@bottobot/td-mcp
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TouchDesigner MCP Server v2.8.0 - 21 MCP tools, 629 operators with clean parameter data, 69 Python API classes, 14 tutorials, 32 workflow patterns. Includes version system, experimental techniques KB, core tool enhancements, and experimental build support
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{
"schemaVersion": "1.0",
"description": "TouchDesigner experimental/beta build series tracking. Experimental builds precede stable releases and contain unreleased features, new operators, and Python API additions that may change before stable release.",
"trackInfo": {
"stable": "Annual numbered releases (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) — production ready",
"experimental": "Build-numbered pre-releases with new features under active development. Not recommended for production use. Experimental builds use build numbers beyond the current stable maximum.",
"buildNumbering": "TD build numbers are 5-digit integers (e.g. 68000). Experimental builds exceed the current stable maximum. Stable 2024 tops out near build 68000; experimental builds continue upward.",
"releaseURL": "https://derivative.ca/download",
"changelogURL": "https://docs.derivative.ca/Release_Notes"
},
"currentExperimentalSeries": "2025.10000",
"buildSeries": [
{
"seriesId": "2025.10000",
"label": "TouchDesigner 2025 Experimental — Vulkan Renderer GA",
"buildRange": { "min": 90000, "max": null },
"basedOnStable": "2024",
"releaseYear": 2025,
"stabilityStatus": "experimental",
"stabilityNotes": "Active experimental series. Vulkan renderer promoted from preview to default code path. Crashes possible with older GPU drivers. Recommended driver: NVIDIA 555+ / AMD Adrenalin 24.5+.",
"featureFlags": {
"vulkan_renderer_default": true,
"vulkan_raytracing": true,
"python_312": true,
"tdAssets_streaming": true,
"pop_gpu_solver": true,
"web_gpu_top": false,
"neural_render_mat": false
},
"newFeatures": [
"Vulkan renderer is now the default renderer — OpenGL remains available via project preference",
"Vulkan ray-tracing support via new Render TOP 'Ray Tracing' parameter (RTX cards required)",
"Python upgraded from 3.11 to 3.12 — full match support, improved error messages, type parameter syntax",
"TD Assets streaming: stream operator networks directly from a remote TD Assets server",
"POP GPU Solver — new Point Operator that executes a GLSL compute shader per-particle on the GPU",
"Render Pass TOP now supports Vulkan subpass input attachments for deferred shading",
"Material SOP: new 'Displacement Map' parameter for geometry displacement in Vulkan",
"Improved HDRI environment lighting through Environment Light COMP Vulkan path",
"WebSocket DAT: binary frame support and improved reconnect backoff"
],
"experimentalOperators": [
{
"name": "POP GPU Solver",
"family": "POP",
"status": "new_experimental",
"description": "Executes a GLSL compute shader per particle on the GPU. Inputs: particle state TOP, force field TOP. Output: updated particle state TOP.",
"notes": "API surface subject to change before stable release. Parameters: Shader (GLSL DAT ref), Thread Group Size, Boundary Mode."
},
{
"name": "Ray Trace TOP",
"family": "TOP",
"status": "new_experimental",
"description": "Hardware ray-tracing output for scene graphs. Requires Vulkan renderer and RTX-class GPU.",
"notes": "Not yet available in stable. Will replace the legacy Render TOP Ray Tracing mode."
}
],
"breakingChangesVsStable": [
"Vulkan is now default — operators that rely on OpenGL-specific behavior (glsl_multi_top with OpenGL extensions) may need updating",
"Python 3.12: removed distutils module (use setuptools), type alias syntax changes",
"Several deprecated OpenGL TOP parameters removed: 'Legacy OpenGL' checkbox no longer present",
"Script CHOP / Script TOP: cook() callback signature unchanged, but Python 3.12 walrus operator now fully supported",
"Engine COMP: new minimum Python version requirement is 3.12 when using 2025 experimental"
],
"pythonApiAdditions": [
{
"class": "RenderTOP",
"member": "rayTracing",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 90100,
"description": "Boolean. Enable hardware ray tracing on this Render TOP (Vulkan + RTX required)."
},
{
"class": "OP",
"method": "asyncCook",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 90200,
"description": "asyncCook(waitFrames=0) -> None. Triggers an async cook on the operator, optionally waiting N frames before executing."
},
{
"class": "POPGPU",
"member": "particleCount",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 90000,
"description": "int. Current live particle count managed by the POP GPU Solver."
},
{
"class": "Project",
"member": "rendererType",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 90000,
"description": "str. Returns 'vulkan' or 'opengl' indicating the active renderer backend."
}
],
"featureAreas": ["rendering", "Python API", "operators", "networking"]
},
{
"seriesId": "2024.50000",
"label": "TouchDesigner 2024 Experimental — Python 3.11 & Engine COMP Enhancements",
"buildRange": { "min": 70000, "max": 89999 },
"basedOnStable": "2023",
"releaseYear": 2024,
"stabilityStatus": "graduated",
"stabilityNotes": "This experimental series graduated to TouchDesigner 2024 stable. Build 68000 was the first stable 2024 release. Features documented here are now available in TD 2024 stable.",
"featureFlags": {
"python_311": true,
"engine_comp_async": true,
"touchengine_v2": true,
"vulkan_renderer_preview": true,
"pop_operators_stable": true,
"glsl_multi_compute": true,
"web_gpu_top": false
},
"newFeatures": [
"Python 3.11 bundled — significant performance improvements (10-60% faster than 3.10)",
"Engine COMP async cook mode — run sub-networks on a background thread",
"TouchEngine v2 API: improved stability, new touchengine_chop / touchengine_top parameter parity",
"Vulkan renderer preview (opt-in) — early access to hardware-accelerated Vulkan path",
"POP (Point Operators) promoted from experimental to stable — all 90+ POP operators now fully documented",
"GLSL Multi TOP compute shader pass — new 'Compute' output type alongside pixel shader passes",
"NDI 5 SDK update — NDI In/Out TOP support for NDI HX3 compressed streams",
"WebRTC DAT: improved offer/answer SDP negotiation, WHIP/WHEP server support"
],
"experimentalOperators": [
{
"name": "TouchEngine CHOP",
"family": "CHOP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Run a .tox file as an isolated Engine COMP subprocess and read its CHOP outputs.",
"notes": "Graduated to stable in TD 2024 build 68000."
},
{
"name": "TouchEngine TOP",
"family": "TOP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Run a .tox file as an isolated Engine COMP subprocess and read its TOP outputs.",
"notes": "Graduated to stable in TD 2024 build 68000."
}
],
"breakingChangesVsStable": [
"Python 3.11: match statement now fully enforced — ensure existing scripts do not use 'match' as a variable name",
"Engine COMP async mode changes default cook ordering — scripts relying on synchronous sub-network execution may produce frame-delayed results",
"touchengine_chop parameter 'Legacy Mode' removed in build 74000",
"GLSL Multi TOP compute outputs require explicit 'layout(local_size_x = N)' qualifier — implicit size no longer accepted"
],
"pythonApiAdditions": [
{
"class": "EngineCOMP",
"method": "asyncCookStart",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 70500,
"description": "asyncCookStart() -> None. Initiates an asynchronous cook cycle on the Engine COMP's sub-network."
},
{
"class": "EngineCOMP",
"method": "asyncCookWait",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 70500,
"description": "asyncCookWait(timeout=1.0) -> bool. Blocks until async cook completes or timeout (seconds) expires. Returns True if cook finished."
},
{
"class": "App",
"member": "pythonVersion",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 70000,
"description": "str. Full Python version string bundled with this TD build, e.g. '3.11.4'."
},
{
"class": "WebRTCDAT",
"method": "sendOffer",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 72000,
"description": "sendOffer(sdp: str) -> None. Send a WebRTC SDP offer to the connected peer."
}
],
"featureAreas": ["Python API", "operators", "networking", "rendering"]
},
{
"seriesId": "2023.11000",
"label": "TouchDesigner 2023 Experimental — POP System Preview & GLSL Upgrades",
"buildRange": { "min": 55000, "max": 69999 },
"basedOnStable": "2022",
"releaseYear": 2023,
"stabilityStatus": "graduated",
"stabilityNotes": "Graduated to TouchDesigner 2023 stable. POP operators were initially experimental in this series and graduated with stability improvements.",
"featureFlags": {
"pop_operators_preview": true,
"glsl_450": true,
"python_310": true,
"nvidia_dlss_top": true,
"nvlink_shared_memory": false,
"vulkan_renderer_preview": false
},
"newFeatures": [
"Point Operators (POP) system introduced as experimental — 90+ new operators for GPU-accelerated particle and geometry processing",
"GLSL 4.50 support in GLSL TOP, GLSL Multi TOP, and GLSL MAT — enables compute shaders, ARB_bindless_texture, multi-draw indirect",
"Python 3.10 bundled — structural pattern matching (match/case), parenthesised context managers",
"NVIDIA DLSS TOP preview — AI-powered upscaling for real-time renders (RTX GPU required)",
"Shared Memory In/Out COMP: new multi-process shared texture format with zero-copy transfer",
"CHOP to POP operator: bridge CHOP channel data into POP attribute streams",
"SOP to POP operator: convert SOP geometry point clouds into POP particle systems",
"Geometry COMP: new 'Instance Transform' parameter for GPU-instancing via POP attribute streams"
],
"experimentalOperators": [
{
"name": "Point Generator POP",
"family": "POP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Generate a field of points with position, normal, color, and custom attributes.",
"notes": "Was 'Scatter POP' in early builds. Renamed before stable release."
},
{
"name": "NVIDIA DLSS TOP",
"family": "TOP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "AI-upscaling using NVIDIA DLSS SDK. Input: render at lower resolution. Output: upscaled frame.",
"notes": "Requires DLSS-capable RTX GPU. Graduated in TD 2023 build 60010."
}
],
"breakingChangesVsStable": [
"POP attribute naming convention changed mid-series: 'pos' renamed to 'P', 'col' renamed to 'Cd' (Houdini-style) in build 58000 — scripts written against early POP builds need updating",
"GLSL 4.50 strict mode: implicit type promotions (int to float) no longer silently accepted in shader compilation",
"Python 3.10: several deprecated aliases removed from collections module (use collections.abc instead of collections.Mapping)",
"CHOP to POP: 'Channel Index' parameter renamed to 'Attribute Index' in build 57000"
],
"pythonApiAdditions": [
{
"class": "POPCOMP",
"method": "getAttributeNames",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 55200,
"description": "getAttributeNames() -> list[str]. Returns the list of per-point attribute names managed by this POP network."
},
{
"class": "POPCOMP",
"method": "getParticleCount",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 55200,
"description": "getParticleCount() -> int. Returns the current live particle count."
},
{
"class": "TOP",
"method": "saveTIF",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 56000,
"description": "saveTIF(path: str, depth: int = 16) -> None. Save this TOP's current frame as a TIFF file at the given bit depth."
},
{
"class": "GLSLTOP",
"member": "glslVersion",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 55000,
"description": "str. The GLSL version string used when compiling shaders for this operator, e.g. '450'."
}
],
"featureAreas": ["operators", "rendering", "Python API", "UI"]
},
{
"seriesId": "2022.32000",
"label": "TouchDesigner 2022 Experimental — Engine COMP, USD & NDI 5",
"buildRange": { "min": 40000, "max": 54999 },
"basedOnStable": "2021",
"releaseYear": 2022,
"stabilityStatus": "graduated",
"stabilityNotes": "Graduated to TouchDesigner 2022 stable. Engine COMP and USD COMP were the headline features of this experimental series.",
"featureFlags": {
"engine_comp": true,
"usd_comp": true,
"ndi_5": true,
"python_39": true,
"replicator_comp_v2": true,
"touchengine_v1": true
},
"newFeatures": [
"Engine COMP introduced — run isolated sub-networks on background threads or separate processes",
"USD COMP preview — Universal Scene Description (Pixar USD) scene import and traversal",
"NDI 5 SDK — improved NDI In/Out TOP with multi-group support and lower latency",
"Python 3.9 bundled — dictionary union operators (|), type hint improvements, zoneinfo module",
"Replicator COMP v2: improved clone management, new 'Master is Template' parameter, Python callback API overhaul",
"TouchEngine v1 preview — load .tox files as isolated processes (precursor to TouchEngine CHOP/TOP)",
"WebRTC DAT: initial implementation for real-time peer-to-peer video streaming",
"SSAO TOP: screen-space ambient occlusion for Render TOP post-processing"
],
"experimentalOperators": [
{
"name": "Engine COMP",
"family": "COMP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Runs a child network in an isolated thread or process. Enables multi-threaded TD networks.",
"notes": "Graduated to stable in TD 2022 build 40000. First available in experimental build 35000."
},
{
"name": "USD COMP",
"family": "COMP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Import and traverse Pixar USD scene hierarchies within TouchDesigner.",
"notes": "Graduated to stable in TD 2022 build 42000."
},
{
"name": "WebRTC DAT",
"family": "DAT",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Peer-to-peer data and video streaming over WebRTC.",
"notes": "Graduated to stable in TD 2022 build 41000."
}
],
"breakingChangesVsStable": [
"Engine COMP cook order: sub-network cooks after parent — scripts that relied on implicit synchronous ordering may need explicit dependencies",
"Replicator COMP v2: onCloneStart / onCloneEnd callbacks replaced with onCreate / onDestroy — existing callbacks silently ignored (update required)",
"USD COMP: initial USD path separator was '/' in early builds, changed to OS-native separator in build 42500",
"Python 3.9: removed some deprecated functions from the 'cgi' module; use 'html.parser' instead"
],
"pythonApiAdditions": [
{
"class": "EngineCOMP",
"member": "isRunning",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 40000,
"description": "bool. True if the Engine COMP's isolated sub-network is currently executing a cook cycle."
},
{
"class": "EngineCOMP",
"method": "restart",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 40000,
"description": "restart() -> None. Terminates and restarts the Engine COMP's isolated execution context."
},
{
"class": "ReplicatorCOMP",
"method": "getClones",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 41000,
"description": "getClones() -> list[OP]. Returns a list of all currently active clone operator instances."
},
{
"class": "USDCOMP",
"method": "getPrimPath",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 42000,
"description": "getPrimPath(index: int) -> str. Returns the USD prim path at the given index in the scene hierarchy."
}
],
"featureAreas": ["operators", "networking", "Python API", "rendering"]
},
{
"seriesId": "2021.15000",
"label": "TouchDesigner 2021 Experimental — Vulkan Preview, Body Track & ONNX",
"buildRange": { "min": 28500, "max": 39999 },
"basedOnStable": "2020",
"releaseYear": 2021,
"stabilityStatus": "graduated",
"stabilityNotes": "Graduated to TouchDesigner 2021 stable. Body Track CHOP and ONNX machine-learning pipeline were the major experimental additions.",
"featureFlags": {
"body_track_chop": true,
"onnx_runtime": true,
"vulkan_preview_v1": true,
"python_38": true,
"nvidia_flex_solver": true,
"ndi_4": true,
"kinect_azure": true
},
"newFeatures": [
"Body Track CHOP — real-time full-body skeleton tracking using NVIDIA RTX Pose Estimation (33 joints)",
"ONNX Runtime integration: Script TOP can run ONNX model inference with GPU acceleration",
"Vulkan renderer very early preview (experimental flag, disabled by default) — testing GPU command buffer recording",
"Python 3.8 bundled — walrus operator (:=), f-string = specifier for debugging, positional-only parameters",
"NVIDIA Flex Solver COMP: position-based dynamics simulation with cloth, fluid, and rigid body support",
"NDI 4 SDK update — NDI In/Out TOP with multi-resolution streams and alpha channel support",
"Kinect Azure CHOP / TOP: Microsoft Azure Kinect DK depth sensor integration",
"ZED 2 CHOP/TOP: Stereolabs ZED 2 stereo camera support with depth estimation"
],
"experimentalOperators": [
{
"name": "Body Track CHOP",
"family": "CHOP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Real-time body skeleton tracking returning 33 joint positions and rotations per person (up to 4 people).",
"notes": "Requires NVIDIA RTX GPU with CUDA 11+. Graduated to stable in TD 2021 build 29000."
},
{
"name": "Kinect Azure CHOP",
"family": "CHOP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Microsoft Azure Kinect DK — depth, skeleton, and IMU data.",
"notes": "Graduated in TD 2021 build 28800."
},
{
"name": "NVIDIA Flex Solver COMP",
"family": "COMP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "GPU-accelerated position-based dynamics simulation.",
"notes": "Graduated in TD 2021 build 30000."
}
],
"breakingChangesVsStable": [
"Body Track CHOP: channel naming changed from 'joint_N_*' to 'person_N/joint_name_*' format in build 29500 — existing scripts using the old format will break",
"Python 3.8: finalized deprecation of implicit namespace package fallback — packages without __init__.py may fail to import in some configurations",
"NVIDIA Flex: 'particle_count' parameter renamed to 'Max Particles' and moved from COMP to solver page",
"Kinect Azure CHOP: body tracking mode previously default-on; now requires explicit 'Enable Body Track' parameter"
],
"pythonApiAdditions": [
{
"class": "CHOP",
"method": "getBodyTrackSkeleton",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 28500,
"description": "getBodyTrackSkeleton(personIndex: int = 0) -> dict. Returns a dict mapping joint names to (tx, ty, tz, rx, ry, rz) tuples for the specified tracked person."
},
{
"class": "KinectAzureCHOP",
"method": "getDepthFrame",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 28800,
"description": "getDepthFrame() -> numpy.ndarray. Returns the current depth frame as a 2D float32 numpy array (millimetres)."
},
{
"class": "TOP",
"method": "saveEXR",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 29000,
"description": "saveEXR(path: str, multilayer: bool = False) -> None. Save this TOP's current frame as an OpenEXR file."
},
{
"class": "App",
"member": "cudaVersion",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 28500,
"description": "str. The CUDA runtime version available to TouchDesigner, e.g. '11.4'."
}
],
"featureAreas": ["operators", "Python API", "rendering", "UI"]
},
{
"seriesId": "2020.20000",
"label": "TouchDesigner 2020 Experimental — Bullet Physics & Instancing",
"buildRange": { "min": 20000, "max": 28499 },
"basedOnStable": "2019",
"releaseYear": 2020,
"stabilityStatus": "graduated",
"stabilityNotes": "Graduated to TouchDesigner 2020 stable. GPU instancing via Geometry COMP and the Bullet physics solver were the main experimental features.",
"featureFlags": {
"bullet_physics": true,
"gpu_instancing_v2": true,
"python_37_update": true,
"glsl_440": true,
"substance_top": true,
"notch_top": true
},
"newFeatures": [
"Bullet Solver COMP and Bullet Solver CHOP: rigid body and soft body physics simulation integrated into geometry networks",
"GPU instancing v2: Geometry COMP 'Instance' parameter now accepts CHOP or SOP inputs directly for per-instance transforms, colors, and custom attributes",
"GLSL 4.40 support — bindless textures (ARB_bindless_texture) available in GLSL TOP and GLSL MAT",
"Substance TOP: Adobe Substance (.sbsar) material graph evaluation directly in TouchDesigner",
"Notch TOP: integration with Notch real-time motion graphics renderer",
"Python 3.7.7 patch — security and performance update within the 3.7 series",
"Movie File In TOP: hardware-accelerated HEVC/H.265 decode on supported GPUs",
"Video Device In TOP: NDI virtual device input support without NDI license"
],
"experimentalOperators": [
{
"name": "Bullet Solver COMP",
"family": "COMP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Bullet physics world manager. Connects to Bullet Solver CHOP outputs for per-object transform data.",
"notes": "Graduated in TD 2020 build 22000."
},
{
"name": "Substance TOP",
"family": "TOP",
"status": "promoted_to_stable",
"description": "Evaluate an Adobe Substance .sbsar graph with parameter overrides, outputting PBR material maps.",
"notes": "Graduated in TD 2020 build 24000. Requires separate Substance Engine license for commercial use."
}
],
"breakingChangesVsStable": [
"GPU instancing: 'Instance SOP' parameter replaced by 'Instance OP' accepting CHOP, SOP, or DAT — scripts constructing instanceSOPPath will silently do nothing",
"Bullet Solver: simulation world units changed from metres to centimetres in build 22500 — scale all forces and masses by 0.01 if upgrading from early builds",
"GLSL 4.40: strict precision qualifiers now enforced — shaders using 'varying' keyword will fail to compile",
"Substance TOP: output slot order standardised (BaseColor=0, Normal=1, Roughness=2, Metallic=3) — may differ from early experimental builds"
],
"pythonApiAdditions": [
{
"class": "BulletSolverCHOP",
"method": "addObject",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 20500,
"description": "addObject(sop: SOP, mass: float = 1.0, restitution: float = 0.5) -> int. Adds a SOP geometry as a rigid body to the Bullet world. Returns the new object ID."
},
{
"class": "BulletSolverCHOP",
"method": "setGravity",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 20500,
"description": "setGravity(x: float, y: float, z: float) -> None. Set the world gravity vector for this Bullet solver."
},
{
"class": "GeometryCOMP",
"member": "instanceCHOP",
"type": "member",
"addedInBuild": 20000,
"description": "CHOP. The CHOP currently supplying per-instance transform data to this Geometry COMP."
},
{
"class": "TOP",
"method": "saveHDR",
"type": "method",
"addedInBuild": 21000,
"description": "saveHDR(path: str) -> None. Save this TOP's current frame as a Radiance HDR file."
}
],
"featureAreas": ["rendering", "operators", "Python API", "UI"]
}
],
"featureAreaIndex": {
"rendering": [
"2025.10000",
"2024.50000",
"2023.11000",
"2022.32000",
"2021.15000",
"2020.20000"
],
"Python API": [
"2025.10000",
"2024.50000",
"2023.11000",
"2022.32000",
"2021.15000",
"2020.20000"
],
"operators": [
"2025.10000",
"2024.50000",
"2023.11000",
"2022.32000",
"2021.15000",
"2020.20000"
],
"networking": [
"2024.50000",
"2022.32000"
],
"UI": [
"2023.11000",
"2021.15000",
"2020.20000"
]
}
}