Stream Deck MCP

AI-first MCP server for Elgato Stream Deck profile management. The default server writes directly to the Stream Deck desktop app's native profile files, and the original USB-direct server is still available as a legacy fallback.

Installation

Default: Desktop Profile Writer

The default packaged entrypoint is the profile writer. It edits ProfilesV3 when present, then falls back to ProfilesV2.

uvx streamdeck-mcp

Local Repo Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "streamdeck": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/streamdeck-mcp",
        "run",
        "profile_server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Legacy USB Server

If you still want direct hardware control that bypasses the Elgato app entirely, keep using the legacy server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "streamdeck-usb": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/streamdeck-mcp",
        "run",
        "server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Or use the packaged legacy entrypoint:

uvx --from streamdeck-mcp streamdeck-mcp-usb

Designing Decks with the streamdeck-designer Skill

streamdeck-mcp ships with an Agent Skill that teaches Claude how to design, theme, and author complete Stream Deck layouts using the MCP tools below. With the skill loaded, Claude can one-shot an authored deck from a high-level prompt — "give me a hello-kitty-themed Twitch deck with Hue light controls", "build a dev deck for this repo in Nordic colors" — including palette planning, integration discovery, consistent icon generation, and shell-script wiring.

Install the skill (Claude Code / Claude.ai)

# After installing streamdeck-mcp (e.g. via uvx or pip install -e .)
streamdeck-mcp-install-skill
# or, without the console script:
uv run python -m install_skill

The skill is copied to ~/.claude/skills/streamdeck-designer/. Restart Claude Code (or start a new session) and it auto-loads when your request matches a themed/custom deck design intent.

To upgrade after a streamdeck-mcp version bump, rerun with --force:

streamdeck-mcp-install-skill --force

Other MCP clients

Clients that don't load Claude Code skills (Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT-with-MCP, …) get a condensed mirror via the MCP prompt design_streamdeck_deck. Invoke it before asking for a deck — most clients expose it as a slash command or prompt picker. Pass the user's intent via the intent argument if your client supports it.

What the skill covers

• Hardware inventory — the skill always calls streamdeck_read_profiles first, then consults bundled references to match authoring style to the user's model (Original, MK.2, XL, Plus XL, Neo, Mini).
• Palette + typography planning — 8 theme archetypes (kawaii, retrowave, brutalist, nordic, terminal, nature, minimal, corporate) with ready palettes + per-strategy icon-color guidance.
• Dials + touchstrip — decision tree for Plus XL encoder layouts ($X1 / $A0 / …) with Phase 1 constraints called out (value/indicator slots render empty until the live channel lands).
• Integration recipes — per-service patterns for Hue, OBS, Spotify, Home Assistant, Twitch, shell, browser. Authoring-time discovery via companion MCPs; credentials stored in ~/StreamDeckScripts/.env, never baked into scripts.
• Starter recipes — streamer/hello-kitty (Plus XL), dev/Nordic (XL), music/retrowave (Original) as adaptation shapes.

The skill lives at streamdeck_assets/skill/streamdeck-designer/ in the repo; the SKILL.md body is ≤500 lines and references/ are loaded on demand.

Default Tools

Tool	What it does
streamdeck_read_profiles	Lists desktop profiles and page directories from the active ProfilesV3 or ProfilesV2 store
streamdeck_read_page	Reads a page manifest and returns simplified button details plus the raw manifest
streamdeck_write_page	Creates a new page or rewrites an existing page manifest
streamdeck_create_icon	Generates a PNG icon from a Material Design Icons name (e.g. mdi:cpu-64-bit) or from text (but not both). shape="button" (72x72, default) for keypad keys and encoder dial faces; shape="touchstrip" (200x100) for Stream Deck + / + XL dial segment backgrounds. ~7400 MDI icons are bundled offline; unknown names return close-match suggestions
streamdeck_create_action	Creates an executable shell script in ~/StreamDeckScripts/ and returns an Open action block
streamdeck_restart_app	Restarts the macOS Stream Deck desktop app after profile changes
streamdeck_install_mcp_plugin	Installs the bundled streamdeck-mcp Stream Deck plugin into the user's Elgato Plugins directory. streamdeck_write_page auto-installs it when an encoder button needs it, so direct use is rarely necessary

How the Profile Writer Works

• ProfilesV3 is preferred when it exists because page UUIDs map cleanly to directories.
• ProfilesV2 is still supported, but existing pages should be targeted by directory_id or page_index because Elgato stores opaque page directory names there.
• streamdeck_write_page can accept raw native action objects, or use convenience fields like path, action_type, plugin_uuid, and action_uuid.
• Generated icons are stored in ~/.streamdeck-mcp/generated-icons/.
• Generated shell scripts are stored in ~/StreamDeckScripts/.
• The bundled streamdeck-mcp Stream Deck plugin is installed into the Stream Deck Plugins directory (e.g., ~/Library/Application Support/com.elgato.StreamDeck/Plugins/ on macOS, %APPDATA%\Elgato\StreamDeck\Plugins\ on Windows) once installed. It's a minimal shell whose only job is to declare encoder support so per-instance Encoder.Icon / Encoder.background writes survive an Elgato app restart. streamdeck_write_page installs it automatically the first time an encoder button needs it.

Editing Workflow (Important)

The Elgato desktop app keeps every profile in memory and rewrites the on-disk manifests from that snapshot when it quits, so any edit made while the app is running is wiped the next time it closes. The profile writer enforces a quit → write → relaunch cycle:

1. Ensure the Elgato app is not running, or pass auto_quit_app: true to streamdeck_write_page to have it quit the app for you (AppleScript first, killall fallback).
2. Make as many streamdeck_write_page calls as you need — the app stays quit across them.
3. Call streamdeck_restart_app when you are done. The device re-reads the manifests on launch and your changes appear.

streamdeck_write_page raises a StreamDeckAppRunningError when the app is running and auto_quit_app is not set, so you cannot accidentally write changes that will be silently discarded.

If your Elgato app is installed somewhere other than /Applications/Elgato Stream Deck.app, set STREAMDECK_APP_PATH to the bundle path.

Usage Notes

• streamdeck_create_action is the safest way to build shell-command buttons because it writes a standalone script and returns the native Open action block for it.
• The profile writer does not require exclusive USB access.

Legacy USB Tools

The original USB-direct server is preserved for backwards compatibility. It still provides:

• streamdeck_connect
• streamdeck_info
• streamdeck_set_button
• streamdeck_set_buttons
• streamdeck_clear_button
• streamdeck_get_button
• streamdeck_clear_all
• streamdeck_set_brightness
• streamdeck_create_page
• streamdeck_switch_page
• streamdeck_list_pages
• streamdeck_delete_page
• streamdeck_disconnect

Use that mode only when you want the MCP server to own the hardware directly and the Elgato desktop app is not running.

Development

uv venv
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
uv run pytest tests/ -v
uv run ruff check .

To audit this repo against the shared Very Good Plugins MCP standards:

../mcp-ecosystem/scripts/audit-server.sh .

Support

For issues, questions, or suggestions:

• Open an issue on GitHub
• Contact Very Good Plugins

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