Command Reference

All commands support --json for machine-readable output and --help for detailed usage. TSV is the default output format.

Session

open

Create local default session and start daemon skeleton.

rdc open <CAPTURE> [--preload]

close

Close daemon-backed session.

rdc close

status

Show current daemon-backed session status.

rdc status

goto

Update current event id via daemon.

rdc goto <EID>

capture

Execute application and capture a frame.

rdc capture <EXECUTABLE> [ARGS...] [-o OUTPUT]
  [--frame N] [--trigger] [--timeout N] [--wait-for-exit]
  [--keep-alive] [--auto-open] [--api-validation] [--callstacks]
  [--hook-children] [--ref-all-resources]
  [--soft-memory-limit N] [--delay-for-debugger N]
  [--api TEXT] [--list-apis] [--json]

doctor

Run environment checks for rdc-cli.

rdc doctor

Inspection

info

Show capture metadata.

rdc info [--json]

stats

Show per-pass breakdown, top draws, largest resources.

rdc stats [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

events

List all events.

rdc events [--type TEXT] [--filter TEXT] [--limit INTEGER] [--range TEXT] [--no-header] [--json] [--jsonl] [-q]

draws

List draw calls.

rdc draws [--pass TEXT] [--sort TEXT] [--limit INTEGER] [--no-header] [--json] [--jsonl] [-q]

event

Show single API call detail.

rdc event <EID> [--json]

draw

Show draw call detail.

rdc draw [EID] [--json]

log

Show debug/validation messages from the capture.

rdc log [--level CHOICE] [--eid INTEGER] [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

counters

Query GPU performance counters.

rdc counters [--list] [--eid INTEGER] [--name TEXT] [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

Draw Analysis

pipeline

Show pipeline summary for current or specified EID.

rdc pipeline [EID] [SECTION] [--json]

bindings

Show bound resources per shader stage.

rdc bindings [EID] [--binding INTEGER] [--set INTEGER] [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

Resources

resources

List all resources.

rdc resources [--json] [--type TEXT] [--name TEXT] [--sort CHOICE] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

resource

Show details of a specific resource.

rdc resource <RESID> [--json]

usage

Show resource usage (which events read/write a resource).

rdc usage [RESOURCE-ID] [--all] [--type TEXT] [--usage TEXT] [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

shader

Show shader metadata for a stage at EID.

rdc shader [EID] [STAGE] [--reflect] [--constants] [--source] [--target TEXT] [--targets] [-o PATH] [--all] [--json]

shaders

List unique shaders in capture.

rdc shaders [--stage CHOICE] [--sort CHOICE] [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

shader-map

Output EID-to-shader mapping as TSV.

rdc shader-map [--no-header] [--json] [--jsonl] [-q]

search

Search shader disassembly text for PATTERN (regex).

rdc search <PATTERN> [--stage TEXT] [--limit INTEGER] [-C INTEGER] [--case-sensitive] [--json]

passes

List render passes.

rdc passes [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

pass

Show detail for a single render pass by index or name.

rdc pass <IDENTIFIER> [--json]

Export

texture

Export texture as PNG.

rdc texture <ID> [-o PATH] [--mip INTEGER] [--raw]

buffer

Export buffer raw data.

rdc buffer <ID> [-o PATH] [--raw]

rt

Export render target as PNG.

rdc rt [EID] [-o PATH] [--target INTEGER] [--raw] [--overlay CHOICE] [--width INTEGER] [--height INTEGER]

mesh

Export post-transform mesh as OBJ.

rdc mesh [EID] [--stage CHOICE] [-o PATH] [--json] [--no-header]

snapshot

Export a complete rendering state snapshot for a draw event.

rdc snapshot <EID> -o <PATH> [--json]

Pixel & Debug

pixel

Query pixel history at (X, Y) for the current or specified event.

rdc pixel <X> <Y> [EID] [--target INTEGER] [--sample INTEGER] [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

pick-pixel

Read pixel color at (X, Y) from the current render target.

rdc pick-pixel <X> <Y> [EID] [--target INTEGER] [--json]

tex-stats

Show texture min/max statistics and optional histogram.

rdc tex-stats <RESOURCE-ID> [EID] [--mip INTEGER] [--slice INTEGER] [--histogram] [--json]

debug pixel

Debug pixel shader at (X, Y) for event EID.

rdc debug pixel <EID> <X> <Y> [--trace] [--dump-at INTEGER] [--sample INTEGER] [--primitive INTEGER] [--json] [--no-header]

debug vertex

Debug vertex shader for vertex VTX_ID at event EID.

rdc debug vertex <EID> <VTX-ID> [--trace] [--dump-at INTEGER] [--instance INTEGER] [--json] [--no-header]

debug thread

Debug compute shader thread at workgroup (GX,GY,GZ) thread (TX,TY,TZ).

rdc debug thread <EID> <GX> <GY> <GZ> <TX> <TY> <TZ> [--trace] [--dump-at INTEGER] [--json] [--no-header]

Shader Edit-Replay

shader-encodings

List available shader encodings for this capture.

rdc shader-encodings [--json]

shader-build

Build a shader from source file.

rdc shader-build <SOURCE-FILE> --stage <CHOICE> [--entry TEXT] [--encoding TEXT] [--json] [-q]

shader-replace

Replace shader at EID/STAGE with a built shader.

rdc shader-replace <EID> <STAGE> --with <INTEGER> [--json]

shader-restore

Restore original shader at EID/STAGE.

rdc shader-restore <EID> <STAGE> [--json]

shader-restore-all

Restore all replaced shaders and free built resources.

rdc shader-restore-all [--json]

CI Assertions

assert-pixel

Assert pixel RGBA at (x, y) matches expected value within tolerance.

rdc assert-pixel <EID> <X> <Y> --expect <TEXT> [--tolerance FLOAT] [--target INTEGER] [--json]

assert-image

Compare two images pixel-by-pixel.

rdc assert-image <EXPECTED> <ACTUAL> [--threshold FLOAT] [--diff-output FILE] [--json]

assert-clean

Assert capture log has no messages at or above given severity.

rdc assert-clean [--min-severity CHOICE] [--json]

assert-count

Assert a capture metric satisfies a numeric comparison.

rdc assert-count <WHAT> --expect <INTEGER> [--op CHOICE] [--pass TEXT] [--json]

assert-state

Assert pipeline state value at EID matches expected.

rdc assert-state <EID> <KEY-PATH> --expect <TEXT> [--json]

Capture Diff

diff

Compare two RenderDoc captures side-by-side.

rdc diff <CAPTURE-A> <CAPTURE-B> [--draws] [--resources] [--passes] [--stats] [--framebuffer] [--pipeline MARKER] [--json] [--format CHOICE] [--shortstat] [--no-header] [--verbose] [--timeout FLOAT] [--target INTEGER] [--threshold FLOAT] [--eid INTEGER] [--diff-output PATH]

Target Control

Live interaction with a running RenderDoc-injected target process.

attach

Attach to a running RenderDoc target by ident.

rdc attach <IDENT> [--host TEXT]

capture-trigger

Trigger a capture on the attached target.

rdc capture-trigger [--ident INTEGER] [--host TEXT] [--num-frames INTEGER]

capture-list

List captures from the attached target.

rdc capture-list [--ident INTEGER] [--host TEXT] [--timeout FLOAT] [--json]

capture-copy

Copy a capture from the target to a local path.

rdc capture-copy <CAPTURE-ID> <DEST> [--ident INTEGER] [--host TEXT] [--timeout FLOAT]

Capture Metadata

Inspect capture file metadata without full replay.

thumbnail

Export capture thumbnail.

rdc thumbnail [--maxsize INTEGER] [-o PATH] [--json]

gpus

List GPUs available at capture time.

rdc gpus [--json]

sections

List all embedded sections.

rdc sections [--json]

section

Extract named section contents.

rdc section <NAME> [--json]

VFS Navigation

ls

List VFS directory contents.

rdc ls [PATH] [-F] [-l] [--json] [--no-header] [--jsonl] [-q]

cat

Output VFS leaf node content.

rdc cat <PATH> [--json] [--raw] [-o PATH]

tree

Display VFS subtree structure.

rdc tree [PATH] [--depth INTEGER RANGE] [--json]

Remote

Connect to a remote RenderDoc server for remote capture.

remote connect

Connect to a remote RenderDoc server.

rdc remote connect <URL> [--json]

remote list

List capturable applications on a remote host.

rdc remote list [--url TEXT] [--json]

remote capture

Capture on a remote host and transfer to local.

rdc remote capture <APP> -o <PATH> [--url TEXT] [--args TEXT] [--workdir TEXT] [--frame INTEGER] [--timeout FLOAT] [--api-validation] [--callstacks] [--hook-children] [--ref-all-resources] [--soft-memory-limit INTEGER] [--json]

Utilities

count

Output a single integer count to stdout.

rdc count <WHAT> [--pass TEXT]

completion

Generate shell completion script.

rdc completion [SHELL]

script

Execute a Python script inside the daemon process.

rdc script <SCRIPT-FILE> [--arg KEY=VALUE] [--json]

install-skill

Install rdc-cli skill files to ~/.claude/skills/rdc-cli/.

rdc install-skill [--check] [--remove]