Rdc CLI

rdc-cli Skill

When to use

• Open or inspect RenderDoc capture files (.rdc).
• Capture a frame from a local Windows application with rdc capture.
• Analyze draw calls, events, render passes, resources, pipeline state, or bindings.
• Debug a pixel, vertex, or compute thread from a capture.
• Export textures, render targets, buffers, meshes, or thumbnails from a capture.
• Compare captures or run CI-style assertions such as assert-pixel, assert-image, assert-count, and assert-state.
• Use remote replay, split mode, or Android capture workflows.

Preconditions

• Confirm rdc doctor passes before assuming local replay works.
• On Windows, prefer quoted C:\... paths in user-facing commands.
• If the task needs local replay, ensure the renderdoc Python module is available.
• If the task needs remote replay, confirm whether the target machine runs rdc serve or renderdoccmd remoteserver.

Core workflow

1. Open or create a capture session.
   • Existing capture: rdc open "C:\path\to\frame.rdc"
   • Fresh capture: rdc capture "C:\path\to\app.exe" -o "C:\Temp\frame.rdc" --auto-open
2. Inspect frame shape.
   • Start with rdc info, rdc stats, rdc passes, rdc events --limit 100
3. Narrow to an event or pass.
   • Use rdc goto EID, rdc pipeline EID, rdc bindings EID, rdc usage RESOURCE_ID
4. Debug exact output.
   • Use rdc pick-pixel X Y, rdc pixel X Y, or rdc debug pixel X Y
5. Export evidence.
   • Use rdc rt EID -o out.png, rdc texture EID -o tex.png, rdc log, rdc snapshot
6. Close the session when done.
   • rdc close

Output modes

• Default TSV is best for human reading and shell pipelines.
• Use --json when the user wants structured output, automation, or downstream parsing.
• Use -q or --no-header when extracting identifiers for follow-up commands.

High-value commands

• Session: open, capture, status, goto, close
• Inspection: info, stats, passes, pass, events, draws, resources, usage
• Pipeline: pipeline, bindings, shader, shaders, search
• Pixel and debug: pick-pixel, pixel, debug
• Export: rt, texture, buffer, mesh, thumbnail, snapshot, log
• Assertions: assert-clean, assert-count, assert-pixel, assert-state, assert-image
• Remote: serve, remote connect, remote list, remote capture, open --proxy, open --connect

Windows command style

• Existing capture:
  • rdc open "C:\Temp\frame.rdc"
• Local frame capture:
  • rdc capture "C:\Games\MyApp.exe" -o "C:\Temp\frame.rdc" --frame 100 --auto-open
• Query events as JSON:
  • rdc events --json
• Export current render target:
  • rdc rt 12345 -o "C:\Temp\rt.png"

Remote and split mode

• Replay host:
  • rdc serve --port 54321
• Analyst machine:
  • rdc remote connect "HOST:54321"
  • rdc open "C:\Temp\frame.rdc" --proxy HOST:54321
• Thin client mode:
  • Server: rdc open "C:\Temp\frame.rdc" --listen 0.0.0.0:54321
  • Client: rdc open --connect HOST:54321 --token TOKEN

References

• For high-frequency commands and examples, read references/quick-ref.md.
• For the full CLI surface, prefer rdc --help and rdc <command> --help.