davinci-resolve-cli (dvr)

A CLI for DaVinci Resolve 18+ — project / media / render / timeline control for humans and AI agents.

Demo

$ dvr doctor --format json | jq '{version, edition, bridgeStatus}'
{
  "version": "19.1.4.11",
  "edition": "Studio",
  "bridgeStatus": "ok"
}

$ dvr project current --format json
{
  "name": "Untitled Project",
  "timelineCount": 1,
  "framerate": 24.0,
  "resolution": { "width": 3840, "height": 2160 }
}

$ dvr render presets --format json | head -3
[
  "H.264 Master",
  "ProRes 422 HQ"

$ dvr timeline marker add --at 00:00:01:00 --note "review" --color Green --format json
{ "ok": true, "frame": 24, "timecode": "00:00:01:00" }

$ dvr mcp   # ← then any MCP client (stdio) can call 20 tools

An animated demo will replace this snapshot once vhs docs/demo.tape can be run on macOS 15 (the tape script and docs/demo.tape source are already in the repo).

Install

pipx install davinci-resolve-cli

Requires DaVinci Resolve 18+ already installed (Studio recommended). macOS first; Windows/Linux follow.

Quickstart

# Health check
dvr doctor

# Project ops
dvr project list
dvr project current

# Media batch
dvr media import ~/footage --recursive --bin "Day1"

# Render (async)
JOB=$(dvr render submit --preset "H.264 Master" --timeline cur --output ~/out.mp4 --format json | jq -r .jobId)
dvr render wait "$JOB"

# Timeline scripted edits
dvr timeline marker add --at 01:00:05:00 --note "review"

Capabilities at a glance

Conventions across every command:

• --format json|yaml|table — JSON by default in non-TTY, table (rich) in TTY, override via DVR_OUTPUT

• Structured errors on stderr — {"errorCode", "message", "hint"}, stable codes (resolve_not_running, validation_error, not_found, api_call_failed, wi_unavailable, …)

• --dry-run on every mutating command — prints the planned actions without touching Resolve

• Exit codes: 0 ok, 1 user error, 2 Resolve unavailable, 3 API call failed

Output formats

Override with --format json|yaml|table or DVR_OUTPUT=yaml.

AI Agent

dvr ships two complementary AI-agent integration paths.

1. Skill file (SKILL.md)

A SKILL.md packaged with the wheel; auto-discovered by skill systems that scan installed packages. Five worked example prompts:

• "Render the current timeline as 1080p mp4"

• "List clips imported today and tag them green"

• "Wait for render job X and tell me when it finishes"

• "Check if Resolve is ready"

• "Tag all clips in Day1 bin as Green for review"

2. MCP server (dvr mcp)

Standard stdio MCP server exposing 20 tools across doctor / project.* / media.* / render.* / timeline.* namespaces. Any MCP-aware AI client can wire it up:

// .mcp.json or your client's MCP server config
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "davinci-resolve": {
      "command": "dvr",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Tool errors are returned as structured JSON {"errorCode", "message", "hint"} matching the CLI's stderr contract — same error codes (resolve_not_running, validation_error, not_found, etc.) so an agent can branch on them deterministically.

Verify the server is reachable:

dvr mcp   # blocks, reads stdin/writes stdout per MCP spec

Architecture

flowchart LR
    Human["Human<br/>(terminal)"]
    Agent["AI agent<br/>(MCP client)"]
    CLI["dvr CLI"]
    MCP["dvr mcp<br/>(stdio)"]

    Boot["bootstrap.py"]
    DVRScript["DaVinciResolveScript"]
    Resolve["DaVinci Resolve 18+"]

    WIServer["wi_client.py<br/>(localhost:50420)"]
    WIPlugin["WI plugin<br/>(JS, inside Resolve)"]

    Jobs["~/.dvr/jobs.json"]

    Human -->|argv| CLI
    Agent -->|tool calls| MCP
    MCP -->|same helpers| CLI
    CLI --> Boot --> DVRScript --> Resolve
    CLI -->|render jobs| Jobs
    CLI -->|cut/move<br/>JSON-RPC| WIServer
    WIPlugin -->|poll /inbox<br/>POST /result| WIServer
    WIPlugin --> Resolve

Five command domains, two transports (CLI + MCP), one bridge (DaVinciResolveScript), one escape hatch for ops the Python API doesn't cover (Workflow Integration). Full write-up in docs/architecture.md.

Compatibility

Cookbook

Five end-to-end recipes covering the most common workflows. Each is a copy-paste shell snippet that assumes DaVinci Resolve 18+ Studio is running and a project is open.

1. Render the current timeline as 1080p H.264 mp4

# Preflight: make sure the bridge is healthy
dvr doctor --format json | jq -e '.bridgeStatus == "ok"' >/dev/null || { echo "Resolve not ready"; exit 2; }

# Pick the first preset whose name contains "H.264"
PRESET=$(dvr render presets --format json | jq -r '.[] | select(test("H\\.264"; "i"))' | head -1)

# Submit (async — returns immediately), then block until done
JOB=$(dvr render submit --preset "$PRESET" --timeline cur --output ~/Renders/out.mp4 --start --format json | jq -r .jobId)
dvr render wait "$JOB"   # progress to stderr, terminal status to stdout

2. Import a SD card's footage into per-date bins

# Assumes ~/footage/<YYYY-MM-DD>/ structure
for day_dir in ~/footage/*/; do
  day=$(basename "$day_dir")
  dvr media import "$day_dir" --bin "$day" --recursive --format json | jq '.imported | length' \
    | xargs -I{} echo "imported {} clips into '$day'"
done

3. Tag every clip in a bin as "Green" for review (skipping ones already tagged)

BIN="Day1"
IDS=$(dvr media list --bin "$BIN" --format json \
  | jq -r '.[] | select(.flags | index("Green") | not) | .id')
[ -n "$IDS" ] && dvr media tag $IDS --color Green --format json

4. Drop chapter markers from a CSV file (timecode, label)

# chapters.csv:
#   00:00:00:00,intro
#   00:01:30:00,demo
#   00:04:15:00,outro
while IFS=, read -r tc label; do
  dvr timeline marker add --at "$tc" --name "$label" --color Sky --format json >/dev/null
done < chapters.csv

dvr timeline marker list --format json | jq '.[] | "\(.timecode) → \(.name)"'

5. AI agent: render via MCP server

Wire dvr mcp into any MCP-aware client (most desktop AI assistants now support MCP — check your client's docs for the right config file path):

// ~/.config/<client>/mcp.json
{ "mcpServers": { "davinci-resolve": { "command": "dvr", "args": ["mcp"] } } }

Then ask the agent:

"Render the currently open timeline as 1080p H.264, save it to ~/out.mp4, and tell me when it's done."

The agent will call doctor → render.presets → render.submit(start=true) → render.wait automatically. Tool errors come back as structured {errorCode, message, hint} so the agent can branch on resolve_not_running / validation_error / etc. deterministically.

Configuration

dvr reads two optional TOML files and merges them with this precedence (highest wins):

1. CLI flag — per command, always wins

2. <cwd>/.dvr/config.toml — project-local; commit it to your repo so your team shares the same defaults

3. ~/.dvr/config.toml — user-global; your personal preferences across all projects

4. Built-in defaults

Initialize a commented sample in the current project:

dvr config init

See exactly which layer every effective value came from:

dvr config show --format json | jq '.sources'

Initial supported fields (more can be added incrementally without breaking changes):

[defaults]
output_format = "json"     # default --format for table-capable commands
bin = "Master"             # default --bin for media import / list
preset = "H.264 Master"    # default --preset for render submit
marker_color = "Blue"      # default --color for timeline marker add
marker_duration = 1

Troubleshooting

Make sure:

1. A project is open inside Resolve (the splash / project picker doesn't count).

2. Preferences → System → General → External scripting using is set to Local. The default is None; Local is required for DaVinciResolveScript to accept connections.

3. You're on Resolve 18 or newer. dvr doctor will tell you the detected version under version.

dvr doctor reports your edition in the edition field. On Free:

• ✅ All project, media, timeline marker * commands work

• ⚠️ render submit works but some preset codecs (DNxHR, ProRes 4444, etc.) are Studio-only — the job will queue but fail at encode time

• ❌ dvr install-wi deploys the plugin but Workflow Integrations require Resolve Studio at runtime, so timeline cut / move will return wi_unavailable on Free

Your Python is 3.9 or older. dvr 0.2.1+ requires Python 3.10+ because the mcp SDK does. Check with python --version. If your system Python is too old, install a newer one (pyenv install 3.12, brew install python@3.12, or use Homebrew Cask).

Resolve's default install path on Windows is %PROGRAMDATA%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Developer\Scripting\. If you installed Resolve to a custom location, set these two env vars before running dvr:

set RESOLVE_SCRIPT_API=<your-path>\Support\Developer\Scripting
set RESOLVE_SCRIPT_LIB=<your-path>\fusionscript.dll

dvr doctor --format json shows the resolved apiPath and libPath — useful to confirm what we tried.

1. Restart Resolve. Workflow Integrations are scanned at launch.

2. Check you're on Resolve Studio — WI is Studio-only.

3. macOS: the plugin must land at ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Fusion/Workflow Integration Plugins/dvr-cli-bridge/. dvr install-wi --format json prints the destination — verify the path exists and contains manifest.xml / index.html / server.js.

4. After enabling under Workspace → Workflow Integrations, a small panel should pop up showing "Polling localhost:50420…". If you don't see it, check Resolve's console.log (Help → Logs).

Development

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest                              # unit only
pytest -m integration               # requires Resolve running

License

MIT