Embody

create at the speed of thought.

embody.tools  ·  Documentation  ·  Manifesto  ·  Changelog

Embody puts your ideas on screen as fast as you can describe them. Operators, connections, parameters, the works. Want to try a different direction? Spin up a new approach in seconds. Compare attempts side by side. Branch off the one that works. The tool keeps up with you, instead of the other way around.

Three Tools, One Idea

Envoy — forward velocity. An embedded MCP server lets Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Cursor, Windsurf, and GitHub Copilot (via VS Code) talk directly to your live TouchDesigner session. Create operators, wire them up, set parameters, write extensions, debug errors — by saying what you want. No copy-pasting code. No describing your network in chat. Idea → operators in seconds.

Embody — lateral velocity. Tag any operator and Embody externalizes it to files on disk that mirror your network hierarchy. Try a new direction, branch off a good one, restore the state from yesterday — all in seconds. Your externalized files are the source of truth, so every project opens already in flow.

TDN — the substrate that makes both possible. TouchDesigner networks exported as human-readable YAML. The format is what lets your AI agent understand what's on the screen, what lets you diff one attempt against another, and what lets a network reconstruct itself from text on the next project open. TDN is what makes the rest of this possible.

Quick Start

Requirements: TouchDesigner 2025.33070 or later (Windows / macOS). No Python setup needed — Envoy installs its own dependencies on first enable. No special folder structure either: Embody works in any project folder, and if you happen to use git, every change is also a clean diff for free.

1. Install

Download the Embody .tox from /release and drag it into your TouchDesigner project. The Setup Wizard opens and walks you through the choices that matter — how much autonomy Embody gets, whether to enable the AI assistant (Envoy) and for which tool, permissions, and where config files live. Nothing changes until the final click, and you can re-run it anytime via the Setup Wizard pulse on the Embody COMP.

Updating Embody: delete the old Embody COMP and drag the new .tox in its place. Your settings and tracked externalizations live on disk, so the new version picks them up automatically and quietly validates everything it's tracking — no re-scan, no dialogs, no files rewritten.

2. Tag and Work

1. Tag operators — hover any COMP or DAT and press lctrl twice to open the tagger (pick a strategy for a COMP, a file format for a DAT)
2. Work normally — press ctrl + shift + u to update all externalizations, or ctrl + alt + u to update only the current COMP. Externalized files are written on save; on open, the .toe stays authoritative by default (Export-on-Save), while Roundtrip mode also reconstructs TDN-strategy COMPs from disk

Tip: Externalization is opt-in — nothing is written to disk until you tag it. To capture your AI assistant's work automatically, set Auto-Externalize New Ops (Envoy parameter page) and everything it creates through Envoy is tagged and externalized as it's built.

For supported formats, folder configuration, duplicate handling, Manager UI, and more — see the Embody docs.

Envoy MCP Server

Embody includes Envoy, an embedded MCP server that gives AI coding assistants direct access to your live TouchDesigner session.

Setup

1. Pick an AI assistant in the Setup Wizard — it opens on first install, or re-run it anytime (the Setup Wizard pulse on the Embody COMP). Prefer parameters? Toggling Envoy Enable (Envoyenable) does the same thing with your current settings
2. Server starts on 127.0.0.1:9870 (configurable via Envoyport; if the port is taken by another instance, Envoy scans forward automatically)
3. Auto-configuration — Envoy writes a .mcp.json (STDIO bridge, so tools are available even before TD is running) at your AI project root. By default that's the git repo root; the wizard's config-location step — or the Aiprojectroot parameter — can point it at the .toe folder or a custom path instead. Projects without a git repo still get config generated in the .toe folder
4. Connect — open a Claude Code session (or restart your IDE) at that root — it picks up .mcp.json automatically

The generated config runs Envoy's bridged STDIO transport (recommended — it can launch and restart TD for you). If you'd rather wire a client by hand, the direct HTTP transport works whenever TD is running:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "envoy": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9870/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Tools at a Glance

...and 46 more. See the full tools reference.

When Envoy starts, it always generates an AGENTS.md file in your project root with TD development patterns and project-specific guidance. It also writes a client-specific config for whichever assistant you select in the Aiclient parameter (CLAUDE.md + .claude/ for Claude Code, Cursor/Windsurf rules, Copilot instructions, GEMINI.md for Gemini; Codex reads AGENTS.md directly).

TDN Network Format

TDN (TouchDesigner Network) is the file format that makes the rest of Embody possible. It exports an entire operator network — operators, connections, parameters, layout, annotations, DAT content — as a single human-readable YAML file. Your AI agent can read it. You can read it. Any text tool can diff it. The network can rebuild itself from it.

This is the substrate. Every other capability — AI-driven building, version control, automatic restoration — builds on top of it.

• Entire project: ctrl + shift + e
• Current COMP: ctrl + alt + e
• Via Envoy: export_network / import_network MCP tools

See the full TDN specification for format details, import process, and round-trip guarantees.

Keyboard Shortcuts

These are the defaults — every shortcut is editable on the Embody COMP's Shortcuts parameter page (type a combo, or pulse Record and press the keys; empty disables it). See [Keyboa