jhonny-editor/bm/premiere-pro-mcp-main/docs/ai-editorial-workflows.md

Local-first AI editorial workflows

Status

This document describes the review-only editorial-plan foundation in the current source tree. It does not claim a callable Adobe AI Assistant, Media Intelligence, Generative Media Tool, Generative Extend, caption translation, Speech-to-Text, Enhance Speech, or Remix API.

create_editorial_context_pack, create_editorial_plan, and preview_editorial_plan are local planning tools. They do not call an LLM, read a private Adobe index, upload media, send a provider request, create a bin, create a sequence, or change the active Premiere project.

Workflow

1. Inspect the intended project and sequence, then call manage_project_context with action: "capture".
2. Add only explicit local evidence through manage_project_context with action: "enrich": Premiere transcript passages, operator-authored shot notes, audio observations, or approved analysis results. Do not put secrets, native paths, or unrelated customer content in an enrichment. Use action: "import_evidence" when the caller has a structured evidence bundle: transcript passages with editor-supplied speaker labels, shot logs, audio observations, operator notes, or opaque review-frame/contact-sheet references. It requires the exact captured source revision for a source attachment and the exact captured timeline revision for a sequence or timeline attachment. It stores no native frame path and never opens a frame, invokes vision/ASR/LLM/Adobe services, or changes Premiere.
3. When a model needs a compact reading surface, call create_editorial_context_pack with the editorial intent. It returns only matching, bounded local evidence as Markdown, together with stable evidence IDs and captured revisions.
4. Call create_editorial_plan with an editorial intent and one workflow: organize, stringout, rough_cut, caption_review, or platform_cutdown.
5. Call preview_editorial_plan with the unchanged plan returned by create_editorial_plan from the current server instance. It rejects a plan when its saved context or timeline revision is stale and returns an opaque review receipt when it is current.
6. Re-capture context immediately before a mutation. Resolve stable Premiere identities and use the route stated by the recommendation, for example apply_editorial_organization_plan, manage_sequences_uxp, preview_transcript_edit_uxp, or create_caption_track.
7. Apply the individual supported operation under its normal authority, idempotency, transaction, and verification contract. Inspect the final project state and verify playback/rendered delivery separately where needed.

The confirmation token is an opaque review receipt for the exact server-issued local plan; it is not permission for an unchecked host mutation and cannot bypass the routed tool's own confirmation or capability requirements.

Transcript-first context packs

create_editorial_context_pack is an opt-in, bounded reading view inspired by transcript-first editorial workflows. It retrieves only previously captured local evidence that matches the supplied intent and emits compact Markdown alongside the exact evidence IDs, time ranges, and captured context/source/ timeline revisions. It is useful for reviewing a long interview without making an agent inspect every frame or receive a large, unstructured project dump.

The tool does not transcribe media, infer speakers, parse an undocumented Premiere transcript schema, create an edit plan, or grant authority to mutate. Transcript passages, shot notes, and audio observations remain explicit local enrichments supplied through manage_project_context. A returned revision only identifies the saved context state; re-capture immediately before mutation and keep the routed tool's existing confirmation and readback requirements.

import_evidence is a stricter typed counterpart to generic enrichment for approved editorial evidence. A speaker label is caller-supplied attribution, a frame reference is only an opaque identifier, and a shot or audio record is not semantic analysis performed by this server. The current context revision is stored with each attachment so a changed source or timeline invalidates the evidence in the same way as other local context records.

Organization plans

Organization plans require caller-supplied organization_rules. Each rule has a proposed bin name, one or more keywords, and an optional color index. The server matches these rules only against stored local context records. It deliberately does not infer bins from filenames, claim semantic understanding, or create a destination bin automatically.

With an authenticated compatible UXP bridge, the unchanged server-issued, reviewed plan can be supplied to apply_editorial_organization_plan with its opaque preview confirmation token, one selected recommendation per operation, stable source IDs, and required expected-parent guards. A source evidence ID or project-item ID may appear only once in the complete batch. If no destination bin ID is supplied, the tool creates the proposed bin with a documented UXP transaction, resolves the returned bin ID, then performs individually guarded move/color transactions.

The operation is intentionally UXP-only: it never falls back to CEP or QE. Cross-command rollback is not possible because Premiere returns a newly created bin ID only after the first transaction. If a later transaction fails, the tool reports already verified completed actions as partial, tells the editor to inspect them, and never implies that Premiere rolled them back. If no action has a verified postcondition, the tool returns a failure that identifies the unverified attempted action and instructs the editor to inspect Premiere before retrying; it never calls that attempt a commit. verified means every host response supplied the required command-specific UXP readback (created bin ID, destination parent, or color label) with matching verification metadata. A bare successful or verified bridge response is rejected and stops the remaining batch. This is structured panel-response validation, not proof of behavior in a licensed Premiere host; it is not playback, render, or visual-quality verification.

Use the licensed-host validation runbook to record the real Premiere evidence required before widening support claims.

Platform cutdowns

platform_cutdown accepts one to eight explicit target dimensions and plans a separate derived sequence for each one. Every recommendation names the captured source sequence, proposed derivative name, target width and height, and the review order: clone the source sequence, re-query the stable derivative ID, review Auto Reframe, optionally review captions, inspect structure, then export.

This is local planning only. It does not create a sequence, invoke Auto Reframe, change captions, relabel clips, render/export media, query Adobe Media Intelligence, or call an AI/provider service. Every later host mutation keeps its own capability, confirmation, and verification boundary.

Rough cuts and captions

rough_cut plans route to the native transcript preview flow. They never treat a text match as permission to remove timeline media. A transcript-to-timeline application is limited to the source/time mapping cases proven in a licensed Premiere host, defaults to a duplicate sequence, and must retain its separate revision-locked confirmation.

caption_review plans route to an already imported caption artifact. The supported CEP path creates a caption track from an SRT or VTT item and reports structural acceptance only. Verify playback or exported frames before delivery. There is no supported raw-caption, translation, or transcription invocation in this MCP server.

For an existing lecture or interview SRT/VTT, the plan_lecture_workflow action of create_caption_track creates a local-only timing preview and guided review checklist before import. It detects malformed/overlapping cues and can show a safe constant-offset proposal from an editor-supplied observation. A proportional correction is withheld unless explicitly authorized, because a caption artifact ending before a sequence may be intentional. See the guided lecture-caption workflow for the separate duplicate-sequence, structural-readback, playback, and rendered-output steps.

Local installation recovery is separate from editorial work. Use premiere-pro-mcp --doctor --plan-fixes to review privacy-safe local repair guidance before starting a workflow. It cannot establish a Premiere connection; see previewable doctor repair plans for the explicit connector-backup and post-repair boundary.

Adobe and provider boundaries

get_advanced_feature_support now reports an explicit access mode:

Access mode	Meaning
direct	Documented MCP/API operation with its own runtime capability and verification boundary.
observable-only	A bounded host event or ordinary-result inspection is available, but MCP cannot invoke the feature.
artifact-import	A reviewed local artifact can enter an existing supported Premiere workflow.
external-provider	A separate authenticated service is required.
user-assisted	The editor must run the feature in Premiere.
planned / unavailable	No current MCP operation is advertised.

The UXP bridge can wait for a bounded Generative Extend completion receipt after the editor starts that feature. The receipt is not evidence of target identity, generation provenance, visual quality, or rendered output. Real-host validation is required before treating even the event shape as production evidence.

A future local semantic index must be a separately implemented, workspace-scoped and opt-in worker. It must never be presented as a query of Adobe Media Intelligence. Cloud transcription, translation, dubbing, and media generation remain disabled until a provider, data-transfer/retention terms, credential boundary, exact cost approval, quarantine flow, and licensed-host artifact import/verification plan are approved.

Verification matrix

Evidence	What it establishes	What it does not establish
Unit/contract tests	Plan validation, revision rejection, tool registration, and output shape	Premiere host behavior
UXP capability handshake	Whether the connected host advertises a documented command	Rendered visual/audio result
UXP event receipt	Host reported a bounded event after the supplied revision	Generated target identity, provenance, or delivery quality
Project/timeline readback	Structural postcondition exposed by Premiere	Playback and export quality
Playback/export verification	Reviewed delivery output	Editorial correctness or legal/provider suitability