davinci-resolve-lite-mcp

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8429932f-643b-4131-bdf6-dad0d3399137

Claude builds an opening title in DaVinci Resolve Lite — a gold "GameHelper" Text+ node with glow and a zoom-in keyframe reveal — from a plain-language request, via insert_fusion_title + style_fusion_title.

An MCP server that lets an AI client such as Claude Code control DaVinci Resolve — including the free (Lite) edition, which the existing davinci-resolve-mcp project cannot drive.

The free edition blocks external scripting, but it still runs Python scripts launched from its own Workspace > Scripts menu. This project rides that path: the MCP server runs inside Resolve as a menu script, and exposes Resolve's Python API over a small local HTTP endpoint that Claude connects to.

Claude Code ──HTTP JSON-RPC (MCP)──▶  127.0.0.1:8765/mcp
                                          │   server runs INSIDE Resolve
                                          │   (Workspace > Scripts > Utility)
                                          ▼
                              command queue → main script thread
                                          ▼
                              global `resolve` object → Resolve API

Tools

Ask Claude in plain language; it drives Resolve through the tools — see the demo above. See the tools reference for the full 163-tool surface — editing, color, render, media pool, and Fusion title styling.

Why this works on the free edition

• Free Resolve permits scripts run from its Scripts menu (only external network scripting is restricted).
• A menu script gets the resolve object for free and may run a long-lived loop — long enough to host a server.
• The sandboxed Lite app ships the com.apple.security.network.server entitlement, so it can open a localhost listening socket.
• Zero dependencies — pure Python standard library. Nothing to pip install into Resolve's interpreter.

Requirements

• macOS with DaVinci Resolve (Lite/free or Studio).
• Claude Code (or any MCP client that speaks the Streamable HTTP transport).

Install

git clone https://github.com/2sem/davinci-resolve-lite-mcp.git
cd davinci-resolve-lite-mcp
./install.sh

Or via pip, if you'd rather not clone the repo:

pip install davinci-resolve-lite-mcp
davinci-mcp-install

davinci-mcp-install does exactly what install.sh does (same Lite/Studio detection, same copy-vs-symlink logic) — it just reads the files from your pip-installed package instead of a git checkout. davinci-mcp-uninstall reverses it. Either way, the sandbox note below still applies, and you still start the server from Resolve's own menu — see Run.

macOS user-install note. If you see Defaulting to user installation because normal site-packages is not writeable, pip installed the console scripts under $(python3 -m site --user-base)/bin, which usually isn't on PATH. Either run the full path — "$(python3 -m site --user-base)/bin/davinci-mcp-install" — or add that bin directory to PATH. And use &&, not &, between the two commands: a bare & backgrounds pip install and races davinci-mcp-install before the package exists.

Also listed on the MCP Registry as io.github.2sem/davinci-resolve-lite-mcp (verify) — for discoverability only. The listing is metadata-only (no auto-install packages/remotes entry): this server can't be spawned by an MCP client the way a typical registry server can, since it must run inside Resolve's own embedded Python interpreter, started by hand from the Scripts menu. Install it one of the two ways above.

install.sh deploys:

• the two launcher scripts into Fusion/Scripts/Utility (a folder Resolve scans for the Scripts menu; Utility shows on every page), and
• the resolve_mcp package into Fusion/Scripts/MCP — a folder Resolve does not scan, so the helper modules stay out of the menu.

The Lite container path is detected automatically.

Sandbox note (important). DaVinci Resolve Lite is sandboxed and can only read its own container, ~/Movies, and files you pick interactively. A symlink that points outside those locations (e.g. into a clone under ~/Projects) cannot be followed by the sandboxed app, so the menu script would silently never run. For that reason install.sh copies the files into the container on Lite (and symlinks only on the non-sandboxed Studio build). Re-run ./install.sh after pulling updates.

Resolve enumerates only the category folders (Utility / Comp / Tool / Edit / Color / Deliver) for its Scripts menu — that is why the launchers go in Utility and the package hides in MCP.

The same sandboxing applies to file paths you ask the tools to use: exports/imports should target ~/Movies (or other granted locations), otherwise Resolve cannot write/read them.

Run

1. In DaVinci Resolve: Workspace > Scripts > Utility > davinci_mcp_server.

   

2. Open Workspace > Console — it prints the endpoint and port:

   Code

   Copy

   MCP endpoint:  http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp
   Add to Claude Code:
     claude mcp add --transport http davinci http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp
   

   The startup guide prints to the Resolve Console (Workspace > Console). Because the server runs continuously, its Console output can buffer until it stops, so both scripts also mirror every line to a logfile:

   Code

   Copy

   ~/Movies/davinci-resolve-lite-mcp.log
   

   Watch it live with ./logs.sh. (Override the directory with DAVINCI_MCP_LOG_DIR.) ~/Movies is used because the sandboxed Lite app is allowed to write there.

   Once running, every tool call is logged to the Console as a single line ([davinci-mcp] <name> <args> -> ok|error (Nms)):

   

   Update check. Like brew/CocoaPods, each launch checks PyPI in the background for a newer release and prints a one-line nudge to the Console if one exists — never blocks startup, and any failure (offline, PyPI down) stays silent in the logfile only. Disable with DAVINCI_MCP_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK=1.

3. Register it with Claude Code (one-time):

   Terminal

   Copy

   claude mcp add --transport http davinci http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp
   

   Then verify / reconnect with the /mcp command inside Claude Code — it lists connected servers and reconnects them. If Claude was already running when you launched the script, type /mcp (or restart the session) so it picks up the davinci server.

4. Ask Claude to control Resolve.

Configure the port (stable, recommended)

By default the server listens on 8765 and auto-increments to 8766, 8767, … if that port is busy (another local tool may already hold 8765). Because the winner of that race can change between launches, the URL you registered with Claude can drift, surfacing as:

Failed to reconnect to davinci: HTTP 404 at http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp

To lock the port for good, drop a small JSON config file. When a port is set this way it is pinned — the server binds exactly that port and never auto-increments, so you register Claude once and the URL never moves.

Create ~/Movies/davinci-resolve-lite-mcp.config.json:

{ "host": "127.0.0.1", "port": 8770 }

Why ~/Movies and not ~/.config? The Lite app is sandboxed and can only read its own container, ~/Movies, and files you pick interactively — ~/.config is outside the sandbox, so Lite cannot read it (this is the same reason the logfile lives in ~/Movies). The server also checks ~/.config/davinci-resolve-lite-mcp/config.json for the non-sandboxed Studio build, where that path is conventional.

Then restart the server (Scripts > Utility > stop_davinci_mcp_server, then davinci_mcp_server) and register Claude once at the fixed port:

claude mcp add --transport http davinci http://127.0.0.1:8770/mcp

The Console banner confirms the source — look for Port : pinned (from …) — will not auto-increment.

Read the full README on GitHub →