Dcc Cli Gateway

Control live DCC hosts (Maya, Blender, Houdini, Photoshop, 3ds Max, and custom studio tools) through the dcc-mcp-cli command line. For ClawHub, OpenClaw, Cursor, Claude, and shell-capable agent hosts: verify gateway health, inventory registered DCC instances, search tools, inspect schemas, and invoke tools without speaking MCP directly. If dcc-mcp-cli is missing, ask for consent, download it from GitHub Releases, and fall back to Python stdlib REST only if download fails.

DCC CLI Gateway — Agent Control Plane

Use this skill when an agent host can run shell commands and should connect to DCC-MCP through dcc-mcp-cli instead of MCP JSON-RPC. The CLI wraps the gateway REST API and returns JSON by default.

Connection order:

1. Use dcc-mcp-cli when it is already on PATH.
2. If missing, ask user permission, then download dcc-mcp-cli from GitHub Releases.
3. If the download fails, use the bundled Python stdlib REST fallback.

Install via OpenClaw/ClawHub, or point your agent at this SKILL.md after cloning dcc-mcp-core/skills/dcc-cli-gateway/.

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Critical Rules

Situation	You MUST
Starting any DCC task	Run python scripts/dcc_gateway.py health and python scripts/dcc_gateway.py list first
dcc-mcp-cli missing	Ask permission before --ensure-cli; fallback Python REST is allowed if download fails
Inventory returns total == 0	Stop; do not run search, describe, or call
Gateway unreachable	Stop; explain; ask user permission before troubleshooting
User has not agreed to setup	Do not install packages, edit env files, launch GUI apps, or write configs
User approved setup	Follow references/ZERO_INSTANCES_CLI.md
After DCC crash/restart	Re-run list and search; old slugs may be invalid

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Configuration

dcc-mcp-cli and the Python helper read the gateway URL from DCC_MCP_BASE_URL.

export DCC_MCP_BASE_URL="${DCC_MCP_BASE_URL:-http://127.0.0.1:9765}"
dcc-mcp-cli health
python scripts/dcc_gateway.py health

For a one-off command:

python scripts/dcc_gateway.py --base-url http://127.0.0.1:9765 health

Quick probe helper:

python3 scripts/check_cli.py
py -3 scripts\check_cli.py

Flags: --base-url URL, --cli dcc-mcp-cli, --ensure-cli, --install-dir DIR, --pretty.

When the user approves downloading the CLI:

# Linux / macOS
python3 scripts/dcc_gateway.py --ensure-cli list
vx python scripts/dcc_gateway.py --ensure-cli list

# Windows
py -3 scripts\dcc_gateway.py --ensure-cli list
vx python scripts\dcc_gateway.py --ensure-cli list

Release assets are selected by platform:

Platform	Asset
Windows x86_64	dcc-mcp-cli-windows-x86_64.exe
Linux x86_64	dcc-mcp-cli-linux-x86_64
macOS Intel/Apple Silicon	dcc-mcp-cli-macos-universal2

If Python is not easy to locate, install vx first and run the helper through vx python:

# Linux / macOS
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loonghao/vx/main/install.sh | bash

# Windows PowerShell
powershell -c "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loonghao/vx/main/install.ps1 | iex"

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Step 0 — Mandatory Instance Inventory

Run this every time you begin work or after the user starts/stops a DCC host:

python scripts/dcc_gateway.py health
python scripts/dcc_gateway.py list

Interpret dcc-mcp-cli list:

{
  "total": 1,
  "instances": [
    {
      "instance_id": "full-uuid",
      "instance_short": "a1b2c3d4",
      "dcc_type": "maya",
      "status": "available",
      "stale": false,
      "mcp_url": "http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp"
    }
  ]
}

Report to the user:

1. total
2. Count by dcc_type
3. Any stale: true rows
4. The target instance_id or instance_short you will use

If total == 0, stop and ask whether the user wants setup guidance for the target DCC. Continue only after explicit approval.

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Step 1 — Search Tools

Only run this when inventory shows at least one non-stale target:

python scripts/dcc_gateway.py search --query sphere --dcc-type maya --limit 20

Copy the returned slug exactly. Gateway slugs look like:

maya.a1b2c3d4.maya_primitives__create_sphere

Never hand-build slugs.

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Step 2 — Describe Schema

python scripts/dcc_gateway.py describe maya.a1b2c3d4.maya_primitives__create_sphere

Read tool.inputSchema and safety annotations before calling.

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Step 3 — Call a Tool

python scripts/dcc_gateway.py call maya.a1b2c3d4.maya_primitives__create_sphere \
  --json '{"radius":2.0}'

Tool-specific fields (code, file_path, radius, and similar) belong inside the --json object. Do not pass them as top-level CLI flags unless the CLI adds an explicit first-class flag later.

See references/CLI_CHEATSHEET.md for command patterns and common errors.

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What This Skill Does Not Use

• MCP tools/list, tools/call, or resources/read
• Raw curl workflows except when debugging the gateway itself
• Direct Maya/Blender/Houdini scripting

The CLI is the preferred agent-facing control plane. The Python fallback uses the same gateway REST endpoints only when the CLI is unavailable after a download attempt fails.