Overwrite Clip
overwrite_clipOverwrites a project item onto specified video/audio timeline tracks at a requested time and verifies the new source placement.
Instructions
Overwrite a project item onto validated timeline tracks and verify a new source placement at the requested time. Every video/audio stream the item actually has must land on the requested tracks; a picture-only or sound-only placement (for example 5.1 audio that does not fit a stereo track) is committed_unverified, not verified. Video-only and audio-only items overwrite only the receiving track, so Sequence.overwriteClip cannot smash V0 or A0 for the unused kind. When Premiere moves the source In to a sequence frame (an audio subclip cut between frames), the receipt reports sourceInShift and a note. slip_edit snaps to whole sequence frames, so it cannot correct a shift smaller than one frame.
Tool call template
Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {
"item_id": "<item_id>"
},
"name": "overwrite_clip"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| item_id | Yes | Node ID or name of the project item to add, or the sequence ID of a sequence | |
| track_index | No | Video track index (0-based, default: 0) | |
| start_seconds | No | Start time in seconds on the timeline (default: 0) | |
| idempotency_key | No | Optional client-chosen key (1-128 chars of A-Z a-z 0-9 . _ : -) for this intended edit. Pass a fresh key per edit and reuse it only when retrying that same edit, for example after a client-side timeout. A repeat with the same tool, key and arguments is not run again: while the first call is running it fails with IDEMPOTENCY_IN_PROGRESS (poll get_last_operations); after it finished it returns the original outcome marked replayed. A definite failure with nothing applied (receipt outcome not_applied) may be retried with the same key. Reusing a key with different arguments fails with IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_REUSED. Scoped to this MCP session (the stdio server process, or the HTTP server process when Streamable HTTP is stateless per request) and held in memory only (200 keys, 1 hour); it does not survive a restart or reconnect. Read-only invocations are never deduplicated. | |
| audio_track_index | No | Audio track index (0-based, default: 0), or "auto_empty" to use the lowest audio track with no clip in the placement range (for example when overwriting a nested sequence above existing music). auto_empty refuses, changing nothing, when every audio track is occupied there. | |
| expected_cep_target | No | Optional reviewed CEP sequence/clip identity and exact tick ranges. Checked before every generated command; UXP refuses this CEP-only guard. | |
| expected_project_path | No | Optional absolute saved-project path. Every generated CEP command refuses before its body when the active project differs or is unsaved. UXP commands refuse this CEP-only guard; local-only tools do not inspect Premiere. Omit to keep existing behavior. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| ok | Yes | Whether the tool completed successfully. | |
| data | No | Tool-specific result data when ok is true; on failure, diagnostic detail when the tool provides it. | |
| tool | Yes | The registered MCP tool name. | |
| error | No | Failure detail when ok is false. | |
| receipt | No | Versioned common mutation receipt; success never implies rendered verification. | |
| idempotency | No | Present when idempotency_key deduplicated this call: replayed is true when the original outcome was returned instead of running again. |