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effectcraft/docs/mcp.md
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7b632bdbc1 MCP: report render progress and handle cancellation
Keep serving during long renders, recover failed workers, and remove only files opened by the interrupted export. Cover progress, cancellation, EOF and output ownership with regression tests.

Co-Authored-By: OpenAI Codex <[email protected]>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
2026-10-09 00:20:22 -07:00

3.5 KiB

MCP conventions

Run effectcraft-cli mcp for a headless session, or effectcraft-cli mcp --bridge 9877 to use the desktop app's control channel. Existing ports are unchanged.

The server provides the same core conventions as FilmCraft #28:

Tool Arguments Result
command_list filter?, enabled_only?, schemas? Command catalog
command_run id, params? Engine command result
command_batch steps: [{id, params?}], stop_on_error? completed, failed, per-step results
doc_inspect none Project overview and active composition
render_preview comp?, time?, max_side?, transparent? PNG and frame information

command_batch stops at the first error by default; false continues. Each edit has its own undo step. The existing batch tool retains its atomic undo grouping and result references. Existing tools, including list_commands, execute_command, and batch, remain listed because existing workflows use them; there are no hidden aliases. See agents.md for the full catalog. Each tool has a title and read-only, destructive, idempotent and open-world hints. Tools with an optional output path are conservatively annotated as file writers.

Unknown top-level tool argument keys return JSON-RPC -32602 naming the key and accepted arguments. EffectCraft already rejects unknown engine command parameters; that behaviour is preserved. Tool failures (including escaped panics) return isError: true. Malformed JSON returns -32700 with a null id and the session keeps serving. The MCP backend owns its session without a mutex; the engine's render-job mutexes already recover poisoned locks.

Resources effectcraft://document and effectcraft://commands return JSON matching doc_inspect and command_list. Clients declaring MCP 2026-07-28 in per-request _meta receive resultType: complete and list/read cache hints; document reads are never cached.

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"command_run","arguments":{"id":"comp.new","params":{"width":640,"height":360}}}}
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"resources/read","params":{"uri":"effectcraft://document"}}

Progress and cancellation

Headless command_run / execute_command calls to renderQueue.render (unless wait: false) run the existing background job while the MCP server keeps reading stdin. A params._meta.progressToken string or number opts into notifications/progress, at most ten per second, strictly increasing with a queue-item total. No token means no notifications. ping, inspection and other requests are served while rendering. The existing engine refuses a second render while one is active. Closing stdin lets the pending render finish and reply.

Send notifications/cancelled with params.requestId to stop the matching request at the next frame batch. No response is sent for that cancelled request. Unknown and completed ids are ignored. The exporter records the exact files it opens, including storage overflow paths, and removes those files on cancellation; it never scans for similarly named files. Finished earlier queue items and skipped existing frames remain. Custom exporters implement the same cleanup contract. A failed queue item gives isError: true.

Bridge calls, wait: false, batch tools and single-frame tools retain synchronous/polling behaviour and do not report MCP progress or cancellation. Use a direct blocking command call for an MCP-cancellable render.