# How the Blender MCP Viewport Screenshot Capture Tool Encodes and Returns Images

> Discover how the Blender MCP viewport screenshot tool encodes and returns images by creating temporary PNGs, writing screenshots, and returning data within an Image object.

- Repository: [ahujasid/blender-mcp](https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp)
- Tags: internals
- Published: 2026-04-13

---

**The viewport screenshot capture tool creates a unique temporary PNG file, instructs the running Blender instance to write the viewport screenshot to that path, reads the binary data into memory, deletes the temporary file, and returns the payload wrapped in an MCP `Image` object.**

The `ahujasid/blender-mcp` repository implements a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes Blender's 3D viewport to external clients. The `get_viewport_screenshot` RPC, defined in [`src/blender_mcp/server.py`](https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp/blob/main/src/blender_mcp/server.py), handles the complete lifecycle from