artbeats

artbeats — Claude Code plugin

DaVinci Resolve integration for German-speaking post-production agencies, packaged as a Claude Code plugin. Bundles davinci-resolve-mcp by Samuel Gursky with a German-language orientation skill for editors who are new to coding agents.

Install

In Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add illmakeithappen/artbeats-plugin
/plugin install artbeats@artbeats-marketplace

First session triggers a one-time bootstrap (hooks/bootstrap.sh) that runs npx davinci-resolve-mcp setup --clients none and pulls Samuel's Python deps into a managed venv (1–2 min).

Prerequisites

• DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.5+ (not the free edition — only Studio exposes the scripting API).
• External scripting set to "Local" in DaVinci: Preferences → System → General → "External scripting using" = "Local". Restart DaVinci after changing.
• Python 3.10–3.12 with a working venv. On macOS, Homebrew Python 3.11 at /opt/homebrew/bin/python3.11 is the default the plugin expects. Other Pythons in that range work, but you may need to adjust .mcp.json to point at your install.
• Node.js (for the npx launcher). Comes with Claude Code's runtime requirements.

What you get

• A resolve MCP server with 32 grouped tools covering project + media-pool control, timeline editing, render queue, color grading, Fusion, Fairlight, source-safe media analysis, and extension authoring. See davinci-resolve-mcp for the full capability matrix.
• A resolve-integration skill (German) that triggers when you mention DaVinci Resolve, Timeline, Bins, or ask "was kann der Agent?" / "wie nutze ich das?". It checks prerequisites, explains the mental model, suggests safe entry commands, and shows four task clusters with concrete prompt examples.

Typical first session

First, trigger the German-language orientation skill so it walks you through the safe-setup checklist (Resolve running? Studio edition? External Scripting set to Local? Bootstrap completed?):

"Was kann der Agent? Wie fange ich an?"

The skill explicitly does not change any DaVinci preferences itself — it tells you what to click. Only when all four prerequisites are confirmed does it suggest the first read-only commands:

"Liste meine offenen Projekte."
"Was ist auf der aktiven Timeline?"
"Zeig mir die Bins im aktuellen Projekt."

Safe to verify the wiring works. From there, the skill shows you four task clusters and concrete prompt templates.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
"Cannot connect to Resolve"	DaVinci not running, or External scripting not set to Local	Open DaVinci, check Preferences, restart Claude Code
"ResolveScriptModule not found"	Python path in .mcp.json doesn't exist on your machine	Edit .mcp.json after install to point at your Python 3.10–3.12
Bootstrap hangs on first session	npx davinci-resolve-mcp setup is downloading Python deps	Wait 1–2 min; subsequent sessions are instant
Free DaVinci edition	API access blocked	Upgrade to DaVinci Resolve Studio

If something else breaks, open an issue.

License

Proprietary. See author contact in .claude-plugin/plugin.json.

Acknowledgments

• Samuel Gursky for davinci-resolve-mcp, the upstream MCP server this plugin wraps.
• Blackmagic Design for the DaVinci Resolve scripting API.
• Anthropic for Claude Code and the plugin framework.