Shotcut MCP server

Shotcut MCP

Local video editing through the Model Context Protocol.

Create, edit, validate, preview, and render saved Shotcut projects through your AI assistant. The result stays an editable .mlt timeline, with transactional writes that protect the project as you work.

Demonstration · Quick start · Documentation · Website

Demonstration

A short H.264 export created from a native Shotcut timeline edited through Shotcut MCP.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c70f064f-17e7-403d-9bcf-689a9c616cdf

Quick start

You need Python 3.10+, Shotcut (recommended 26.8.1, bundled MLT 7.41.0), and an MCP client that supports local stdio servers. Shotcut includes the required media tools, codecs, and filters. No additional Python packages are required.

1. Connect your client

The installation guide includes commands for Windows, macOS, and Linux. No pip install is required to run the server.

2. Check readiness

Ask your assistant:

Run shotcutstatus and shotcutdoctor. Report tool paths, versions, and failed runtime checks.

Resolve failed runtime checks before editing. See troubleshooting for recovery steps.

3. Make your first edit

Provide the source folder and the destination for the saved project, then describe your edit:

Create a 1920×1080, 30 fps Shotcut project from every video in this folder.
Put narration on A1, add 12-frame crossfades, and save it as documentary.mlt.
Generate a contact sheet so I can review the edit before exporting.

You can request adjustments in ordinary language. See the editing workflow and example prompts for subtitles, quality analysis, effects, and delivery.

Features

apply up to 500 operations in one transaction.

• Edit the timeline: work with tracks, clips, transitions, speed changes, titles, and subtitles;

frames or contact sheets before exporting.

• Review the result: inspect source quality and color, preview proposed changes, and generate

and the exact editable project used for that render.

• Render and deliver: export a full project, frame range, or named marker; receive the media

validation, isolated backups, and atomic file replacement.

• Keep work local: use effects from your installed MLT build, with revision checks,

See the full capability reference for supported edit operations.

Transactional safety

Edits are checked against the inspected revision, validated with Melt, and backed up before atomically replacing the saved project. Unknown XML is preserved; ambiguous edits are rejected. Preview and render outputs also use temporary files and atomic promotion.

Each render uses an immutable project snapshot, so later timeline edits cannot change a running export. If export was not already requested, the client confirms the output, preset, range, and overwrite behavior first. An explicit export request does not need a second approval.

Read the transaction and recovery details and rendering behavior.

Limitations

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.