Kdenlive MCP

Foundation for a headless video editor that keeps a portable JSON project as its source of truth, compiles disposable MLT XML, and uses Kdenlive for review.

Milestone 0 covers feasibility only: architecture/licensing decisions, repository tooling, runtime discovery, and a deterministic 30-second rendering spike. The complete implementation sequence is in docs/roadmap.md, and docs/milestone-0.md tracks current foundation status. Milestone 1 implementation status and project-format rules are documented in docs/milestone-1.md and docs/project-schema.md. Timeline query and editing-engine status is tracked in docs/milestone-2.md. Rendering, durable jobs, previews, profiles, and output verification are tracked in docs/milestone-3.md.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22 or newer and pnpm 9

• Python 3.12 for the future analysis worker

• FFmpeg/ffprobe and MLT 7.38 (melt) on PATH for runtime/spike checks

pnpm install
pnpm check
pnpm capabilities -- --output artifacts/capabilities.json
pnpm fixtures:milestone-1 -- --require-runtime
pnpm test:runtime
pnpm spike:prepare
pnpm spike:render
pnpm render:acceptance

On Windows, the standard C:\Program Files\Kdenlive installation is discovered automatically. A portable installation can be selected with KDENLIVE_ROOT or MLT_ROOT; exact overrides are MELT_PATH, FFMPEG_PATH, and FFPROBE_PATH.

Related MCP server: Omni-Video Studio MCP

Scope

Milestones 0-3 are implemented: the canonical project/editing model and rendering stack are available as workspace packages. The public MCP transport and tool surface begins in Milestone 4.