Open source Local-first Fail-closed editing

MCP for Avid Media Composer: read your project as evidence you can verify before you act.

Connect the MCP-compatible client you already use to a local, read-only Avid analyzer. Inspect projects, bins, and interchange files first, then preview and confirm any guarded edit against current bridge state.

Install the server Browse 27 tools
Analysis is read-only and stays on your machine. Applied plans require a live bridge and an exact confirmation token.
AvEpisode_101Project audit
MCP connected

Project connected

Episode_101

Scanning project structure and bin locks
01:04:18:12
00:01 / 00:10
AI project auditRead-only

Indexing 184 project files

6 bins discovered
Allowed root verified
1 active bin lock
v1.1.0Current package version
Windows + macOSQualified Avid releases
Local-firstMedia never leaves your machine
MIT licensedSource available on GitHub

Illustrated tool workflow

Read the evidence. Then change anything.

Four real MCP tools carry a request from first inventory to a confirmed plan. This maps the tool contract; it is not a recording of a live Media Composer session.

avid_inventory_project_files

Inventory the project

Read-only · allowed roots enforced

Walk a project tree you explicitly allow and classify every project, bin, setting, lock, interchange and media file.

  • Nothing is read until an MCP client calls the tool on a configured allowed root.
  • Active and orphaned .lck bin locks are reported before anyone opens the project.
  • Optional SHA-256 hashing establishes a baseline for later comparison.

What works now

Structured evidence.
Not screen scraping.

Purpose-built analyzers expose useful editorial context while preserving unknown or proprietary data as clearly labeled evidence. See the full MCP tool reference and the capability matrix.

Project and bin intelligence

Inventory project trees, detect active or orphaned locks, and inspect AVB clips, sequences, tracks, views, and metadata.

Interchange validation

Parse AAF, ALE, and CMX-style EDL structures while identifying missing, malformed, truncated, or opaque data.

Media inspection

Use ffprobe for codec, container, stream, duration, frame-rate, timecode, packet, frame, and optional hash evidence.

Compatibility checks

Evaluate Media Composer, operating system, and architecture combinations against source-linked qualification rules.

Guarded edit plans

Preview bounded plans, classify risk, require destructive opt-in, and bind approval to an exact SHA-256 token.

Explicit bridge state

Report heartbeat freshness and supported operations. No bridge, stale state, or unsupported action means no live edit.

Local analysis 27 MCP tools

Projectavid_analyze_project
AVBavid_analyze_bin
AAFavid_analyze_aaf
ALEavid_analyze_ale
EDLavid_analyze_edl
Mediaavid_analyze_clip
OTIOavid_analyze_otio
Filesavid_inventory_project_files
Systemavid_check_compatibility
Bridgeavid_get_bridge_status
Safetyavid_preview_edit_plan
Guardedavid_apply_edit_plan
Projectavid_analyze_project
AVBavid_analyze_bin
AAFavid_analyze_aaf
ALEavid_analyze_ale
EDLavid_analyze_edl
Mediaavid_analyze_clip
OTIOavid_analyze_otio
Filesavid_inventory_project_files
Systemavid_check_compatibility
Bridgeavid_get_bridge_status
Safetyavid_preview_edit_plan
Guardedavid_apply_edit_plan

Connect in about ten minutes

Use the assistant you already have.

Pick your client and copy one configuration block. The server starts in inspect-only mode, so the first run reads evidence and makes no edits.
Claude Desktopclaude_desktop_config.json

Add the block, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop. The server starts in inspect-only mode and reads nothing outside the roots you list.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "avid-media-composer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "avid-media-composer-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "AVID_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTS": "ABSOLUTE_PROJECT_PATH",
        "AVID_MCP_CAPABILITIES": "inspect"
      }
    }
  }
}
  1. 01Install the prerequisitesNode.js 20 or newer runs the server. Python 3.9 or newer with the pinned pyavb and pyaaf2 packages unlocks AVB and AAF analysis, and ffprobe on PATH unlocks clip inspection.
  2. 02Scope the server's authorityPoint AVID_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTS at the Avid project folders the server may read and leave AVID_MCP_CAPABILITIES on inspect. Paths outside an allowed root are refused.
  3. 03Connect your clientAdd the configuration above, then fully quit and reopen your assistant so it launches the local stdio server.
  4. 04Run a read-only checkUse the prompt below. It reports capabilities, dependency health and project evidence, and it changes nothing.

Live Media Composer editing requires a separately installed, compatible Avid Extension bridge. The server never claims an edit from a preview or a catalog entry. Full client configuration is on the setup page.

Two independent lanes

Useful offline. Guarded when live.

Analysis never needs to pretend the editor is connected, and live control never silently falls back to UI automation. Read the architecture notes and the bridge contract.
01

MCP client

Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, or another standards-compatible client.

02

TypeScript server

Allowed-root enforcement, native parsers, bounded Python inspection, and risk controls.

03

Analysis lane

AVB · AAF · ALE · EDL · OTIO · media

Live-control lane

Compatible Avid Extension required

Source-linked compatibility

Compatibility contracts cover the latest Media Composer release tracks on qualified Windows and macOS combinations, each traced back to an Avid source.

avid_get_compatibility_matrix

Heartbeat diagnostics

Bridge status separates a missing bridge from a stale one, so an unanswered request is never mistaken for a completed edit.

avid_get_bridge_status

Honest coverage reports

Enabled authority, dependency health, source coverage and truncation are reported explicitly before you rely on a result.

avid_get_capabilities

Know the boundary: a compatibility-rule match describes Avid's published qualification, not proof that this connector has been exercised on that host. Catalog actions are planned contracts until an Extension advertises them. See implementation status.

Need the full tool list, schemas, or troubleshooting?

The repository documents every setup path, evidence limit, and known security boundary.

Read the documentation

Format and workflow guides

Know the file before you open it.

Reference pages for the Avid formats and workflow states these tools read: what each file contains, how it fails, and which MCP tool inspects it.

AVB files

An AVB file is an Avid Media Composer bin: a proprietary binary container holding clips, subclips, sequences and metadata. How the format is structured, how to open one, and how to read a .avb without Media Composer.

AAF files

An AAF file is an Advanced Authoring Format package carrying an edited composition and its metadata between Avid, Pro Tools, Premiere Pro and Resolve. What an AAF contains, how it differs from OMF, and how to inspect one before conform.

ALE files

An ALE file is a tab-delimited Avid Log Exchange metadata log. The Heading, Column and Data sections, the headings that matter, how to export and import ALE in Media Composer, and how to validate one before it breaks a batch import.

EDL files

An EDL is a plain-text CMX-style edit decision list. How to read an EDL event line, what the transition codes and comment lines mean, how to export one from Avid, and how to validate an EDL before a conform.

Bin locking

How Avid Media Composer bin locking works on shared storage, what a .lck file is, why a bin stays locked at the file level after a crash, and how to audit active versus orphaned locks across a project.

Compatibility

Which Avid Media Composer releases are supported on which Windows and macOS versions, how release-line matching works, and how to check a workstation combination automatically instead of reading a matrix.

AI and automation

What can actually be automated in Avid Media Composer today: Avid's own AI features, the Extensions SDK, and how an MCP server lets Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT read Avid projects, AAF, ALE and EDL without an API.

Frequently asked questions

Avid MCP, clearly bounded.

Straight answers about supported formats, privacy, compatibility, and live editing. More questions are answered on the full FAQ.
Is there an MCP server for Avid Media Composer?+

Yes. Avid Media Composer MCP is an open-source Model Context Protocol server that gives AI clients read-only analysis of Avid Media Composer projects, AVB bins, AAF, ALE, EDL, configuration and media files. Guarded live editing requires a compatible Avid Extension bridge.

Which Avid formats can it analyze?+

It analyzes AVB bins through pyavb, AAF through pyaaf2, ALE and CMX-style EDL with native parsers, OTIO JSON structurally, AVP and AVS as text or bounded binary evidence, and media containers through ffprobe.

Does it modify project files or footage?+

No. Offline analysis is read-only and source media is never modified. The server enforces explicit allowed roots and reports opaque data as labeled evidence instead of guessing.

Can it edit a live Media Composer timeline?+

Only through a separately installed, compatible Avid Extension bridge. Without a fresh bridge that advertises the requested operation, live editing fails closed.

Which Media Composer releases are supported?+

The current compatibility contracts cover Media Composer 2025.12.x, 2025.6, and the 2024.12.x long-term-maintenance release track on qualified Windows and macOS combinations.

Free Open source Local-first

Start with the project evidence.

  • Read-only by default
  • Your media stays local
  • MIT licensed on GitHub
Install the server Explore on GitHub