RenderDoc CLI Skill

Headless command-line analysis of RenderDoc GPU frame captures (

.rdc

files).

Capabilities

Capture inspection: metadata, sections, thumbnails, format conversion
Action tree: list/search/filter draw calls, clears, dispatches, markers
Texture operations: list, inspect, export (PNG/JPG/DDS/HDR/EXR), pixel picking
Pipeline state: full shader/RT/viewport state at any event
Shader analysis: export shader in human-readable form (HLSL/GLSL/disasm), constant buffer readback
Resource inspection: buffer/texture enumeration, raw data reading
Mesh data: vertex shader input/output decoding
GPU counters: enumerate and fetch hardware performance counters

Command Groups

capture

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc capture info          # Metadata + sections
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc capture thumb -o t.png # Extract thumbnail
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc capture convert -o out.rdc --format rdc

actions

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc actions list           # All actions
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc actions list --draws-only  # Draw calls only
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc actions summary        # Counts by type
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc actions find "Shadow"  # Search by name
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc actions get 42         # Single action

textures

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc textures list
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc textures get <id>
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc textures save <id> -o out.png --format png
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc textures save-outputs 42 -o ./renders/
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc textures pick <id> 100 200

pipeline

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc pipeline state 42

# Export shader in human-readable form
# Text shaders (GLSL/HLSL) → saved directly
# Binary shaders (DXBC/SPIR-V) → embedded source (HLSL/GLSL) or disassembly
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc pipeline shader-export 42 --stage Fragment
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc pipeline shader-export 42 --stage Vertex -o ./shaders/

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc pipeline cbuffer 42 --stage Vertex --index 0

# Compare pipeline state between two events
# Default output: same directory as the capture file  ;  use -o to override
cli-anything-renderdoc -c a.rdc pipeline diff 100 200 -b b.rdc
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc pipeline diff 100 200              # same capture
cli-anything-renderdoc -c a.rdc pipeline diff 100 200 -b b.rdc -o result.json
cli-anything-renderdoc -c a.rdc pipeline diff 100 200 -b b.rdc --no-compact

resources

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc resources list
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc resources buffers
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc resources read-buffer <id> --format float32

mesh

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc mesh inputs 42 --max-vertices 10
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc mesh outputs 42

counters

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc counters list
cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc counters fetch --ids 1,2,3

JSON Mode

All commands support

--json

for machine-readable output:

bash

cli-anything-renderdoc -c frame.rdc --json actions summary

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
`RENDERDOC_CAPTURE`	Default capture file path
`PYTHONPATH`	Must include RenderDoc path

Agent Usage Notes

Use
pipeline shader-export
to extract shaders — for binary shaders (DXBC/SPIR-V) it auto-exports embedded HLSL/GLSL source or falls back to disassembly; for text shaders (GLSL/HLSL) it saves the raw source directly
Shader formats by capture API:
- D3D11 → DXBC binary, exported as embedded HLSL source (
```
.hlsl
```
  ) or bytecode asm (
```
.dxbc.asm
```
  )
- OpenGL/GLES → GLSL source text (
```
.glsl
```
  ), already human-readable
- Vulkan → SPIR-V binary, exported as embedded GLSL source (
```
.glsl
```
  ) or SPIR-V asm (
```
.spv.asm
```
  )
Use
pipeline diff
to compare two events — it writes a JSON file and prints only the path; use
```
-b
```
for a second capture
Always specify
```
--json
```
for programmatic consumption
Use
```
actions summary
```
first to understand capture complexity
Use
```
actions list --draws-only
```
to focus on actual rendering
Pipeline state requires an event ID from the action list
Texture save supports: png, jpg, bmp, tga, hdr, exr, dds
Buffer data can be decoded as hex, float32, uint32, or raw bytes

cli-anything-renderdoc

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

RenderDoc CLI Skill

Capabilities

Command Groups

capture

actions

textures

pipeline

resources

mesh

counters

JSON Mode

Environment Variables

Agent Usage Notes