Content
# blender-agent-sdk
Drive Blender from AI agents with a plain Python SDK — **no addon to install**. The same tools are also
available as an MCP server and as a command line for building a scene over a conversation.
`BlenderSession` launches Blender (headless `-b` or with its GUI), injects a small bridge with
`--python`, and talks to it over a private Unix socket (loopback TCP with a per-session token on
Windows). Linux, Windows and macOS. On top of that sit computer-use style
tools — *observe* (scene graph, object state, screenshots), *discover* (search 2,498 operators) and
*act* (operators, RNA properties, checkpoints) — exported as ready-made OpenAI and Anthropic
function-calling schemas with a one-line `dispatch()`.
The design is grounded in a reverse-engineering pass over the Blender 5.2.2 binary itself with
[REA](https://github.com/morluto/rea) (Ghidra provider). See [`docs/re/`](docs/re/README.md) for the
evidence and its limits.
[한국어 설명은 아래에 있습니다.](#한국어)
```python
from blender_agent import BlenderSession
with BlenderSession() as bl: # blender -b, factory startup
bl.call_operator("mesh.primitive_monkey_add", {"location": [0, 0, 1]})
bl.call_operator("object.modifier_add", {"type": "SUBSURF"})
bl.set_property("objects", "Suzanne", "modifiers['Subdivision'].levels", 2)
print(bl.scene_graph()["objects"])
png, meta = bl.screenshot(640, 480) # PNG bytes; renders from the scene camera
```
## Install
Requires Python ≥ 3.10 and Blender. CI runs the full suite against **Blender 5.2.2** on Linux x64
(including the GUI test under Xvfb), Windows x64 and macOS arm64; other Blender versions are untested.
The wheel is pure Python, so one file covers every platform. Blender itself is not bundled; the SDK
finds it through `BlenderSession(blender=...)`, `$BLENDER`, `PATH`, or the default install location
(`/Applications/Blender.app` on macOS, `C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender *` on Windows).
```bash
pip install https://github.com/yazzang-homelab/blender-agent-sdk/releases/download/v0.2.0/blender_agent_sdk-0.2.0-py3-none-any.whl
# or the development version
pip install git+https://github.com/yazzang-homelab/blender-agent-sdk
```
| platform | transport | GUI sessions |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Unix socket in a 0700 directory | yes (X11/Wayland, `xvfb-run` headless) |
| macOS | Unix socket in a 0700 directory | untested (hosted runners have no GPU display) |
| Windows | `127.0.0.1` TCP; Blender must present a 256-bit token passed through its environment | untested (hosted runners have no GPU display) |
## Work on a scene in a conversation
A script's `BlenderSession` ends with the script. To build something over many turns (from Claude Code,
GJC, Cursor, or by hand) keep one Blender alive with either of these; both use the SDK's tools and exec
policy unchanged.
**MCP server** (stdio, standard library only):
```bash
claude mcp add blender -- blender-agent mcp --http 8765 # Claude Code
gjc mcp add blender --command blender-agent --arg mcp --arg --http --arg 8765 # GJC
```
Besides the SDK tools the server offers `show` (render, save to the gallery, return the image),
`gallery` (where the user can look) and `reset_scene`.
MCP hosts start servers with a minimal environment, so pass settings as options rather than
environment variables: `--blender PATH`, `--render-engine CYCLES` (no GPU), `--gui`, `--allow-exec`.
**Background session + CLI**, for agents without MCP or for typing commands yourself:
```bash
blender-agent start --name tree --http 8765 # Blender keeps running between commands
blender-agent call --name tree call_operator '{"idname": "mesh.primitive_cone_add", "params": {"depth": 3}}'
blender-agent show --name tree --label "trunk" # render, record, draw it in the terminal
blender-agent call --name tree checkpoint '{"label": "v1"}'
blender-agent stop --name tree
```
### Seeing what the agent did
| channel | how |
|---|---|
| terminal | `show`/`call --preview` draw the image inline: kitty graphics (kitty, Ghostty, WezTerm), iTerm2 images, or 24-bit half blocks anywhere else, tmux and SSH included |
| live terminal pane | `blender-agent watch [DIR]` redraws the newest image as it arrives; put it in a tmux split next to the agent |
| model | MCP `show`/`screenshot` results carry the PNG, so the agent checks its own work |
| gallery folder | every screenshot goes to `shots/NNNN.png`, `latest.png`, `history.jsonl` and a self-reloading `index.html` (`--out DIR`; default `./blender-agent-out`) |
| browser | `--http PORT` serves the gallery (`--http-bind 0.0.0.0` for phones and other machines; `blender-agent gallery DIR` serves any folder) |
| Blender itself | `--gui` opens Blender's window; you watch every operator happen and can take over |
The CLI keeps per-session state under `~/.cache/blender-agent` (`%LOCALAPPDATA%` on Windows): a local
socket or named pipe plus a random key that every request must present.
## Plug it into an agent
```python
import anthropic
from blender_agent import BlenderSession, anthropic_tools, dispatch
from blender_agent.tools import result_text
client = anthropic.Anthropic()
with BlenderSession() as bl:
messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "Build a snowman and show me."}]
while True:
reply = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-5", max_tokens=2048,
tools=anthropic_tools(), messages=messages)
messages.append({"role": "assistant", "content": reply.content})
calls = [b for b in reply.content if b.type == "tool_use"]
if not calls:
break
messages.append({"role": "user", "content": [
{"type": "tool_result", "tool_use_id": c.id, "content": result_text(dispatch(bl, c.name, c.input))}
for c in calls]})
```
`openai_tools()` is the same list in OpenAI's `{"type": "function", ...}` shape, and `dispatch()` accepts
OpenAI's JSON-string arguments directly. [`examples/agent_loop.py`](examples/agent_loop.py) is a complete
loop for both APIs (screenshots are sent back as images) plus a scripted policy that needs no API key:
```bash
python examples/agent_loop.py --policy scripted --out agent-output
python examples/agent_loop.py --policy anthropic "build a low-poly tree"
```
## Tools
| tool | what it does |
|---|---|
| `scene_graph` | all objects with type, transform, dimensions, visibility, selection, collections; active object, camera, mode, engine |
| `object_info` | one object in depth: world bbox, modifiers, materials, mesh counts, light/camera data, custom props |
| `screenshot` | PNG of the scene (see modes below) |
| `search_operators` | keyword search over every registered `bpy.ops` operator |
| `describe_operator` | an operator's parameters, types and enum values |
| `call_operator` | run `bpy.ops.<idname>(**params)` inside a context override for an editor area |
| `get_property` / `set_property` | read/write any RNA path on a datablock, e.g. `modifiers["Bevel"].width` |
| `checkpoint` / `restore` | snapshot and roll back the whole file |
| `save` | write a `.blend` |
| `exec_python` | arbitrary Python inside Blender — **off unless** `BlenderSession(allow_exec=True)` *and* `openai_tools(include_exec=True)` |
Errors raised inside Blender come back as `RemoteError` (type, message, remote traceback) and the
session keeps running; `dispatch()` turns them into `{"ok": false, "error": ...}` so the model can
correct itself. A request over the 64 MiB frame limit raises `RequestTooLarge` without being sent (the
session is unaffected; `dispatch()` returns it as an error too). A hung or crashed Blender raises
`SessionLost` after the request timeout and the process is killed.
## Background vs GUI sessions
| | `BlenderSession()` (`-b`) | `BlenderSession(background=False)` |
|---|---|---|
| execution | bridge blocks Blender's main thread and serves requests | reader thread + one `bpy.app.timers` callback on the main thread |
| `screenshot` | render from the scene camera (Workbench; a temporary camera framing visible objects when there is none) | offscreen draw of the 3D viewport (`GPUOffScreen.draw_view3d`), or `source="render"` |
| `undo` | refused — `-b` has no undo stack; use `checkpoint`/`restore` | `ed.undo`; operators are called with the undo flag so each one is a step |
| display | none needed | needs a display (`xvfb-run` works) |
Set `BLENDER_AGENT_RENDER_ENGINE=CYCLES` on machines without a GPU (CI does); Cycles then renders on the CPU.
## How it works
```
your agent ──dispatch()──► BlenderSession ──Unix socket or token-checked loopback TCP, 4-byte length + JSON──► bridge.py in Blender
│ owns the process, timeouts, │ bpy on the main thread
│ Blender log → file (never blocks) │
```
The process is launched as
`blender [-b] [--disable-autoexec] [file.blend] [--factory-startup] [extra_args...] --python-exit-code 1 --python bridge.py -- --connect <address> --workdir <dir> [--allow-exec]`.
`<address>` is the socket path, or `tcp:127.0.0.1:<port>` on Windows, where CPython has no `AF_UNIX`.
The bridge's first frame carries a random token the client put in Blender's environment, and the client
drops any peer without it, so another local process cannot pose as Blender on the loopback port.
The socket, Blender's log, renders and checkpoints all live in one private directory (0700; the user's
own `%TEMP%` on Windows) that the client removes on every exit path (close, timeout, crash, failed start).
## Trust model
Without `allow_exec=True` the bridge, not only the client, refuses every known way to run agent-controlled
Python inside Blender:
- the `exec_python` method;
- operators that run scripts or code: `script.*`, `console.*`, `text.run_script`, preset add/execute operators,
add-on and extension management (`preferences.*`, `extensions.*`), external openers (`wm.url_open`,
`wm.path_open`, `image.external_edit`), and any operator taking a Python-evaluated parameter
(`data_path`, `eval_string`, …, as in `wm.context_*`) or a `settings` collection of `NodeSetting`
values (`node.add_node`, `node.swap_node` and the zone, group and bundle adders: 12 operators in 5.2.2);
- operators that write or re-evaluate agent-controlled Python: `anim.keying_set_export` (writes a `.py`) and
`anim.update_animated_transform_constraints` (`eval()`s every F-Curve and driver `data_path`);
- `wm.read_homefile`/`wm.read_factory_settings` with `app_template`, since an app template is a
Python package; invoked (`INVOKE_*`) `render.*` operators and `node.render_changed`, whose render
jobs outlive the request (operators are also refused while a render job runs);
- operators that start another Blender which could run scripts: `asset.open_containing_blend_file`, and
`wm.previews_batch_generate`/`wm.previews_batch_clear` with `use_trusted=True` (forced to `False` otherwise);
- embedded scripts in `.blend` files: Blender starts with `--disable-autoexec`, every file load
(`open_file`, `restore`, `wm.open_mainfile`, …) runs with `use_scripts=False`, and an explicit
`use_scripts=True` is refused;
- Freestyle, which runs Python whenever it renders regardless of auto-exec: style-module text blocks in
script mode, and in editor mode an expression built from view-layer and line-set names that escapes only
quotes. The bridge keeps `render.use_freestyle` off in every scene (linked ones included) at startup and
after every request, before GUI redraws can render; a request that turned it on, e.g. by opening a file,
gets a `FreestyleDisabled` error after it completes (a failed request keeps its own error, with a note).
Turning it on with `set_property` is refused, and so are scene previews (`wm.previews_batch_generate`
with `use_scenes=True`, forced to `False` otherwise), which a child Blender renders with the file's
settings. Files opened by operators load without their own UI (`load_ui=False`; `load_ui=True` is
refused).
This closes code execution *inside the Blender process*. It is **not** a filesystem sandbox: ordinary
operators can still read and write files the user can reach (`save`, `wm.save_as_mainfile`, image and
mesh import/export), including Python text blocks saved with `text.save` in GUI sessions. Run untrusted
agents in a container or VM with only the files they need.
The guarantee covers what an agent can reach through tool calls. Constructor arguments are the caller's:
`extra_args` (e.g. `--enable-autoexec`, `--python-expr`) and `factory_startup=False` (user add-ons and
startup file) are passed to Blender unchecked, and in GUI sessions a `blend_file` given at launch
opens with its own UI. Open untrusted files with `open_file` instead.
## SDK first, MCP optional
Typical Blender MCP servers need an addon installed into the user's Blender and a host that speaks MCP.
Here the core is a child process you own: it can be headless, sandboxed per task, run in CI, and its
tools drop into any function-calling loop. `blender-agent mcp` is a thin adapter over the same tools for
hosts that speak MCP. Prior art for comparison:
[ahujasid/blender-mcp](https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp) (MCP addon, GUI only) and
[ptrthomas/blender-agent](https://github.com/ptrthomas/blender-agent) (HTTP `exec` endpoint, no SDK).
## Reverse engineering
The SDK's shape comes from taking the stripped 174 MB (166 MiB) Blender 5.2.2 binary apart with REA + Ghidra (full
auto-analysis: 301,393 procedures, 70 min). The results were cross-checked against the v5.2.2 source and a full runtime
RNA dump. Highlights from [`docs/re/`](docs/re/README.md):
- CPython is statically linked (`.PyRuntime` section). `gpu`, `bmesh` and friends live in an internal `_inittab`, and
`_bpy` is created at startup with `PyModule_New`. None of them is exported, so the only bridge that needs no install
is a `--python` script inside Blender's own interpreter.
- The `-b` handler just sets `G.background` and mutes audio. The window manager survives, but there is no event loop
and the GPU is not initialized, so the bridge owns the main thread under `-b`. Screenshots come from a render
rather than `GPUOffScreen`, which would need `gpu.init()` and a real GPU (GitHub runners have none).
- `bpy_op_fn_call_impl` (decompiled) polls, converts kwargs to RNA, releases the GIL and calls
`WM_operator_call_py(..., is_undo)`. That `is_undo` flag is why GUI sessions pass it, and why `-b` sessions use
`.blend` checkpoints.
- The binary holds 2,247 operator idnames from about 2,135 static `WM_operatortype_append` call sites. At runtime there
are 2,498 operators. Every difference is accounted for: Python operators, add-on operators, dead and
commented-out registrations, keymap strings, and one linker tail-merge. The SDK therefore searches the live
registry instead of a static list.
## Development
```bash
pip install -e ".[test]"
BLENDER=~/blender/blender pytest # needs a real Blender; it fails, not skips, without one
xvfb-run -a pytest # also runs the GUI smoke test
UPDATE_GOLDEN=1 pytest tests/test_tools.py # after an intentional tool-schema change
```
Regenerate the operator/RNA catalog: `blender -b --factory-startup --python tools/dump_rna.py -- data/rna-5.2.2.json.gz`.
## License
GPL-3.0-or-later. The bridge imports `bpy`, so the project follows Blender's license.
Blender binaries are never redistributed here.
---
## 한국어
AI 에이전트가 **MCP 없이** 순수 Python SDK로 Blender를 조작(computer-use)하게 해 주는 라이브러리입니다.
- `BlenderSession`이 Blender를 자식 프로세스로 띄우고(`-b` 헤드리스 또는 GUI), `--python`으로 브리지를 주입해
전용 Unix 소켓(0700 디렉터리, Windows는 세션 토큰으로 인증하는 127.0.0.1 TCP)과 4바이트 길이 접두 JSON으로
통신합니다. 애드온 설치가 필요 없습니다.
- Linux x64, Windows x64, macOS arm64에서 Blender 5.2.2로 전체 테스트를 CI에서 돌립니다(GUI 테스트는 Linux).
설치: `pip install https://github.com/yazzang-homelab/blender-agent-sdk/releases/download/v0.2.0/blender_agent_sdk-0.2.0-py3-none-any.whl`
- 관찰(`scene_graph`, `object_info`, `screenshot`) · 탐색(`search_operators`, `describe_operator`) ·
조작(`call_operator`, `set_property`, `checkpoint`/`restore`, `save`) 도구를 OpenAI/Anthropic
function-calling 스키마로 제공하고 `dispatch()` 한 줄로 실행합니다.
- `exec_python`은 기본 비활성이며, 브리지가 실행 인자로 직접 차단합니다. 스크립트를 실행하는 연산자
(`script.*`, `text.run_script`, `data_path`/`eval_string` 인자, `.blend` 내장 스크립트 등)도 막지만,
파일시스템 샌드박스는 아니므로 신뢰할 수 없는 에이전트는 컨테이너에서 돌리십시오.
- Blender 내부 예외는 `RemoteError`(타입·메시지·원격 traceback)로 돌아오고 세션은 유지됩니다.
멈추거나 죽으면 타임아웃 후 프로세스를 정리하고 `SessionLost`를 던집니다.
- 대화하면서 장면을 완성하려면 Blender를 계속 살려 두는 `blender-agent mcp`(Claude Code·GJC 등 MCP 호스트) 또는
`blender-agent start/call/show/stop`(CLI)을 씁니다. 결과는 터미널 인라인 이미지(kitty·iTerm2·하프블록),
tmux 옆 창의 `blender-agent watch`, 갤러리 폴더(`index.html` 자동 새로고침), `--http` 웹(내부망은
`--http-bind 0.0.0.0`), `--gui` Blender 창 실시간 보기로 확인합니다.
- 헤드리스(`-b`)에는 undo 스택이 없어 `checkpoint`/`restore`(.blend 스냅샷)를 쓰고, GUI 세션에서는
`ed.undo`와 뷰포트 오프스크린 캡처를 씁니다.
- 설계 근거는 [REA](https://github.com/morluto/rea)(Ghidra 프로바이더)로 Blender 5.2.2 바이너리 자체를
리버싱한 결과입니다. 증거와 한계는 [`docs/re/`](docs/re/README.md)에 있습니다.
테스트는 실제 Blender로 돕니다: `BLENDER=/path/to/blender pytest` (GUI까지: `xvfb-run -a pytest`).
라이선스는 GPL-3.0-or-later이며 Blender 바이너리는 포함하지 않습니다.
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