Getting started¶

Install¶

pip install prpr

Requirements: Adobe Premiere Pro 25.6+ (built and tested against 26.x) and Python 3.10+.

One-time setup: the bridge plugin¶

Premiere's UXP API lives inside the app, so prpr ships a tiny headless plugin that connects Premiere to the CLI/library/MCP server.

prpr plugin install

This packages the bundled plugin into a .ccx and installs it through Adobe's own installer (UPIA, part of Creative Cloud). Then restart Premiere once so it registers the plugin.

The bridge is headless — a command-entrypoint plugin whose code runs at Premiere startup. There's no panel to dock or keep open: it dials into the local prpr server automatically and reconnects forever, including across Premiere and daemon restarts. Confirm with prpr plugin check.

Verify the whole chain:

prpr doctor --probe

First commands¶

prpr ping                          # -> {"connected": true, "version": "26.5.0", ...}
prpr project ensure MyShow         # open-or-create ~/Documents/prpr Projects/MyShow.prproj
prpr media import ~/footage/*.mp4 --bin Footage
prpr timeline ensure Edit_v1
prpr timeline append clip_a.mp4
prpr timeline mark --at 1.5 --name "start" --color-index 1
prpr timeline inspect | jq .tracks
prpr render presets                # discovers .epr presets on this machine
prpr render submit --target-dir ~/exports --preset "Match Source - Adaptive High Bitrate" --wait

Every command emits JSON when piped and a table on a TTY (--format json|table|yaml or PRPR_FORMAT to override).

Faster CLI: the daemon¶

Each CLI invocation hosts the bridge and waits ~1–2s for the panel to reconnect. For agent workloads and scripts, run the daemon once and every subsequent command reuses its live connection:

prpr serve start        # background daemon owns the bridge
prpr timeline inspect   # instant — forwarded over a Unix socket
prpr serve stop

Where things live¶


Projects created by name	`~/Documents/prpr Projects/` (`PRPR_PROJECTS_DIR` overrides)
Snapshots	`~/.prpr/snapshots/`
Daemon socket	`~/.cache/prpr/prpr.sock`
Bridge port	`8855` (then 8856/8857; `PRPR_PORT` pins one)

Troubleshooting¶

prpr doctor diagnoses the common failure modes: Premiere not installed / not running, plugin not installed, panel not opened yet, port conflicts. Every error prpr raises carries a cause and a fix — read the fix.