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Control protocol & MCP

Desktop control channel

filmcraft --control 9876 (or FILMCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT) listens on 127.0.0.1:<port> (loopback only). One JSON request per line → one JSON reply per line:

{"id": 1, "method": "engine.execute", "params": {"command": "sequence.addEdit", "params": {"seconds": 3}}}
{"id": 1, "ok": true, "result": {"cuts": 2}}

Methods (handlers in crates/ui-egui/src/control.rs):

Method Params
engine.execute / ui.menu.invoke {command, params} any engine or UI command id
engine.commands / ui.menu.list – command registry / menu tree
ui.inspect – UI state (tool, workspace, dock, timeline view, playback, fps…)
ui.elements {prefix?} every on-screen interactive element: id, label, rect
ui.set {tool, workspace, mode, theme, focused, playbackRes, timeline:{pps,scroll,fit}}
ui.panel.show / ui.panel.close {panel}
ui.click / ui.move {id} or {x,y}, button, count, modifiers synthetic pointer input
ui.drag {from, to, steps, modifiers} press–move–release
ui.scroll `{id x,y, dx, dy, modifiers}`
ui.key / ui.type {key} (Cmd+K, Space…) / {text} keyboard
ui.timeline.hit / ui.timeline.locate {x,y} / {clip, edge?} timeline hit-testing
ui.playback `{action: play stop
ui.screenshot {path?, panel?} PNG of the window or one panel
ui.resize, ui.focus, app.quit

Element ids are stable, e.g. timeline.clip.<id>, timeline.track.V1.lock, tools.Razor, project.item.<id>, effects.item.gaussian_blur, panel.tab.Timeline, program.transport.playback.toggle.

Audio mixing: mixer.* commands (strips "A1", "S1", "Mix" or ids; lanes volume, pan, mute, send.<i>.level, fx.<slot>.<param>): mixer.inspect, mixer.setStrip (volume, pan, mute, solo, record arm, solo safe, mode Off/Read/Latch/Touch/Write, output, input map, channels), mixer.setValue, mixer.touch / mixer.release (a fader gesture; recorded during an automation pass), mixer.recordStart / mixer.recordStop (playback runs them), mixer.addSubmix, mixer.deleteSubmix, mixer.addInsert / removeInsert / setInsert, mixer.addSend / setSend / removeSend, mixer.setKeyframe / deleteKeyframe / moveKeyframe / clearLane, mixer.writeAutomation; clipMixer.set; clip.audioGain {mode: set|adjust|normalizeMax|normalizeAll, db}, clip.audioPeak; effects.setDefaultTransition. UI ids: mixer.<A1|S1|Mix>.<fader|value|pan|panValue|mode|mute|solo| record|soloSafe|output|input|fx.<n>|send.<n>|meter|name> (popup entries below them, e.g. mixer.A1.mode.Touch, mixer.A1.fx.0.studio_reverb), mixer.showEffects, mixer.transport.<cmd>, clipMixer.A1.<fader|pan|mute|solo|keyframe|value>, timeline.track.A1.keyframes[.<lane>|.clip], timeline.track.A1.lane[.kf.<n>], audioGain.<set|adjust|normalizeMax|normalizeAll|ok|cancel|peak>.

Project files, auto-save, crash recovery and preferences commands (file.recover, prefs.set, …) and their automation ids are listed in project-files.md.

MCP

filmcraft-cli mcp serves MCP on stdio: headless (in-process session; --demo / --project p.fcproj) or --bridge 127.0.0.1:9876 to drive the running app. Tools: command_list, command_run, project_inspect, sequence_inspect, media_import, render_frame, ui_inspect, ui_elements, ui_click, ui_drag, ui_key, ui_type, ui_screenshot, ui_control. .mcp.json registers both.

Time is in ticks (254 016 000 000 per second); commands also accept seconds, frame or timecode.