DaVinci Resolve MCP: Claude Setup and Prompts

DaVinci Resolve 21.1 shipped on 8 September 2026 with a built in MCP server: an AI assistant such as Claude, Claude Code or ChatGPT Codex can now drive a Resolve project directly, from renders to LUTs to markers. It only works in Studio, and with 21.1 Python scripting moved to Studio as well. Below is the exact list of tools the assistant receives, a DaVinci Resolve MCP Claude setup that actually connects, seven production prompts with what the API does under each one, and the lines we would not let it cross on a client project.

Key takeaways

• The official DaVinci Resolve MCP server is Studio 21.1 only. The licence is a one time purchase, around 308 euros including VAT at Slovak retailer Syntex in October 2026.
• The assistant does not get dozens of ready made commands. Ours receives 14 general tools and does most work by writing a Python script against the scripting API.
• For colour, the API handles LUTs, CDL, grades from a DRX still and enabling or disabling nodes. Colour wheels, curves and masks are not exposed.
• After updating to 21.1, the free version takes neither outside assistants nor your own Python scripts. Community MCP servers need Studio too.
• According to Blackmagic's manual, a script from the assistant has the same disk and network access as the assistant itself. Your first prompt should only read, never change.

DaVinci Resolve 21.1 MCP: what Blackmagic actually added

A native MCP server, the standard interface through which a language model calls an application's functions, plus 20 new scripting API calls with a built in console.

In CineD's report on the DaVinci Resolve MCP release, the server is listed as Studio only, with official support for Claude, Claude Code and ChatGPT Codex, and Blackmagic quietly moved Python scripting out of the free version. The manual quoted by Y.M.Cinema Magazine also shows Google Antigravity and Grok in the setup window.

Two different things get mixed up online. The official server from Blackmagic is switched on from Resolve's menu. Community servers, such as davinci-resolve-mcp on GitHub with 44 tools or resolve-mcp with 88 tools, are separate projects that connect through external scripting. The figure of 88 tools doing the rounds on social media belongs to a community server, not to Blackmagic. For a company the difference matters: the official server is updated by the vendor with the app, a community one by one person in their spare time.

What the AI assistant really gets: 14 tools and the scripting API

General tools for running code and reading documentation, not a button for every feature in the app.

Our Resolve Studio is connected to Claude, and this is the exact list of what the assistant sees once connected:

Tool	What it does	Risk
get_resolve_status, launch_resolve	checks whether Resolve is running, or starts it	none
search_scripting_api, get_scripting_api, get_scripting_docs	searches the API documentation before writing a script	none
get_whats_new	reads the version changelog so it does not call a function that does not exist	none
run_script	runs a Python script inside Resolve	changes the project
run_script_unsafe	unrestricted script with file access	high
generate_lut, list_luts, delete_lut	creates, lists or deletes a LUT file	medium
list_dctls, update_dctl, delete_dctl	works with DCTLs, custom colour transforms	medium

The practical consequence: the quality of the result depends on how well the assistant knows the API. Ask for a render in three formats and it does not call a "render" command, it writes a script using LoadRenderPreset, SetRenderSettings, AddRenderJob and StartRendering. For colour, the boundary is written into the API itself. The node graph class offers SetLUT, ApplyGradeFromDRX and SetNodeEnabled, and a clip offers SetCDL with slope, offset, power and saturation. You will not find a function for colour wheels, curves, qualifiers or power windows. So the assistant can handle technical colour conversion, but not color grading in the sense of building a look.

Setup AI Assistants in Resolve 21.1 for Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Codex

Five minutes if you have Studio and the assistant installed. Most problems only show up when you verify the connection.

1. Update to DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 or later and confirm the version in the About window.
2. Install the assistant: Claude Desktop, Claude Code or Codex in ChatGPT.
3. In Resolve, open File, Setup AI Assistants. Resolve finds the installed assistants and writes the MCP server configuration for them.
4. Quit the assistant completely and start it again. Without a restart it does not see the Resolve tools.
5. Verify with a prompt that changes nothing (the first prompt in the next section). In Claude Code, run /mcp first to check that the Resolve server is connected.

Three mistakes you will hit most often. Claude Desktop and Claude Code are two separate programs, and setting up one does not reach the other, even on the same account. With Codex, the PilotCut blog describes a case where choosing Codex in the setup window opened Claude instead, fixed by running setup again for the right client. And if you try a community server instead of the official one, it needs External scripting using set to Local under Preferences, General, Python 3.10 or newer and Studio 18.5 or later. Do not mix official and community instructions, each assumes a different configuration.

7 DaVinci Resolve AI prompts from production, and what the API does

The order is deliberate: from a prompt that changes nothing to one that changes colour on hundreds of clips.

1. Read only audit. "Do not modify anything. List the project name, active timeline, frame rate, resolution, number of video and audio tracks and the clip count on each." If the numbers match what you see in Resolve, both the connection and the assistant's grasp of the project work.

2. Safe copy. "Duplicate the current timeline as MCP test and add a green marker called MCP OK on the first frame. Leave the original alone." Under the hood, DuplicateTimeline and AddMarker. From now on you only work on the copy.

3. Render in three formats. "Prepare a ProRes 422 HQ master, an H.265 4K web file and an H.264 1080p proxy. List the settings first and render only after I confirm." Blackmagic's manual uses this exact example. It saves ten minutes of clicking on every delivery.

4. LUT across one camera. "On node 2 of every clip on V1 whose metadata says camera A, apply the Sony S-Log3 to Rec.709 LUT." The assistant walks the clips with GetItemListInTrack, then calls GetNodeGraph and SetLUT on each. If a clip has no second node the call fails, so ask for a list of clips where it did not work.

5. Same base correction. "On node 1 of the interview clips, set saturation to 1.1 and a slightly warmer offset." This goes through SetCDL. Precise and repeatable, but still a technical correction, not a look.

6. Markers for the client. "Add a blue marker on every cut on V1 with the clip name and export the list to CSV." Useful in review rounds: the client gets a table of timecodes instead of an email about "that scene somewhere in the middle".

7. Pre delivery check. "Compare the project settings with this spec: 25 fps, 3840 × 2160, Rec.709, 48 kHz audio, loudness as briefed. List only the differences." The manual has a similar example checking a project for Netflix delivery. The assistant is a good second pair of eyes here, not a replacement for QC.

To give you an idea of the script behind prompt 4, this is its core:

project = resolve.GetProjectManager().GetCurrentProject()
timeline = project.GetCurrentTimeline()
for item in timeline.GetItemListInTrack("video", 1):
    graph = item.GetNodeGraph()
    if graph.GetNumNodes() >= 2:
        graph.SetLUT(2, "Sony/SLog3-to-Rec709.cube")

If you can read code like this at least as "walk the clips and put a LUT on node 2", you can supervise the assistant. If not, stick to prompts 1 to 3 and 6.

Jamie Fenn gave a professional editor and an AI assistant on MCP the same task in this video. The result lines up with the table above: the assistant is fast at technique and weak at the decisions that make a video good. We explain how a look that holds a brand together is built in our piece on color grading for brand video.

The free version after 21.1, DaVinci Resolve Studio cost and payback

If you ran your own Python scripts in the free version, they will not run after updating to 21.1. The choice is Studio, or staying on an older version.

A Studio licence costs 308 euros including VAT at Syntex, which is 250.41 euros for a VAT registered business, and it is a one time purchase, not a subscription. Our model calculation for an in house team: if an editor's hour costs the company 25 euros, the net price pays back after ten saved hours. For a team delivering several videos a week in multiple formats, that is one or two months. For one video a month it makes no sense, clicking is faster.

Staying on the free 20.x release, where your scripts still work, is a legitimate choice. Just expect to miss the AI tools from version 21, such as AI IntelliSearch or AI SlateFinder, and sooner or later a new codec or camera will push you to update anyway.

Safety and limits: where we would not hand a client project to an AI assistant

Anywhere a mistake costs more than the time saved, and on the decisions a client pays for.

Y.M.Cinema Magazine quotes Blackmagic's manual saying that scripts from an AI assistant have the same access to disk, network and system as the assistant itself. An assistant that misreads a request can overwrite media or wipe part of a timeline. The rules we recommend are simple: the first prompt only reads, work happens on a duplicate timeline, we want a settings report before any render, and no script marked unsafe runs until someone has read it.

The second limit is less technical. Shot selection, the rhythm of the cut and the colour look are exactly what a client pays for in video production. And time saved on technique disappears in the total production time. The longest part is not the render, it is the script, the shoot and the feedback rounds, which we break down in how long video production takes.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't Claude see DaVinci Resolve after Setup AI Assistants?

Usually because the assistant was not fully restarted, Resolve is not running with a project open, or you set up Claude Desktop while working in Claude Code, which are two separate programs. In Claude Code, check the connection with /mcp, and if the Resolve server is missing, run Setup AI Assistants again for that specific client.

Can the AI assistant in DaVinci Resolve do color grading?

Only the technical part: the scripting API can set a LUT on a given node, CDL values for slope, offset, power and saturation, apply a grade from a DRX still and enable or disable nodes. Colour wheels, curves, qualifiers and power windows are not in the API, so building the look stays with the colourist.

Does the community davinci-resolve-mcp server work with the free version of Resolve?

Not on 21.1. Community servers connect through Python scripting, which moved to Studio with 21.1, and the Cutsio guide, for example, lists Studio 18.5 or later, Python 3.10 or newer and External scripting using set to Local in Preferences.

If you are weighing whether to edit in Resolve in house or leave video production to a studio, drop us a line. We will tell you honestly which part makes sense to keep internal and which does not.