OBS Studio MCP Server

A .NET 10 MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for controlling OBS Studio. Use it standalone with any MCP client or via the included VS Code extension.

⚠️ This project is in active development. APIs and features may change.

Platform: Windows only (OBS WebSocket limitation)

Features

Control OBS Studio through AI assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude, etc.):

• Recording: Start, stop, pause, resume, configure format/quality (audio muted by default)
• Streaming: Start, stop, monitor status
• Scenes: List and switch scenes
• Sources: Add window captures, manage visibility
• Audio: Mute/unmute inputs, control volume (desktop audio, mic)
• Window Capture: Programmatically select windows to record
• Media: Screenshots, virtual camera

Installation

VS Code / VS Code Insiders (Recommended)

Install directly from the VS Code Marketplace:

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "OBS Studio MCP Server"
4. Click Install

Or run: code --install-extension sbroenne.obs-mcp

Other MCP Clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.)

Download from GitHub Releases:

Download	Description
obs-mcp-server-*.zip	Requires .NET 10 Runtime

Extract and add to your MCP client config:

{
  "servers": {
    "obs": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["C:/Tools/obs-mcp-server/Sbroenne.ObsMcp.McpServer.dll"],
      "env": {
        "OBS_HOST": "${input:obs_host}",
        "OBS_PORT": "${input:obs_port}",
        "OBS_PASSWORD": "${input:obs_password}"
      }
    }
  },
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "obs_host",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "OBS WebSocket host",
      "default": "localhost"
    },
    {
      "id": "obs_port",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "OBS WebSocket port",
      "default": "4455"
    },
    {
      "id": "obs_password",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "OBS WebSocket password",
      "password": true
    }
  ]
}

Config file locations:

Client	Path
Claude Desktop	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

Prerequisites

1. OBS Studio - Download from obsproject.com
2. OBS WebSocket - Built into OBS Studio 28.0+

Enable OBS WebSocket

1. Open OBS Studio
2. Go to Tools → WebSocket Server Settings
3. Enable WebSocket server
4. Note the port (default: 4455) and password
5. Click Apply

Available Tools

Tool	Actions
obs_connection	Connect, Disconnect, GetStatus, GetStats
obs_recording	Start, Stop, Pause, Resume, GetStatus, GetSettings, SetFormat, SetQuality, SetPath, GetPath
obs_streaming	Start, Stop, GetStatus
obs_scene	List, GetCurrent, Set, ListSources
obs_source	AddWindowCapture, ListWindows, SetWindowCapture, Remove, SetEnabled
obs_audio	GetInputs, Mute, Unmute, GetMuteState, SetVolume, GetVolume, MuteAll, UnmuteAll
obs_media	SaveScreenshot, StartVirtualCamera, StopVirtualCamera

Note: Recording starts with audio muted by default. Use muteAudio=false to include audio.

Quick Start: Record a Window

Important: Without a capture source, recordings will be BLACK!

1. Connect: obs_connection(action: Connect)
2. Add source: obs_source(action: AddWindowCapture, sourceName: "My Capture")
3. List windows: obs_source(action: ListWindows, sourceName: "My Capture")
4. Select window: obs_source(action: SetWindowCapture, sourceName: "My Capture", windowValue: "...")
5. Record: obs_recording(action: Start) or obs_recording(action: Start, path: "C:/Videos")

Or just ask your AI assistant: "Record VS Code in OBS"

Development

Build & Test

# Build
dotnet build

# Run unit tests (no OBS required)
dotnet test --filter "Category!=Integration"

# Run integration tests (requires OBS with .env configured)
dotnet test --filter "Category=Integration"

Project Structure

mcp-server-obs/
├── src/ObsMcp.McpServer/       # .NET 10 MCP Server
│   └── Tools/                  # 7 resource-based tools
├── tests/                      # Unit & integration tests
├── vscode-extension/           # VS Code extension wrapper
└── .github/workflows/          # Release automation

Release

• MCP Server: Push tag mcp-v1.0.0 → Builds standalone zips
• VS Code Extension: Push tag vscode-v1.0.0 → Builds .vsix + publishes to Marketplace

License

MIT