touchdesigner-mcp — TouchDesigner MCP Server

Control TouchDesigner from AI assistants — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or any Model Context Protocol client.

MCP client (Claude, Copilot, …)  ←— stdio/MCP —→  touchdesigner-mcp  ←— HTTP :9980 —→  TouchDesigner (Web Server DAT)

19 tools: create/connect/inspect nodes, get/set parameters, build whole networks in one call, export networks as JSON, run Python inside TD, save the project, and more.

Quick start

You need two things running: the bridge inside TouchDesigner and the MCP server config in your AI client. Python 3.10+ and uv are the only prerequisites (or plain pip if you prefer).

1. TouchDesigner side — install the bridge

Option A — paste the callbacks script:

1. Print the bridge script and copy it:

   uvx touchdesigner-mcp bridge
   

   (or grab touchdesigner-mcp-bridge-callbacks.py from the latest release — avoid copying bridge_script.py from the repo, which carries a dev placeholder version)
2. In TouchDesigner: right-click in the network editor → Add Operator → DAT → Web Server
3. In the Web Server DAT parameters: set Port to 9980, toggle Active ON
4. Click the arrow icon on the Web Server DAT to open its callbacks DAT, and replace its entire contents with the copied script

Option B — drag & drop: download touchdesigner-mcp-bridge.tox from the latest release and drag it into your network.

Your .toe file can be saved anywhere — the bridge is fully self-contained.

2. Client side — add the MCP server

Claude Code:

claude mcp add touchdesigner -- uvx touchdesigner-mcp

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "touchdesigner": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["touchdesigner-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code / GitHub Copilot (.vscode/mcp.json in your workspace):

{
  "servers": {
    "touchdesigner": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["touchdesigner-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "touchdesigner": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["touchdesigner-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

That's it. Open your assistant and try: "Create a noise TOP called myNoise in /project1".

Configuration

By default touchdesigner-mcp talks to http://127.0.0.1:9980. Override via environment variables or CLI flags:

Example — TD on a non-default port, via the client config:

{
  "command": "uvx",
  "args": ["touchdesigner-mcp", "--port", "9981"]
}

Multiple TouchDesigner instances: add one MCP server entry per instance, each with a different name and port (each TD project needs its own Web Server DAT on a distinct port).

Usage examples

Prompts that work well in agent mode:

• "Create a noise TOP called myNoise in /project1"
• "What nodes are in /project1?"
• "Set the seed parameter of /project1/myNoise to 42"
• "Connect myNoise to null1"
• "Find all TOP nodes in the project"
• "Show me the info and parameters of /project1/myNoise"
• "Create a network with a noiseTOP, levelTOP, and nullTOP connected in series"
• "Export the network in /project1 as JSON"
• "Are there any errors in the project?"
• "Copy noise1 and call it noise_backup"
• "Create a constant TOP called bg, then set its color to red (colorr=1, colorg=0, colorb=0)"
• "Save the project"

Available MCP tools

Common TouchDesigner node types

A few non-obvious TD behaviors when building networks programmatically:

• The Geometry component's create-type is geometryCOMP (not geoCOMP), and it spawns with a default torus SOP inside.
• A CHOP to TOP takes its source CHOP via its chop parameter, not an input wire — connecting to input 0 fails.
• A Feedback TOP shows an error until an input is wired to initialize its buffer.

Security note

The bridge executes commands sent to the Web Server DAT without authentication — including arbitrary Python via execute_script. It binds to your machine's local network interface. Keep the port firewalled from untrusted networks, and don't expose it to the internet.

Troubleshooting

"Cannot connect to TouchDesigner at …"

• Is TouchDesigner running?
• Is the Web Server DAT Active (toggle it on)?
• Does the DAT's port match your configured TD_PORT (default 9980)?
• Try opening http://localhost:9980 in your browser — you should get a response.

"Failed to start server" on the Web Server DAT (Windows)

If the DAT refuses to start even though nothing else uses the port, Windows may have reserved the port range (Hyper-V/WSL/Docker do this, and the ranges move around after reboots). Check with:

netsh interface ipv4 show excludedportrange protocol=tcp

If 9980 falls inside one of the listed ranges, pick a port outside all of them, set it on the Web Server DAT, and point the MCP server at it (e.g. "args": ["touchdesigner-mcp", "--port", "9090"] or TD_PORT=9090).

"Unknown action" error

• Make sure you pasted the entire bridge script into the callbacks DAT.
• Your bridge may be older than your touchdesigner-mcp version — re-paste the output of uvx touchdesigner-mcp bridge.

"TouchDesigner bridge is vX.Y.Z but this server is …" warning

• The bridge installed in your TD project doesn't match your touchdesigner-mcp version. Re-paste the output of uvx touchdesigner-mcp bridge into the callbacks DAT (or update the .tox from the matching release). Everything keeps working in the meantime — but tools added since the bridge was installed will fail with "Unknown action".

"Node not found"

• Check the path with list_nodes first.
• Paths are case-sensitive and start with /.

"Parameter not found"

• The error message lists all available parameters — check the exact name.
• Use TD's parameter dialog to find the programmatic name (hover over a parameter label).

Development

git clone https://github.com/quentinR2/TouchDesignerMcp
cd TouchDesignerMcp
uv venv && uv pip install -e .[dev]   # or: python -m venv .venv && pip install -e .[dev]
pytest                                 # smoke tests, no TouchDesigner needed

Project layout:

touchdesigner_mcp/               # MCP server package (runs outside TD)
│   ├── __main__.py   # CLI entry point (touchdesigner-mcp / python -m touchdesigner_mcp)
│   ├── config.py     # Endpoint resolution (env vars / flags)
│   ├── client.py     # send_to_td() async HTTP helper
│   ├── bridge_script.py  # GENERATED single-file TD bridge — do not edit
│   └── tools/        # One module per tool group, registered via @mcp.tool()
├── td_bridge/        # TD-side source of truth (modular, dev only, not shipped)
│   ├── router.py     # Dispatch table + handle_request()
│   └── handlers/     # One module per tool group
├── scripts/build_bridge.py  # Merges td_bridge/ → touchdesigner_mcp/bridge_script.py
└── tests/            # MCP-layer smoke tests

Editing the bridge: change files under td_bridge/, then regenerate:

python scripts/build_bridge.py

CI fails if touchdesigner_mcp/bridge_script.py is stale. To test bridge changes in TD, re-paste the regenerated script into the callbacks DAT.

Releasing: tag and push — that's all:

git tag v0.3.0 && git push origin v0.3.0

The version is derived from the tag (setuptools-scm; there is no version field to bump). GitHub Actions stamps it into the bridge script, builds, publishes to PyPI (Trusted Publishing), and creates a GitHub release with the stamped bridge script attached. The checked-in bridge_script.py always carries the 0.0.0.dev0 placeholder — only release artifacts get a real version. Build the .tox in TouchDesigner and upload it to the release manually when the bridge changed.

License

MIT