Dcc Renderdoc

Agent workflow

AI agents should use the shared gateway through dcc-mcp-cli; IDE users may continue to use the MCP endpoint. Prefer typed skills and tools over raw scripts.

Install or update the CLI

dcc-mcp-cli is the preferred control path for every shell-capable agent. If it is missing, ask the user before installing the latest official release:

# Linux/macOS
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dcc-mcp/dcc-mcp-core/main/scripts/install-cli.sh | sh

# Windows PowerShell
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -c "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dcc-mcp/dcc-mcp-core/main/scripts/install-cli.ps1 | iex"

Keep an official build current through the release manifest:

dcc-mcp-cli update check
dcc-mcp-cli update apply

update apply downloads and stages the latest CLI for the next launch. It does not update a running dcc-mcp-server; update that server in its own environment.

dcc-mcp-cli dcc-types
dcc-mcp-cli list
dcc-mcp-cli search --query "<task>" --dcc-type renderdoc
dcc-mcp-cli describe <tool-slug>
dcc-mcp-cli call <tool-slug> --json '{"key":"value"}'

dcc-types reports release-catalog support; list reports live sessions. If a tool belongs to an inactive progressive skill, call dcc-mcp-cli load-skill <skill-name> --dcc-type renderdoc before retrying. For post-task improvement, attach a stable session id with --meta-json, query dcc-mcp-cli stats --range 24h --session-id <task-id>, then pass the bounded evidence to the review_skill_improvement prompt from dcc-mcp-skills-creator.

RenderDoc capture and replay automation for the DCC Model Context Protocol ecosystem.

The adapter is headless-first: it reuses the official renderdoccmd executable for capture and conversion. Delayed capture uses RenderDoc's official Target Control API through the sibling qrenderdoc bundled Python runtime, without foreground focus or synthetic keyboard input.

Install

pip install dcc-mcp-renderdoc

See the complete Install SOP for supported versions, JSON doctor/verify, upgrades, cache integrity, uninstall, and troubleshooting.

Install RenderDoc separately, then expose its command line tool with either PATH or:

export DCC_MCP_RENDERDOC_CMD=/opt/renderdoc/bin/renderdoccmd
dcc-mcp-renderdoc

On Windows, set the variable to renderdoccmd.exe.

Plan and execute the standard lifecycle before starting the adapter:

dcc-mcp-renderdoc install --json
dcc-mcp-renderdoc install --json --yes
dcc-mcp-renderdoc status --json
dcc-mcp-renderdoc doctor --json
dcc-mcp-renderdoc verify --json

doctor is a compatibility preflight. install, status, verify, uninstall, and upgrade use the receipt-backed Install SOP v1 contract; mutating verbs plan unless --yes is supplied.

Each adapter instance uses an OS-assigned MCP port and registers it for CLI discovery. Connect through the stable gateway at http://127.0.0.1:9765/mcp; set DCC_MCP_RENDERDOC_PORT only when a fixed direct endpoint is required.

Agent workflows

• Launch a game or test executable under RenderDoc and wait for a typed .rdc capture.
• Trigger a capture through official Target Control after a configurable delay.
• Inject into a process that had to be launched by a platform client, then trigger and collect a capture.
• Reject no-work captures with actionable diagnostics while preserving the .rdc artifact.
• Inspect capture driver, machine identity, chunk version, frame-work and Present counts, and representative calls.
• Export a capture thumbnail for visual review.
• Export Chrome trace JSON for timeline tooling.
• Convert a capture to RenderDoc XML or Chrome trace JSON for downstream tooling.
• Report which RenderDoc backends are reachable — the renderdoccmd baseline and the deep renderdoc.pyd replay backend driven through qrenderdoc — and which capabilities they unlock.
• Inspect a capture through deep replay: describe it, search and page the action tree, inspect one event, enumerate resources and their usage, and read pipeline state, shader reflection, shader source and disassembly, constant buffer values, and texture and buffer contents.

The capture tool launches only the explicit executable and arguments supplied by the caller. It never invokes a shell. Analysis tools are read-only with respect to the .rdc input. Deep replay tools are read-only as well, run inside an isolated RenderDoc profile, and degrade with an explicit "backend unavailable, here is how to enable it" message when qrenderdoc is absent; only get_texture_data and get_buffer_data write files, and only to a destination you name.

Pass trigger_after_secs to capture_program for a Target Control trigger. This requires qrenderdoc beside renderdoccmd. The official RenderDoc runtime supports Windows and Linux; macOS is covered only by this project's Python unit tests. Linux Target Control requires an X or Wayland display, so headless hosts must run under Xvfb (or explicitly configure a working Qt platform). The official Linux archive does not bundle Qt's offscreen platform plugin. Each sidecar uses an isolated Qt data profile with RenderDoc analytics explicitly opted out, preventing the first-run consent dialog without reading or changing the user's qrenderdoc configuration.

When a launcher creates the rendered child process, set hook_children=true and pass trigger_process_name. The adapter first checks the launched target itself; if its name does not match, it follows only that target's official NewChild messages to find a unique named child. A child name without child hooking fails before launch. Use capture_process only when the target is already running; late injection may not capture graphics devices created before RenderDoc was attached.

Real CI

CI downloads only the repository-pinned Linux RenderDoc archive and verifies its SHA-256 before extraction. It compiles a small OpenGL program, requests a real frame through Target Control under Xvfb using Qt's bundled xcb platform, asserts the structured trigger mode, calls the MCP analysis tool against the resulting .rdc, and verifies thumbnail and timeline exports. CI also validates all standard lifecycle receipts against the Install SOP v1 JSON schema, proves stable failure exits without downloading, and exercises install/status/verify/uninstall around the real pinned runtime.

Development

uv sync --extra dev
uv run python -m pytest
uv run ruff check src tests tools
uv run python tools/lint_skills.py

RenderDoc is an MIT-licensed graphics debugger maintained independently at renderdoc.org. This adapter is not affiliated with the RenderDoc project.