Quickstart Guide

Get started with ShotGrid MCP Server in minutes

Quickstart Guide

This guide will help you set up a basic ShotGrid MCP Server and create your first tools. By the end, you’ll have a working server that can interact with ShotGrid data through the MCP protocol.

Basic Server Setup

First, let’s create a simple server that connects to ShotGrid:

from shotgrid_mcp_server import ShotGridMCPServer

# Create a server with your ShotGrid credentials
server = ShotGridMCPServer(
    name="ShotGrid Assistant",
    shotgrid_url="https://your-site.shotgunstudio.com",
    script_name="your_script_name",
    api_key="your_api_key"
)

# Run the server
if __name__ == "__main__":
    server.run(host="localhost", port=8000)

Save this as server.py and run it with python server.py. Your server will start on http://localhost:8000.

Using Mockgun for Testing

For development and testing, you can use Mockgun instead of connecting to a real ShotGrid instance:

from shotgrid_mcp_server import ShotGridMCPServer

# Create a server with Mockgun
server = ShotGridMCPServer(
    name="ShotGrid Test Server",
    use_mockgun=True,  # This enables Mockgun
    schema_path="path/to/schema.bin"  # Optional: path to a schema file
)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    server.run(host="localhost", port=8000)

Creating Your First Tool

Let’s add a tool to search for projects:

from shotgrid_mcp_server import ShotGridMCPServer

server = ShotGridMCPServer(
    name="ShotGrid Assistant",
    use_mockgun=True  # For testing
)

@server.tool()
def find_projects(status: str = None):
    """
    Find projects in ShotGrid, optionally filtered by status.
    
    Args:
        status: Filter projects by status (e.g., "Active", "Archived")
    
    Returns:
        A list of projects matching the criteria
    """
    filters = []
    if status:
        filters.append(["sg_status", "is", status])
    
    return server.connection.find(
        "Project",
        filters,
        ["id", "name", "code", "sg_status"]
    )

if __name__ == "__main__":
    server.run(host="localhost", port=8000)

Adding Test Data to Mockgun

If you’re using Mockgun, you’ll need to add some test data:

from shotgrid_mcp_server import ShotGridMCPServer

server = ShotGridMCPServer(
    name="ShotGrid Test Server",
    use_mockgun=True
)

# Add test data to Mockgun
@server.on_startup
def create_test_data():
    # Create test projects
    server.connection.create("Project", {
        "name": "Awesome Film",
        "code": "AWSM",
        "sg_status": "Active"
    })
    
    server.connection.create("Project", {
        "name": "Old Project",
        "code": "OLD",
        "sg_status": "Archived"
    })

@server.tool()
def find_projects(status: str = None):
    """Find projects in ShotGrid, optionally filtered by status."""
    filters = []
    if status:
        filters.append(["sg_status", "is", status])
    
    return server.connection.find(
        "Project",
        filters,
        ["id", "name", "code", "sg_status"]
    )

if __name__ == "__main__":
    server.run(host="localhost", port=8000)

Testing Your Server

You can test your server using the built-in MCP client:

from mcp.client import Client

async def test_server():
    # Connect to your server
    client = Client("http://localhost:8000")
    
    # List available tools
    tools = await client.list_tools()
    print(f"Available tools: {[tool.name for tool in tools]}")
    
    # Call the find_projects tool
    result = await client.call_tool("find_projects", {"status": "Active"})
    print(f"Active projects: {result}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import asyncio
    asyncio.run(test_server())

Save this as test_client.py and run it with python test_client.py while your server is running.

Next Steps

Now that you have a basic server running, you can:

• Add more tools for different ShotGrid entities
• Learn about optimized queries for better performance
• Explore batch operations for efficient data manipulation
• Set up connection pooling for production use

Congratulations! You’ve created your first ShotGrid MCP Server. Continue exploring the documentation to learn more about the server’s capabilities.