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officefiction

Deadline MCP Server

by officefiction
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Python
Remote

Deadline MCP Server

AI access to a Thinkbox Deadline 10 render farm via its Web Service REST API, exposed as Model Context Protocol tools. Works with Hermes, Claude, and any MCP-compatible client.

  • 18 tools — 9 read + 9 write (see Tools)

  • Self-contained — own venv, no host dependencies beyond Python 3.10+

  • Env-configured — no secrets in the repo

Requirements

Requirement

Detail

Python

3.10+

Deadline Web Service

deadlinewebservice running, default port 8081

Network

The target machine must reach the Web Service (same host, LAN, or tailnet)

Credentials

A Deadline user account (username + password — not email)

Related MCP server: fxhoudinimcp

Install

git clone https://github.com/officefiction/deadline-mcp-server.git
cd deadline-mcp-server
./install.sh

install.sh creates a venv/, installs mcp + httpx, and self-tests the tool registry. Expected output ends with:

tools (18): deadline_complete_job, deadline_delete_job, ...

Version pin: the server targets the MCP 1.x Python SDK (mcp>=1.28,<2). MCP 2.x moved FastMCP — do not upgrade past 2.x without testing.

Configure

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env:
#   DEADLINE_WS_URL=http://localhost:8081   (or your host)
#   DEADLINE_WS_USER=<deadline username>
#   DEADLINE_WS_PASS=<deadline password>
chmod 600 .env

Variable

Required

Default

Description

DEADLINE_WS_URL

no

http://localhost:8081

Base URL of the Deadline Web Service

DEADLINE_WS_USER

yes

—

Deadline user account (not email)

DEADLINE_WS_PASS

yes

—

Deadline account password

DEADLINE_MCP_READONLY

no

false

true = read-only tools only (no job mutations)

Register in Hermes

Add this block to ~/.hermes/config.yaml (path must match where you cloned):

mcp_servers:
  deadline:
    command: "/opt/deadline-mcp-server/venv/bin/python"
    args: ["/opt/deadline-mcp-server/server.py"]
    env:
      DEADLINE_WS_URL: "${DEADLINE_WS_URL}"
      DEADLINE_WS_USER: "${DEADLINE_WS_USER}"
      DEADLINE_WS_PASS: "${DEADLINE_WS_PASS}"
    enabled: true
    timeout: 120
    connect_timeout: 60

Then put the three DEADLINE_WS_* values in the profile's .env (chmod 600), restart the gateway, and verify:

hermes mcp test deadline   # expect 18 tools discovered

Register in other MCP clients

Point any MCP client at the stdio server:

{
  "command": "/opt/deadline-mcp-server/venv/bin/python",
  "args": ["/opt/deadline-mcp-server/server.py"],
  "env": {
    "DEADLINE_WS_URL": "http://localhost:8081",
    "DEADLINE_WS_USER": "...",
    "DEADLINE_WS_PASS": "..."
  }
}

Tools

Read (always available)

Tool

Description

deadline_farm_status

Overall farm snapshot: workers, jobs by state, groups, pools

deadline_list_jobs

List jobs, filter by state / user

deadline_get_job

One job by ID

deadline_job_tasks

Tasks (chunks) of a job, per-task status

deadline_job_reports

Job reports / render logs

deadline_list_workers

Farm workers (slaves) with status + heartbeat

deadline_list_users

Repository users

deadline_list_groups

Worker groups

deadline_list_pools

Job pools

Write (disabled with DEADLINE_MCP_READONLY=true)

Tool

Description

deadline_suspend_job

Stop new tasks from starting

deadline_resume_job

Resume a suspended job

deadline_requeue_job

Re-run a job's tasks

deadline_complete_job

Mark a job completed

deadline_fail_job

Mark a job failed

deadline_pend_job

Hold a job until released

deadline_release_pending_job

Release a pended job to the queue

deadline_set_job_priority

Change a job's priority

deadline_delete_job

Delete a job

Job states

State

Meaning

0

Unknown

1

Active

2

Suspended

3

Completed

4

Failed

5

Deleted

6

Pending

Architecture

MCP client (Hermes / Claude / ...)
        │  stdio (JSON-RPC)
        ▼
server.py  (FastMCP, mcp<2)
        │  HTTP Basic auth
        ▼
Deadline Web Service  (deadlinewebservice, :8081)
        │  REST
        ▼
Deadline repository  (render farm)

Key API facts (this server handles them automatically):

  • Workers are served under /api/slaves (not /api/workers)

  • Job state lives in the top-level Stat field

  • Auth is a Deadline user account — the Web Service returns 401 without it

Development

# Regenerate/refresh docs against the live tool registry
python3 scripts/deadline_mcp_docs.py --outline   # (internal tooling, not in this repo)

License

Internal tooling for the Office Fiction project. MIT.

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