DCC-MCP Kdenlive

Agent tools for Kdenlive project files, installed effects and transitions, media, subtitles, and MLT rendering. Uses the DCC-MCP Core gateway, skill discovery, async jobs and shared DCC-CUA editor control.

An experimental native C++ bridge adds live timeline readback and undoable edits for a separately built, pinned Kdenlive host. The source overlay and protocol tests are included; stock installations do not expose this endpoint, and a full host binary has not yet been validated.

See a product video take shape

ImageGen interface reconstruction · workflow illustration. A headphone video connects source clips, timeline edits, narration and the finished preview in one recognisable workspace. DCC-MCP provides project-file editing, media and subtitle tools, and MLT rendering; Skills package reusable methods for those tools. The image is a generated illustration, not a live recording or export evidence. Image sources, attribution and the original Kdenlive screenshot.

Related MCP server: mcp-kdenlive

Install and run

Follow the authoritative installation and lifecycle runbook for acquisition, integrity checks, setup, verification, upgrades and removal.

Install the wheel from GitHub Releases (or pip install . from a checkout):

python -m pip install ./dcc_mcp_kdenlive-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl
dcc-mcp-kdenlive doctor
dcc-mcp-kdenlive serve

The default service is standalone and chooses an available loopback port. It can edit files independently of the editor. For the existing editor's UI, supply both its exact PID and native window handle:

dcc-mcp-kdenlive serve --pid 1234 --hwnd 5678 --host-version 26.08.1
dcc-mcp-cli list
dcc-mcp-cli load-skill kdenlive-project --instance-id INSTANCE_ID

GUI binding uses the exact PID and window handle without assuming a window title; Kdenlive's title changes with the active project and profile.

Discover the instance through the gateway and use search/describe/call with its returned tool slugs. The CLI prints its direct MCP URL as an alternative. Configure an MCP client with that HTTP URL or the machine's DCC-MCP gateway URL.

Configuration:

No editor, plugins or model weights are downloaded implicitly. doctor reports missing programs; install Kdenlive from its official distribution when needed.

Agent capabilities

Eight progressively loaded skill packages ship in the wheel:

The catalog is dynamic: it exposes the effects/producers/transitions installed with the host, including their native parameter metadata. It does not assume all optional MLT plugins are available. Native MLT parameter values, including keyframe expressions, remain strings; discover each service before configuring it.

Editor-only capabilities (multi-sequence editing, grouped/mixed clips, slip/slide, multicam, title designer, speech recognition, tracking/rotoscoping, proxies, recording, layouts and settings) use the existing ui-control skill. These are UI routes, not claimed native APIs. They depend on available controls and host features. See coverage and live acceptance.

Every document edit creates a new file. Existing outputs are never replaced. Use the inspection result's sha256 as expected_sha256 to fence edits against stale input. Source files remain unchanged; opening the new artifact and checking the editor is a separate operation. Grouped and nested timeline mutations reject with an editor-route instruction. File operations do not participate in editor Undo.

Render and recover

Load kdenlive-export, describe render_project, then supply a new output path, preset, and explicit inclusive start / end frames. The core returns an async job ID. Poll jobs_get_status until terminal; jobs_cancel cooperatively stops and reaps the render child. The final file is published only after FFprobe finds streams. The four encoding presets are portable defaults; other native export configurations remain available through the editor.

Development and releases

python -m pip install -e '.[test]' ruff build twine
python -m ruff check src tests tools
python -m ruff format --check src tests tools
python -m pytest -q
python -m build
python -m twine check dist/*
python tools/build_artifacts.py

CI validates Linux and Windows, Python 3.7 native compatibility and current Python, wheel installation, MCP HTTP calls, and real Linux MLT rendering. Release Please manages versions and changelogs. Release artifacts include wheel, sdist, an agent skill ZIP, an install manifest and SHA-256 checksums with provenance attestation. See release operations for publishing and catalog onboarding.

Portable-package and AVI media evidence is indexed in validation snapshots; those files are point-in-time records that pin their own versions and are not the current suite result.

Kdenlive is a KDE project. This adapter is independently maintained and is not endorsed by KDE. It does not bundle Kdenlive or MLT binaries.