Embody

create at the speed of thought.

embody.tools  ·  Documentation  ·  Manifesto  ·  Changelog

_{Embot — he hops through your network while Envoy builds}

Embody puts your ideas on screen as fast as you can describe them. Operators, connections, parameters, the works. Want to try a different direction? Spin up a new approach in seconds. Compare attempts side by side. Branch off the one that works. The tool keeps up with you, instead of the other way around.

Four Tools, One Idea

Envoy — forward velocity. An embedded MCP server lets Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini, Cursor, Windsurf, and GitHub Copilot (via VS Code) talk directly to your live TouchDesigner session. Create operators, wire them up, set parameters, write extensions, debug errors — by saying what you want. No copy-pasting code. No describing your network in chat. Idea → operators in seconds.

Embody — lateral velocity. Tag any operator and Embody externalizes it to files on disk that mirror your network hierarchy. Try a new direction, branch off a good one, restore the state from yesterday — all in seconds. Your externalized files are the source of truth, so every project opens already in flow.

Convoy — outward velocity. Convoy-enabled Embody nodes on a trusted LAN discover, inspect, and control each other — one AI session relaying builds, test runs, saves, screenshots, files, and restarts to every machine in the room. A small per-user background app keeps each node reachable even while TouchDesigner is closed. Convoy guide

TDXN — the substrate that makes it all possible. TouchDesigner networks exported as human-readable YAML. The format is what lets your AI agent understand what's on the screen, what lets you diff one attempt against another, and what lets a network reconstruct itself from text on the next project open. TDXN is what makes the rest of this possible.

Quick Start

Requirements: TouchDesigner 2025.33230 or later (Windows / macOS). No Python setup needed — Embody builds a per-project Python environment (.venv) matched to TouchDesigner's own interpreter, and your own packages can live in it too. No special folder structure either: Embody works in any project folder, and if you happen to use git, every change is also a clean diff for free.

1. Install

Download the Embody .tox from /release and drag it into your TouchDesigner project. The Setup Wizard opens and walks you through the choices that matter — how much autonomy Embody gets, what to externalize, whether to enable the AI assistant (Envoy) and for which tool, permissions, whether to join a trusted-LAN Convoy, and where config files live. Nothing changes until the final click, and you can re-run it anytime via the Setup Wizard pulse on the Embody COMP.

Updating Embody: Embody updates itself — pulse Check for Update on the About page (or set Auto-Update to check at startup), and a verified release is downloaded, backed up against, and swapped in place. Your settings and tracked externalizations live on disk and survive the update untouched. See the auto-update guide. Manual alternative: delete the old Embody COMP and drag the new .tox in its place — the new version picks up your on-disk state automatically, no re-scan, no files rewritten.

Provisioning a machine with no one at it (a render node, a media server)? The bootstrap installs Embody into a .toe offline with TouchDesigner's own tools, in one line.

2. Tag and Work

1. Tag operators — hover any COMP or DAT and press lctrl twice to open the tagger (pick a strategy for a COMP, a file format for a DAT)
2. Work normally — press ctrl + shift + u to update all externalizations, or ctrl + alt + u to update only the current COMP. Externalized files are written on save; on open, the .toe stays authoritative by default (Export-on-Save), while Roundtrip mode also reconstructs TDXN-strategy COMPs from disk

Tip: Externalization is opt-in — nothing is written to disk until you tag it. To capture your AI assistant's work automatically, set Auto-Externalize New Ops (Envoy parameter page) and everything it creates through Envoy is tagged and externalized as it's built.

For supported formats, folder configuration, duplicate handling, Manager UI, and more — see the Embody docs.

Envoy MCP Server

Embody includes Envoy, an embedded MCP server that gives AI coding assistants direct access to your live TouchDesigner session.

Setup

1. Pick an AI assistant in the Setup Wizard — it opens on first install, or re-run it anytime (the Setup Wizard pulse on the Embody COMP). Prefer parameters? Toggling Envoy Enable (Envoyenable) does the same thing with your current settings
2. Server starts on 127.0.0.1:9870 (configurable via Envoyport; if the port is taken by another instance, Envoy scans forward automatically)
3. Auto-configuration — Envoy writes a .mcp.json (STDIO bridge, so tools are available even before TD is running) at your AI project root. By default that's the git repo root; the wizard's config-location step — or the Aiprojectroot parameter — can point it at the .toe folder or a custom path instead. Projects without a git repo still get config generated in the .toe folder
4. Connect — open a Claude Code session (or restart your IDE) at that root — it picks up .mcp.json automatically

The generated config runs Envoy's bridged STDIO transport (recommended — it can launch and restart TD for you). If you'd rather wire a client by hand, the direct HTTP transport works whenever TD is running:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "envoy": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9870/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Tools at a Glance

...and 56 more. See the full tools reference.

When Envoy starts, it always generates an AGENTS.md file in your project root with TD development patterns and project-specific guidance. It also writes a client-specific config for whichever assistant you select in the Aiclient parameter (CLAUDE.md + .claude/ for Claude Code, opencode.json + .claude/ for OpenCode, Cursor/Windsurf rules, Copilot instructions, GEMINI.md for Gemini; Codex and OpenCode read AGENTS.md directly). For OpenCode and local-model setups, see the Local Models & Open Clients guide.

TDXN Network Format

TDXN (TouchDesigner eXternal Network) is the file format that makes the rest of Embody possible. It exports an entire operator network — operators, connections, parameters, layout, annotations, DAT content — as a single human-readable YAML file. Your AI agent can read it. You can read it. Any text tool can diff it. The network can rebuild itself from it.

This is the substrate. Every other capability — AI-driven building, version control, automatic restoration — builds on top of it.

• Entire project: ctrl + shift + e
• Current COMP: ctrl + alt + e
• Via Envoy: export_network / import_network MCP tools

See the full TDXN specification for format details, import process, and round-trip guarantees.

Keyboard Shortcuts

These are the defaults — every shortcut is editable on the Embody COMP's Shortcuts parameter page (type a combo, or pulse Record and press the keys; empty disables it). See Keyboard Shortcuts.

my-project/              ← project folder (optionally a git repo)
├── my-project.toe       ← your TouchDesigner project
├── base1/               ← externalized operators
│   ├── base2.tox        ← COMP (TOX strategy)
│   ├── base3.tdxn        ← COMP (TDXN strategy — diffable YAML)
│   └── text1.py         ← DAT
└── ...

op.Embody.Log('Something happened', 'INFO')
op.Embody.Warn('Check this out')
op.Embody.Error('Something broke')

op.unit_tests.RunTests()                              # All tests (non-blocking)
op.unit_tests.RunTests(suite_name='test_path_utils')   # Single suite
op.unit_tests.RunTestsSync()                           # All in one frame (blocks TD)

Version History

Every release is documented in the full changelog. Highlights:

• 6.2.73 — a .mcp.json Embody cannot parse is left untouched instead of replaced, so your other MCP servers survive (issue #159)
• 6.2.72 — Convoy switches branches, uses optional sibling worktrees and sends files to a node (convoy_send_file), and a pull no longer moves a different branch; TDXN format 2.2 and self-contained clipboard copies
• 6.2.71 — parent .tdxn files stop repeating the custom parameters of children that have their own .tdxn (a 15-COMP lab's child entries shrink from 2,368 lines to 72); importing a COMP from its own .tdxn creates its custom parameters before its contents
• 6.2.69 — a session whose TouchDesigner closes stops with envoy.instance.unavailable instead of drifting into another open project; saves that rename the .toe are followed, and launch_td / restart_td act on the session's own instance (issue #147)
• 6.2.68 — a manual Check for Update offers Install Anyway when a release was built for a newer TouchDesigner than yours; unattended updates still stop at the floor (issue #145)
• 6.2.65 — four new skills (glsl-shaders, operator-gotchas, testing, /collab) and skill reference files, with thanks to Derivative's TDMCPSkills; describe_op_type and run_soak_test; a user project's always-loaded guidance cut by 40%
• 6.2.64 — Forget Offline Nodes clears rows fleet-wide, each by its owner; silent nodes retire after a week instead of a month; update jobs no longer report a false failure
• 6.2.63 — the Windows supervisor stays armed after an install; node rows carry the TD build and the fleet update its runtime id; a live-but-silent node reads stalled; a mid-scan readout clears on reopen
• 6.2.62 — a re-minted host's ghost record goes dormant on its peers instead of being dialed forever; the pin stays, contact wakes it, and Status names the ghost on both sides
• 6.2.61 — Convoy names its Envoy dependency and the host's advisories (rejected certificates, re-minted identities, realm splits, VPN binds), re-pins changed peers, avoids VPNs and public networks on auto-bind, and rejoins admitted peers' realm instead of founding one
• 6.2.59 — a fresh clone keeps the Envoy it adopts; a rollback no longer claims the version it discarded; the release gate's identity check stopped failing healthy builds and passing on runtime tables
• 6.2.57 — TDXN exports operator references as authored and rebases in-project absolute paths (fixes #132); a fresh clone adopts the committed Envoy declaration; one-command fresh-install release smoke, with the macOS leg in CI
• 6.2.56 — a venv whose Python stops running is repaired in place instead of deleted, on a background thread, keeping installed packages; enabling Envoy no longer freezes TD; devalue security bump
• 6.2.55 — new specimen Serenity and Beauty with a cover video; enabled clones of a sibling COMP export as their values (the mandala .tdxn 9,599 → 2,834 lines); embody.tools source viewer renders in the browser; Embot allowed in TDXN COMPs; new shipped rule tdxn-economy
• 6.2.52 — tuplet custom parameters (RGB, XYZ, multi-component Float/Int) at a non-zero default import with that value instead of 0
• 6.2.51 — seven agent-rule gotchas from issue #94 verified live before shipping; embody.tools covers come from the specimen row, never a baked list; new specimen Prismatic Strata
• 6.2.50 — Export Release Toe: one pulse prompts, asks where, then ships the project as a locked .toe; Embody can write the pre_release_toe hook for you
• 6.2.49 — saves say what a .tdxn cannot hold, headers stay visible in VS Code, and Envoy can no longer freeze TouchDesigner by deleting its own host (issues #106, #108–#110)
• 6.2.42 — ExportReleaseToe: ship the whole project as one locked .toe with Embody removed, preview first
• 6.2.41 — the MCP SDK moves to 2.2.0; existing venvs upgrade themselves on the next start
• 6.2.40 — the TDXN tag, the strategy column, the files on disk and the git diff driver all say TDXN; nine strategy reads that had silently stopped matching are fixed
• 6.2.13 — vector custom parameter defaults survive the round trip (issue #96); six definition fields, three authored flags, and TDXN format 2.1
• 6.2.8 — the TDXN rename completes across docs, skills, and embody.tools (/tdn/ → /tdxn/ with permanent redirects)
• 6.2.5 — TDXN review fixes: snapshot exports never touch tracked files, and dirty detection covers everything an export writes
• 6.2.0 — three namespace tiers; the promoted surface drops from 214 members to 43 (issue #94 — breaking for undocumented names)
• 6.1.5 — every AI client gets the MCP config it actually reads, from one registry; edit protection rides inside generated files
• 6.1.2 — the format becomes TDXN (TouchDesigner eXternal Network); existing .tdn files work unchanged, with an opt-in migration pulse
• 6.0.201–6.0.280 — the Convoy hardening arc: macOS enablement, a self-updating daemon, fleet-wide Embody updates, and a self-updater that can no longer be latched by a stuck download
• 6.0.171 — Convoy ships end to end: nodes on a trusted LAN discover, relay work to, and control each other
• 6.0.162 — MCP SDK 2.0 port with self-upgrading venvs
• 6.0.145 — self-update ships: manifest-gated, verified, backup + rollback

Contributors

Originally derived from External Tox Saver by Tim Franklin. Refactored entirely by Dylan Roscover, with inspiration and guidance from Elburz Sorkhabi, Matthew Ragan and Wieland Hilker.

Want to help? Start with CONTRIBUTING.md — this repo works differently from a typical Python project (TouchDesigner writes many of the files), and that page explains what is safe to change and how to run the tests.

Credits

Embody stands on other people's work, and this section names it. Ideas move between the TouchDesigner MCP projects in both directions; where Embody took one, it is credited here and in the code where it landed.

• External Tox Saver by Tim Franklin -- Embody began in 2020 as a refactor of it.
• TDMCP by Derivative (their MCP server, used with permission while it was private, public since September 2026) -- undoable MCP mutations (one undo step per batch), the get_docs design (version-exact offline help first, the wiki API second), sequence-block growth on parameter writes, the transport-security hardening prompt, and treating a code-review rule as a query. Landed from v6.0.87 (2026-07-04) on.
• TDMCPSkills by Derivative (used with permission) -- the pop-networks skill is adapted from td-pop-family; glsl-shaders and operator-gotchas were written against their td-glsl-shaders and family skills as a topic checklist, with every claim re-verified live on TD 2025.33230 (2026-09-25).
• touchdesigner-mcp by 8beeeaaat -- the first widely used TouchDesigner MCP server (2025). Envoy's earliest tool vocabulary (get_td_classes, get_td_class_details, get_td_info, get_module_help, exec_node_method, execute_python) follows the names that project established.
• td-mcp-rs by asyade -- a Rust-daemon take on the same problem (2026). Its OS-dialog dismissal, per-call instance addressing, stable error codes with fix hints, any-family capture through an OP Viewer TOP, shader lint on DAT writes, and offline installation into a project file are ideas Embody adopted and built (see the roadmap).

If Embody carries an idea of yours and this list misses it, open an issue and it will be added.

Trademarks and Affiliation

Embody is an independent open-source project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Derivative. TouchDesigner is a trademark of Derivative.

License

MIT License