touch-mcp

High-performance MCP server for TouchDesigner — live control via WebSocket from any MCP-compatible AI (Claude, etc.)

Claude/LLM ←── stdio (MCP) ──→ touch-mcp ←── WebSocket ──→ TouchDesigner (.tox)

Why touch-mcp

The most comprehensive MCP server for TouchDesigner available. Unlike simpler alternatives, touch-mcp offers:

• Persistent WebSocket connection — every tool call is a lightweight message, not a full HTTP round-trip
• 37 tools covering nodes, parameters, connections, data access, scripting, timeline, rendering, layout, and more
• Batching — bundle multiple operations into a single round-trip with td_batch, critical for building complex networks fast
• Auto-reconnection — survives TD restarts and network hiccups
• Auto-positioning — new nodes are placed intelligently in the network editor
• Full Python access — execute arbitrary Python inside TD with td_execute_script, with access to all operator types and globals

Quick Start

1. Install touch-mcp

pip install touch-mcp

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/benoitliard/touch-mcp.git
cd touch-mcp
pip install -e ".[dev]"

2. Install the TouchDesigner bridge component

Open TouchDesigner (2024+), then drag TouchMCPBridge.tox from the td/ folder into your project. The component starts a WebSocket server on port 9980 automatically.

For instructions on building the .tox from source, see td/BUILD_TOX.md.

3. Configure your MCP client

See the configuration sections below, then start a conversation — touch-mcp connects to TouchDesigner on first use.

Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "touchdesigner": {
            "command": "touch-mcp",
            "args": ["--td-port", "9980"]
        }
    }
}

The config file is located at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Claude Code

Create or edit .mcp.json in your project root:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "touchdesigner": {
            "command": "touch-mcp",
            "args": ["--td-host", "localhost", "--td-port", "9980", "--timeout", "30"]
        }
    }
}

Available Tools

37 tools organised by category.

Nodes

Parameters

Connections

Data

Scripts

Timeline

Render

Project

Layout

Batch

CLI Options

touch-mcp [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --td-host TEXT    TouchDesigner WebSocket host (default: localhost)
  --td-port INT     TouchDesigner WebSocket port (default: 9980)
  --timeout FLOAT   Per-request timeout in seconds (default: 30.0)
  --debug           Enable debug logging

Development

git clone https://github.com/benoitliard/touch-mcp.git
cd touch-mcp
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

Static analysis:

ruff check src/

License

MIT