DCC-MCP Creator

Use this skill when you are creating a new DCC-MCP adapter or modernizing an existing adapter repository: server composition, host-thread dispatch, sidecar/gateway wiring, readiness, resources, project state, diagnostics, install lifecycle, or cross-DCC verification.

For individual skill packages (SKILL.md, tools.yaml, scripts, groups, and skill taxonomy), load dcc-mcp-skills-creator instead.

Runtime Vocabulary

• DCC startup hook: adapter code running inside the host at application startup; it prepares env/instance data and launches the service path without blocking the DCC UI/main thread.
• Per-DCC service: one registered runtime row for one concrete DCC instance; Python DccServerBase and Rust sidecars both participate as per-DCC services.
• Sidecar: the Rust dcc-mcp-sidecar child launched through the stable dcc-mcp-server sidecar command; it bridges host RPC to MCP/REST and exits when the watched DCC dies.
• Gateway daemon: the one machine-wide dcc-mcp-server gateway process that owns routing, dynamic capability search/describe/call, and Gateway Admin.
• Guardian: a lightweight loop inside daemon-backed services that probes gateway /health and re-ensures the daemon through gateway-launch.lock; it is not a separate process.
• Service heartbeat: registry freshness for the service row only. Do not describe heartbeat as the gateway restart trigger.

Fast Workflow

1. Classify the host integration:
   • Embedded Python host: Blender, 3ds Max Python, Houdini, Maya, Nuke.
   • External bridge host: ZBrush, Photoshop, Unity, custom tools.
   • Game/editor host with mixed Python or C++ bridge: Unreal, Unity.
2. Read the relevant reference:
   • ADAPTER_WORKFLOW.md for the build path.
   • HOST_PATTERN_MATRIX.md for host-specific wiring.
   • CORE_ESCALATION_CHECKLIST.md before adding adapter-local glue.
   • TESTING_AND_RELEASE.md before validating or publishing.
   • docs/guide/adapter-release-checklist.md for release train compliance.
   • docs/guide/new-adapter-onboarding.md for new adapter scaffolding.
   • docs/guide/adapter-compatibility-matrix.md for the per-DCC compatibility table.
3. Start from DccServerBase + DccServerOptions.from_env(...).
4. Route host API calls through HostExecutionBridge; do not hand-roll a second script executor.
5. Keep DCC identity data-driven: dcc_name, server_name, env-var prefix, skill names, and gateway metadata.
6. Use core helpers for skill discovery, MinimalModeConfig, project tools, resources, diagnostics, context snapshots, install lifecycle, and gateway failover before writing adapter-local wrappers. Python DccServerBase.collect_skill_search_paths() includes marketplace-installed skills under ~/.dcc-mcp/marketplace/<dcc> (or DCC_MCP_MARKETPLACE_INSTALL_ROOT/<dcc>) when the directory exists, so adapters should not add a second marketplace path convention.
7. Choose the dcc-mcp-server run mode deliberately, but treat it as a runtime surface rather than the primary user UX; humans and agents should normally use dcc-mcp-cli gateway register, gateway set, gateway daemon ..., and list/search/describe/call profiles. No subcommand, auto, and serve ensure the machine-wide gateway daemon, register this process as a backend, keep a lightweight guardian running after registration, and stamp gateway_runtime_mode / gateway_guardian_enabled into the service row; serve --no-auto-gateway is per-DCC only, auto --legacy-gateway-election restores the old embedded first-wins gateway, and gateway runs the machine-wide daemon with no inline DCC execution. Explicit dcc-mcp-server gateway --daemon respawns the current executable as a detached child instead of forking inside the async runtime; --pidfile PATH implies daemon mode, records the detached child PID, and fails fast if respawn or pidfile writing fails. CLI daemon stop/restart treats the pidfile as a hint only: before terminating a PID, it must match a live __gateway__ sentinel for the target health URL via gateway_process_pid / gateway_health_url; otherwise the CLI refuses with stale-pidfile guidance. Standalone gateway daemon mode shuts down after the last routable backend has been absent for the configured grace period; the manual gateway CLI default is 30 seconds, while daemon auto-ensure passes DCC_MCP_GATEWAY_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECS=300 unless the operator overrides it; sidecar auto-ensure preserves 0 as persist mode but clamps tiny non-zero values below 30 seconds so the gateway cannot exit before first backend registration. Set --gateway-persist / DCC_MCP_GATEWAY_PERSIST=1 or --gateway-idle-timeout-secs 0 for studio/headless deployments that must keep the daemon alive with no local backends. GET /v1/readyz reports the effective gateway_lifecycle.persist and gateway_lifecycle.idle_timeout_secs, so diagnostics must read that field instead of inferring policy from env defaults. Python DccServerBase adapters, Rust dcc-mcp-server sidecar processes with gateway_port > 0, and registered dcc-mcp-server translate bridges follow the same daemon-first contract at startup and keep the same daemon guardian running in daemon-backed mode so a surviving DCC or bridge can re-ensure the daemon after /health disappears; the shared gateway-launch.lock is reclaimed after DCC_MCP_GATEWAY_LAUNCH_LOCK_STALE_SECS if a launcher crashes mid-startup, so adapters should share DCC_MCP_REGISTRY_DIR and not delete the lock manually. Gateway auto-launch failures keep a sidecar boot row with failure_stage, failure_reason, gateway_health_url, gateway_launch_lock, and registry_dir; the registry directory also contains gateway-autolaunch-<port>.json, stdout, and stderr logs when a process was spawned, and active gateway sentinel rows expose health/MCP URLs, PID, executable, start time, persist, and idle-timeout metadata. dcc_diagnostics__gateway_failover should report daemon-backed or embedded-fallback so operators can distinguish the mode.
8. When a DCC startup hook must spawn the per-DCC sidecar without importing native core, use dcc_mcp_core.install_lifecycle.build_sidecar_command(...) or launch_sidecar(...); they produce the canonical dcc-mcp-server sidecar argv, stamp the shared registry/gateway env, capture stdout/stderr to <registry_dir>/logs by default (stdio.stdout_path / stdio.stderr_path), return server_binary diagnostics (command, source, resolved path, bounded version or version_error), and let the child ensure the daemon without blocking the DCC main process unless no_ensure_gateway=True or legacy_gateway_election=True. For in-process plugin startup hooks, omit watch_pid and let the helper bind to the current DCC process; pass explicit watch_pid only when an external supervisor or module CLI command is launching the sidecar on behalf of that DCC host. If an in-process MCP/REST server remains available for discovery, pass discovery_mcp_url=<handle.mcp_url()> so gateway search, describe, OpenAPI/skill inventory, prompts, and resources refresh through that read-only endpoint while tool execution still routes through the sidecar dispatch endpoint. build_sidecar_command() also returns readiness_selector, readiness_argv, readiness_command (honouring DCC_MCP_PYTHON_EXECUTABLE), dispatch_contract (uri_valid, validation_error, dispatch_ready_capable), and readiness_contract (ready_on_launch=false, direct_use_status), and launch_sidecar(wait_ready_timeout_secs=..., probe_tool=...) can include the same bounded dispatch verdict when called from an installer, supervisor, or background startup task; leave it unset on the DCC UI thread. The Python API keeps liveness_check_secs=0.0 by default for non-blocking UI hooks; the module CLI launch-sidecar defaults to a 1-second startup liveness window for installer/supervisor use. Pass liveness_check_secs=... in API calls or --liveness-check-secs 0 on the CLI only when overriding that policy; if the sidecar exits during that short window, the helper returns success=false, status="exited", reason="sidecar_exited_during_startup", an exit code, stdio log paths, and an early_exit diagnostic with stdout_tail, stderr_tail, and value-free argv metadata so adapter launchers can show the Rust CLI parse error instead of a vague exit code. Without wait_ready_timeout_secs, launch_sidecar() deliberately returns ready=false, readiness_checked=false, and a readiness payload whose status is not_checked (or dispatch_not_capable for diagnostics-only schemes), so spawn success must never be treated as "open DCC, directly usable". Pass require_dispatch_capable=True or CLI --require-dispatch-capable when startup code must fail fast on malformed real host RPC URIs, stub://, or unsupported host RPC schemes before claiming "open DCC, directly usable"; keep it false only for diagnostics-only rows. The Rust implementation lives in dcc-mcp-sidecar; adapters should still depend on the lifecycle helpers and stable dcc-mcp-server sidecar CLI surface, not construct a new ad-hoc binary command. Do not treat a per-dcc-sidecar registry row alone as proof that tools are callable: the adapter must expose a supported host RPC bridge to its DCC dispatcher/skills, and startup code or installers should use sidecar_readiness_status(...) / wait_for_sidecar_ready(...) for a bounded import-light verdict before claiming the plugin is ready. For instance-level startup proof, pass the full readiness_selector; if instance_id or host_rpc matches multiple live sidecars, those helpers return status="ambiguous" instead of choosing an arbitrary row. Pass probe_tool="<dcc>_diagnostics__ping" (or CLI --probe-tool) when the adapter needs proof that one real tools/call reaches the host dispatcher; probe failures keep the verdict unready until timeout. Operators should see dispatch_ready=True from those helpers, the nested dispatch object in query_runtime_state(...), GET /admin/api/workers, or the nested dispatch object on gateway://instances / GET /v1/instances; gateway GET /v1/readyz also carries per-instance dispatch plus dispatch-ready counts so launchers and admin panels can distinguish listed DCC processes from callable sidecar dispatchers. Daemon-backed sidecars, Python DccServerBase adapters, dcc-mcp-server backends, and registered translate bridges publish gateway_runtime_mode, gateway_guardian_enabled, gateway_recovery_driver, and registration_refresh_mode; gateway_recovery_driver="daemon_guardian" means recovery is driven by guardian /health probes, while registration_refresh_mode="file_registry_heartbeat" means the service row stays fresh through registry heartbeat and the restarted gateway re-reads it rather than requiring an explicit re-register. Gateway GET /v1/readyz mirrors this with per-instance gateway, gateway_recovery_driver_counts, registration_refresh_mode_counts, gateway_daemon_guardian_instance_count, and gateway_daemon_guardian_ready so startup checks and admin panels can answer whether any live DCC service can restart the daemon. Failed host RPC startup stays registered with dispatch_ready=False, metadata.dispatch_status=unavailable, and failure_stage / failure_reason for diagnostics. A failed sidecar may still publish metadata.mcp_url as a diagnostic endpoint: /v1/readyz must report dispatcher=false, and tools/call must return a structured transport-error; do not route gateway traffic through it until dispatch_status=ready. For real supported schemes (commandport://, qtserver://, ws:// / wss://), the sidecar keeps reconnecting while the parent DCC is alive and promotes that same row when the host bridge appears; stub:// is test-only and stays dispatch_status=unavailable by default even when it connects, so never use it as adapter startup proof. Maya commandport:// sidecars return a structured sidecar-dispatcher-unavailable backend envelope when dcc_mcp_maya is present but its sidecar dispatcher is missing, so treat that as a partial adapter install rather than a gateway routing failure. If a ready backend later returns terminal host-died, gateway removes that instance from the capability index plus its FileRegistry or HTTP registration row immediately; do not design adapters around waiting for stale heartbeat cleanup after a terminal host failure.
9. Pass instance_id to sidecar launch helpers only when it is a real UUID for the DCC service. During early startup, omit it or pass None; build_sidecar_command() rejects cosmetic values such as "unknown" with success=false and reason="invalid_instance_id" so adapters do not spawn a child that can only fail with a CLI argument error.
10. Adapter supervisors that must stop the sidecar on plugin unload should call launch_sidecar(..., return_process=True, detached=False) instead of reimplementing subprocess.Popen; keep return_process=False for CLI/JSON paths because the process handle is not serializable.
11. If the adapter cannot share the gateway FileRegistry, register remotely through POST /v1/instances/register, refresh with /heartbeat, and deregister on shutdown; the gateway will expose the row as source: "http" in gateway://instances / GET /v1/instances, preserve instance_short and mcp_url, and route it through the same live_instances contract.
12. For same-LAN convenience discovery, build with mdns and pair adapter-side --advertise-mdns with gateway-side --discover-mdns; treat this as a multicast discovery hint only, keep auth/TLS policy explicit, and prefer HTTP registration or relay for routed/subnet-crossing production deployments.
13. For NAT or routed-subnet deployments, run the tunnel agent with stable instance_id, capabilities_fingerprint, adapter_version, and scene metadata, then configure the standalone gateway with --relay-source ADMIN_URL=PUBLIC_BASE_URL; the gateway will expose active tunnels as source: "relay" rows with relay details in source_meta after probing /v1/healthz through <PUBLIC_BASE_URL>/tunnel/<tunnel_id>/mcp.
14. Preserve gateway caller attribution when adding adapter wrappers or admin/debug routes: let MCP initialize.params.clientInfo, MCP _meta.agent_context, REST meta.agent_context, x-dcc-mcp-* headers, and safe User-Agent fallbacks flow through core rather than logging raw prompts or local machine data.
15. For lifecycle/memory/telemetry policy, use register_lifecycle_hooks(...), search_skills(..., session_id=...), dispatch_session_start(...), dispatch_before_tool_call(...), dispatch_after_tool_call(...), and dispatch_session_end(...); pair MemoryRecorder(InMemoryMemoryStore()).install(hooks) with those hooks when adapters need bounded memory summaries, failed-pattern avoidance, or session compaction, and disable the recorder for privacy-sensitive deployments. Open a focused core issue/RFC only when those public hooks cannot express the adapter boundary.
16. Add one executable smoke path: unit tests for construction plus either headless DCC, mock dispatcher MCP calls, gateway REST replay, mDNS same-LAN discovery smoke, relay-source smoke, or just idle-memory-smoke for standalone server idle/regression checks.
17. For gateway/admin observability, surface explicit state instead of silent zeroes: traffic panels should report disabled, unavailable, filtered, or genuine no-traffic states; skill panels should distinguish discovered, loaded, searched, selected, called, failed, and low-adoption skills; and admin-facing frames/paths should stay metadata-only or aliased unless an operator explicitly configures a private raw sink.
18. Preserve workflow observability: adapter calls should carry request, parent, trace, session, DCC, transport, and artifact/validation metadata so the Admin workflow graph can show Intent → Discovery → Skill Load → Tool Calls → Fallbacks → Artifacts → Validation → Report without raw log reading.
19. Preserve bounded agent_context task/session/turn metadata and artifact/validation-friendly tool names so Admin task outcomes can group workflows, calls, deliverables, and checks without reading raw payloads or local paths.

Example: New Nuke Adapter

When asked to create a Nuke MCP adapter, start by mapping the host lifecycle: how Python is loaded, how the UI/main thread must be entered, what headless mode is available, how plugins are installed, and which operations should be bundled as default skills. Then scaffold the adapter around core primitives:

• DccServerBase for MCP/HTTP and skill catalog behavior.
• DccServerOptions.from_env("NUKE") or an adapter-specific equivalent for env-driven configuration.
• HostExecutionBridge plus a Nuke dispatcher for all Nuke API calls.
• Core project, readiness, resource, diagnostics, and gateway helpers before adapter-local glue.
• dcc-mcp-skills-creator for the first nuke-* skill packages.

Non-Negotiables

• Do not touch a DCC API from a Tokio/HTTP worker thread.
• Do not parse or rewrite SKILL.md, tools.yaml, groups.yaml, or prompt/workflow files in adapter runtime code when core exposes a typed object or catalog API.
• Do not reach into server._server unless no public core API exists; if you must, file a core issue and keep the adapter shim small.
• Do not create Maya-only abstractions in shared core or adapter templates.
• Do not expose raw script execution as the primary user workflow when a typed skill can cover the task.
• Do not publish local paths, private machine names, or source-attribution markers in public issues or PR text.