
set_clip_property	Change a timeline clip property
add_timeline_marker	Add a marker at a frame
add_track	Add a video, audio, or subtitle track
set_track_name	Rename a track
enable_track	Enable or disable a track
set_current_version	Select a color or Fusion clip version

Fusion and color

Tool	Operation
execute_lua	Execute Lua in Resolve's Fusion environment
create_fusion_node	Add a node to the current Fusion composition
add_color_node	Add a color node to the current clip
save_still	Save the current grade to a gallery album
apply_still	Apply a named still to a clip

execute_lua runs code inside Resolve. Only execute scripts from sources you trust.

Audio, playback, and rendering

Tool	Operation
set_audio_volume	Set a named clip's audio volume
set_track_volume	Set an audio-track volume
play_timeline	Start playback
stop_timeline	Stop playback
set_playhead_position	Move the playhead to a frame
start_project_render	Start a render with an optional preset and output path

How the connection bootstrap works

server.py imports resolve_env.py before creating ResolveAPI.

On every platform, the bootstrap:

1. selects the Resolve scripting API and native library paths;
2. propagates the selected Modules directory to child processes;
3. probes DaVinciResolveScript in a disposable subprocess;
4. imports the native library in the MCP process only when the probe exits safely.

On Windows, Resolve may otherwise select a Python runtime from the Windows registry and load a foreign python3xx.dll into the current process. FUSION_PYTHON3_HOME, DLL preloading, and the isolated launcher prevent that native crash.

Environment overrides

Defaults work for standard Resolve installations. For a custom installation, set these variables before starting the server:

Variable	Purpose
RESOLVE_SCRIPT_PATH	Directory containing DaVinciResolveScript.py
RESOLVE_SCRIPT_API	Root of Resolve's Developer/Scripting directory
RESOLVE_SCRIPT_LIB	Absolute path to fusionscript.dll or fusionscript.so
FUSION_PYTHON3_HOME	Windows Python runtime Resolve must load

Example:

export RESOLVE_SCRIPT_PATH="/custom/Developer/Scripting/Modules"
export RESOLVE_SCRIPT_API="/custom/Developer/Scripting"
export RESOLVE_SCRIPT_LIB="/custom/Fusion/fusionscript.so"
./.venv/bin/davinci-resolve-mcp

Troubleshooting

The server starts but is not connected

• Confirm that DaVinci Resolve Studio is running.
• Set External scripting using to Local, then restart Resolve.
• Confirm that the configured Python is version 3.10 or 3.11.
• Check that the Resolve scripting Modules directory exists.

The server intentionally remains available in a disconnected state when it cannot initialize Resolve.

scriptapp('Resolve') returned None

The native module loaded, but it could not obtain a running Resolve object. Resolve is either closed, external scripting is disabled, or the installed edition does not support external scripting.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'imp'

Python 3.12 or newer is being used. Recreate the virtual environment with Python 3.10 or 3.11.

Windows access violation 0xC0000005

Launch the project through run_server.ps1, not with python server.py.

The crash occurs when fusionscript.dll loads an incompatible Python runtime, often from another python.org or Anaconda installation registered on the machine. The launcher sets FUSION_PYTHON3_HOME and isolates DLL resolution.

No valid Resolve scripting module path found

Set RESOLVE_SCRIPT_PATH to the directory containing DaVinciResolveScript.py. If the native library is also in a non-standard location, set RESOLVE_SCRIPT_LIB.

Missing MCP dependencies

Install the project into the same interpreter configured in the MCP client:

python -m pip install -e .

Development

Install the project in editable mode:

python -m pip install -e .

Run the unit tests:

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

Run syntax checks:

python -m py_compile server.py resolve_api.py resolve_env.py

The GitHub Actions workflow runs the unit tests on Python 3.10 and 3.11 across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Contributions should keep platform-specific bootstrap behavior covered by tests.