FCPXML MCP

Edit Final Cut Pro by talking to Claude, and watch the cut change.

One prompt, seven tool calls, and the timeline re-rendered inline after each write. Every frame is the real ui://fcp/timeline app drawing a real view_timeline result; the B-roll provider is mocked and the recording says so on screen. Full-size mp4, re-recorded with demo/hero/build.py.

See it. view returns the timeline as exact rational-time JSON, and a host with MCP Apps draws it inline: lanes, thumbnails, markers, transcript words, a playhead, buttons that call the other tools.

Cut it. 15 grouped tools, 102 operations: trims, splits, silence removal, markers from transcripts and beats, rough cuts, keyframes and speed ramps, transcript edits, cross-NLE export, and a push into a running Final Cut Pro.

Trust it. Every write is journaled with its sha256 and can be undone. deliver refuses an unreviewed cut, expected_sha256 refuses a file that changed under the model, and generation is quote-then-confirm under a per-call cap. 182 adversarial-input security tests, defusedxml everywhere, sandboxed writes, no private APIs, and a disclosure channel.

claude mcp add fcpxml -e FCP_PROJECTS_DIR=~/Movies -- uvx fcp-mcp-server

Then File → Export XML… in Final Cut Pro, and ask Claude to work on the file.

Proof

Real v0.25.0 output against a running copy of Final Cut Pro. A ten clip timeline is read back off the document, a marker is placed on every cut, and dialogue, music and effects roles are assigned across the clips. Final Cut is open on the left the whole time and is never touched by hand. Screen recorded from demo/session.sh, which calls the same handlers an MCP client calls; each import is verified by polling Final Cut until the project appears, so a delivered Apple event is never reported as a landed import. The earlier terminal only demo is still at docs/assets/demo.gif. Re-record it with vhs demo/demo.tape; the media is synthesised by ffmpeg at run time, so there is no fixture to keep.

Related MCP server: Final Cut Pro MCP Server

Keyframes and speed curves

Contributed by @travisoa in #26: the inspect and edit groups include five video/audio animation actions and three speed curve actions, imported into Final Cut Pro 12.4 without warnings. See keyframe usage for installation and animation, and speed curves for holds, sampled ramps, ripple and reset.

Quick Start

Claude Code (fastest)

claude mcp add fcpxml -e FCP_PROJECTS_DIR=~/Movies -- uvx fcp-mcp-server

Or project-scoped — commit a .mcp.json so your whole team gets it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fcpxml": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["fcp-mcp-server"],
      "env": { "FCP_PROJECTS_DIR": "/Users/you/Movies" }
    }
  }
}

With media intelligence (beat detection) and transcript editing (local Whisper):

claude mcp add fcpxml -e FCP_PROJECTS_DIR=~/Movies -- uvx --from "fcp-mcp-server[intelligence,transcribe]" fcp-mcp-server

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fcpxml": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["fcp-mcp-server"],
      "env": { "FCP_PROJECTS_DIR": "/Users/you/Movies" }
    }
  }
}

From source (contributors)

git clone https://github.com/DareDev256/fcp-mcp-server.git
cd fcp-mcp-server
pip install -e .
# then point your MCP client at: python /path/to/fcp-mcp-server/server.py

Use It

Export XML from Final Cut Pro (File → Export XML…), open your MCP client, and ask it to work with your timeline.

Why This Exists

After a decade directing music videos (Chief Keef, Migos, Masicka), I noticed the same editing bottlenecks on every project: counting cuts manually, extracting chapter markers one by one, hunting flash frames by scrubbing, building rough cuts clip by clip.

These are batch operations that don't need visual feedback. Export the XML, let Claude handle the tedium, import the result. That's the entire philosophy.

See It In Action

You:    "Run a health check on my wedding edit"

Claude: ✓ Analyzed WeddingFinal.fcpxml
        ├─ 247 clips · 42:18 total · 24fps · 1920×1080
        ├─ 3 flash frames detected (clips 44, 112, 198)
        ├─ 2 unintentional gaps at 12:04 and 31:47
        ├─ 14 duplicate source clips
        └─ Health score: 72/100

You:    "Fix the flash frames and gaps, then add chapter markers from
         this transcript"

Claude: ✓ Extended adjacent clips to cover 3 flash frames
        ✓ Filled 2 gaps by extending previous clips
        ✓ Added 18 chapter markers from transcript
        → Saved: WeddingFinal_modified.fcpxml

Import the modified XML back into Final Cut Pro. Every change is non-destructive — your original file is never touched.

What Claude Actually Sees

This is the magic trick. When you export XML from Final Cut Pro, your timeline becomes structured data that Claude can reason about:

<!-- What FCP exports -->
<asset-clip ref="r2" offset="342/24s" name="Interview_A"
            start="120s" duration="720/24s" format="r1">
    <marker start="48/24s" duration="1/24s" value="Key quote"/>
    <keyword start="0s" duration="720/24s" value="Interview"/>
</asset-clip>

# What Claude works with (after parsing)
Clip(
    name="Interview_A",
    offset=TimeValue(342, 24),   # timeline position: 14.25s
    start=TimeValue(120, 1),     # source in-point: 2:00
    duration=TimeValue(720, 24), # 30 seconds
    markers=[Marker(value="Key quote", start=TimeValue(48, 24))],
    keywords=["Interview"]
)

Every time value stays as a rational fraction — 720/24s, not 30.0 — so trim, split, and speed operations have zero rounding error across any frame rate, including the NTSC-fractional ones. A broadcast rate is carried as the exact rational it is (23.976 is 24000/1001, not a decimal), never as a truncated integer. Comparisons use cross-multiplication (a/b < c/d → a*d < c*b) to stay in integer-land end to end. Denominators are always normalized to positive values at construction, so sign lives on the numerator and cross-multiplication is always correct. Addition and subtraction share a single _binop() code path that handles same-denominator fast paths and LCM alignment in one place.

How It Works

  ┌──────────┐      ┌──────────────────────────────┐      ┌──────────┐
  │ Final Cut│      │  parser.py   → Python objects │      │ Final Cut│
  │   Pro    │─XML─>│  writer.py   → Modify & save  │─XML─>│   Pro    │
  │          │      │  rough_cut.py→ Generate new   │      │          │
  └──────────┘      │  diff.py     → Compare        │      └──────────┘
                    │  export.py   → Resolve / FCP7 │
                    └──────────────────────────────┘
                              ▲
                     Claude Desktop / MCP client

1. Export from FCP — File → Export XML...

2. Ask Claude — analyze, edit, generate, QC, export

3. Import back — File → Import → XML

What This Is NOT

• Not a plugin — it doesn't run inside Final Cut Pro

• Not for creative calls — color, framing, motion still need your eyes

New in v0.9 — Live Mode. The server can now push an FCPXML straight into the running Final Cut Pro with zero clicks, using Apple's official Open Document event — no XML re-import step. See Live Mode below.

Live Mode (macOS)

XML mode is offline and portable; Live mode drives a running Final Cut Pro through Apple's sanctioned surfaces — no patched binary, no private APIs, no accessibility scripting. Two tools, both verified end-to-end against FCP 12.2:

You:    "Build a rough cut from my Interview clips and push it into Final Cut"

Claude: ✓ Generated RoughCut.fcpxml (8 clips, 0:54)
        ✓ Pushed into Final Cut Pro → library "ProjectX", event 2026-06-11
        → Open Final Cut Pro to keep editing

The asymmetry you must know: Apple makes import scriptable but offers no programmatic export — to pull your current timeline back out for further AI work, you still run File > Export XML yourself. Live mode pushes; round-trips come back through the XML tools.

Notes (all live-verified): pass a library_location ending in .fcpbundle for a true zero-click import (a new path is auto-created); omitting it makes FCP show a modal library picker that blocks until you answer. First use triggers a one-time macOS Automation permission prompt for your terminal/MCP host. The capability audit maps the full surface and the optional SpliceKit/CommandPost bridges planned for v1.0.

The Round Trip

Final Cut Pro has a fully scriptable import and no programmatic export — verified unchanged across FCP 11.0 → 12.2. So the loop closes on exactly one keystroke, and everything either side of it is automated:

watch_start                    ← once per session (or set FCP_WATCH_DIR)
   ↓
edit / generate / mark         ← the change
   ↓
preview_check                  ← SEE it. Reads the media, not the XML
   ↓
deliver.push_to_fcp            ← zero-click import (or FCP_MCP_AUTOPUSH=1)
   ↓
Cmd-E in Final Cut Pro         ← the one manual step Apple leaves you
   ↓
watch_pull                     ← detected and diffed against the last export

preview_check is the part that matters. The preview:// resource and preview_timeline both draw from the XML — they show what was written, so a fixed flash frame and a broken one read identically through them. preview_check samples the source media into a filmstrip over an audio waveform. It is the difference between a tool reporting success and you knowing the cut is right.

If you have SpliceKit or CommandPost installed, watch_start says so. This server does not call either one — their RPC signatures have not been verified against a live install, and it never patches or injects anything. That is why it runs on a managed Mac and survives an FCP update.

When To Use This

How It Compares

Three projects have connected AI agents to Final Cut Pro. They make different trade-offs:

SpliceKit's runtime depth is genuinely impressive — if you're on your own Mac and comfortable patching FCP, it can do things XML never will. This project stays on the no-patch side so it runs anywhere, survives every FCP update, and can be trusted with client libraries. Full ecosystem analysis: capability audit.

Prompt Cookbook

Copy-paste these into Claude Desktop. Each one maps to a real tool chain under the hood.

Analysis

"Give me a full breakdown of ProjectX.fcpxml — clips, duration, frame rate, markers, everything"
"Show me pacing analysis for my timeline — where are the slow sections?"
"Export an EDL and CSV of all clips with timecodes"

QC & Fixes

"Run a health check on my timeline and fix anything under 2 frames"
"Find all gaps and flash frames, then auto-fix them"
"Are there any duplicate source clips I can consolidate?"

Markers & Chapters

"Add chapter markers from this transcript: [paste transcript]"
"Import markers from my-subtitles.srt onto the timeline"
"List all markers and export them as YouTube chapter timestamps"

Generation

"Build a 60-second rough cut from clips tagged 'Interview' — medium pacing"
"Generate a montage from all B-roll clips with accelerating pacing"
"Create an A/B roll: Interview_A as primary, B-roll cuts every 8 seconds"

Cross-NLE & Reformat

"Export this timeline for DaVinci Resolve"
"Convert to FCP7 XML so I can open it in Premiere"
"Reformat my 16:9 timeline to 9:16 for Instagram Reels"

Under the Hood

When you say "Run a health check on my wedding edit", Claude chains these tools:

analyze_timeline  →  stats, frame rate, resolution
detect_flash_frames  →  clips under threshold duration
detect_gaps  →  unintentional silence/black
detect_duplicates  →  repeated source media
validate_timeline  →  structural health score (0-100)

Each tool returns structured text that Claude synthesizes into the summary you see. No magic — just batch XML queries that would take 20 minutes by hand.

Music videos and connected clips

A music video is usually built by laying an audio bed and hanging every visual off it as a connected clip, so the spine holds one <gap> and the entire edit lives on lanes. snap_to_beats and detect_flash_frames work on that shape: snapping runs lane by lane, does not ripple the clips after the one it moves, skips (and names) any move that would collide with a neighbour in the same lane, and leaves the audio bed alone unless you pass include_audio_lanes. It reports cuts considered, moved, already on a beat, out of reach, and skipped — so "nothing moved" is something you are told rather than something you discover in Final Cut.

reorder_clips, rapid_trim, fix_flash_frames and fill_gaps are still primary-storyline only.

Pre-Built Prompts

Select these from Claude's prompt menu (⌘/) — they chain multiple tools automatically.

Every call takes the grouped form — the tool name is the group, and the operation goes in action:

{ "action": "validate_timeline", "args": { "filepath": "/path/to/project.fcpxml" } }

Tools

As of v0.19.0, the MCP tool list Claude sees by default is 15 grouped verbs, not 102 flat tool names: