CLI reference¶

The dvr CLI is a thin wrapper around the Python library. Every command produces structured output (JSON when piped, a Rich table when interactive).

Top-level¶

dvr inspect           One-call snapshot of Resolve, current project, and current timeline.
dvr ping              Verify the connection. Prints version on success.
dvr page [NAME]       Read or set the current Resolve page.
dvr plan FILE         Show the actions `dvr apply` would take.
dvr apply FILE        Reconcile a spec against the live Resolve state.

Domains¶

dvr project   list | current | ensure | create | load | delete | save | export | import
dvr timeline  list | current | inspect | ensure | create | switch | delete
dvr media     inspect | bins | ls | mkbin | import | relink | storage
dvr render    queue | presets | formats | codecs | submit | status | watch | stop | clear
dvr serve     start | stop | status | methods                   (daemon mode)
dvr mcp       serve                                              (MCP server for LLM agents)

Global flags¶

Flag	Purpose
`--format`, `-f`	Output: `json` (default when piped) `\\|` `table` (default when TTY) `\\|` `yaml`.
`--no-launch`	Don't auto-launch DaVinci Resolve if it isn't running.
`--timeout SECS`	Seconds to wait for Resolve to be reachable. Default 30.
`--version`, `-V`	Print the `dvr` version and exit.

Set DVR_FORMAT in your environment to a permanent default.

Output¶

JSON is always one well-formed object per command (no trailing newlines, no ANSI). dvr ... | jq Just Works.

dvr timeline inspect | jq '.tracks.video[] | select(.clip_count > 0)'

Tables are only rendered when stdout is a TTY. To force a format:

dvr timeline list --format table
dvr render queue --format yaml

Render streaming¶

render submit --wait --stream and render watch emit newline-delimited JSON. Each line is a status event:

{"type": "progress", "job_id": "abc", "status": "Rendering", "percent": 12, "eta_s": 240}
{"type": "progress", "job_id": "abc", "status": "Rendering", "percent": 24, "eta_s": 210}
{"type": "complete", "job_id": "abc", "output_path": "/Volumes/out/MyShow.mov", "time_s": 380}

This works well with jq, xargs, or any stream processor.

Errors¶

When a command fails, the CLI exits with code 1 and writes a structured error to stderr (in the chosen output format). See Errors and diagnostics for the field layout.