Set up DeckBridge

1 Install

Get DeckBridge from the Elgato Marketplace - one click installs it into the Stream Deck app on macOS and Windows alike.

2 First run

On install, the Stream Deck app lays down the DeckBridge profiles for your device - one per Resolve page - and your deck is populated instantly: transport cluster, Status key, and (on dial decks) page and mixer dials. As Resolve moves between pages, the deck follows to the matching profile by itself. Each profile is a starting point, not a cage - edit the page you're on and only that page changes. A deck you plug in later is offered its profiles automatically, once.

DeckBridge never opens this guide by itself: the Status key and every settings panel's Open Setup Guide button link here whenever you need it.

Grant Access

3 Grant Access #accessibility macOS

Most people never see this tile. DeckBridge presses keys on Resolve's behalf, which macOS gates behind the Accessibility permission - granted to the Stream Deck app (DeckBridge runs inside it), and the Stream Deck app usually already has it for its own Hotkey actions. The tile appears only if the permission is genuinely missing - a fresh Stream Deck install, a declined prompt, or a macOS upgrade that reset it.

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
2. Enable Elgato Stream Deck (add it with + if it isn't listed)
3. Relaunch Stream Deck - macOS applies the new permission to a freshly started app, and the tile clears on the way back up

On a fresh install, macOS asks first with its own dialog - "Stream Deck" would like to control this computer using accessibility features. Choosing Open System Settings from that dialog lands directly on the right pane; this tile appears only if the dialog was dismissed or declined.

DeckBridge never sends a keystroke while this is red - a key that can't reach Resolve does nothing rather than typing into whatever has focus.

4 Open Resolve #resolve

An amber Open Resolve tile means DaVinci Resolve isn't running - everything on the deck dims to say "waiting", and springs back the moment Resolve is up. On macOS, pressing any transport key while Resolve is closed launches it.

Keys also stay dimmed while Resolve is open with no project or timeline - a transport press with nothing to control would land keystrokes in the wrong place, so DeckBridge refuses honestly instead.

5 Faders & lights #midi optional

Everything else already works - transport, every command, page following and timecode need no MIDI at all. This step adds the extras: faders you can turn from the deck and transport keys that light with Resolve's real playback state. Skip it freely, come back whenever. On macOS, nothing touches your MIDI configuration until you press Enable MIDI on the deck - and before any change, a timestamped backup of your pristine config is stored and kept until you uninstall.

Keep this order. Enable MIDI restarts the macOS MIDI service, and Resolve doesn't always cope with that while its Preferences window is open - so press the tile before you go into Preferences, and close that window first if you ever press it again later.

1. Press the amber Enable MIDI tile - commissioning takes about 2 seconds, and your pristine MIDI config is backed up first, kept until uninstall
2. In Resolve: Preferences → System → Control Panels → Audio Console: tick Use MIDI audio console, protocol MCU compatible, MIDI Input IAC Driver DeckBridge Out, MIDI Output IAC Driver DeckBridge In
3. Restart Resolve once - the tile goes green and stays green across every future restart of Resolve, the Stream Deck app, or your Mac

No Enable MIDI press on Windows - DeckBridge adds its own two loopback pairs to the Windows MIDI configuration and leaves everything else in it alone, automatically:

1. Windows 11 24H2 or later - nothing to install. Microsoft's MIDI stack ships with Windows itself; DeckBridge writes its own two loopback pairs into the shared MIDI configuration on startup and Windows publishes them. Zero further clicks, no elevation, no download
2. Older Windows (pre-24H2, no in-box MIDI stack): install loopMIDI - DeckBridge finds and uses your loopMIDI port
3. Neither available: faders park with an honest amber note - transport, commands, timecode and pages all still work over keystrokes

Then in Resolve: Preferences → System → Control Panels, add a Mackie Control console and set MIDI In to DeckBridge Out (B) and MIDI Out to DeckBridge In (B) - two different devices, and yes, crossed over: the bus DeckBridge writes is the one Resolve reads. Restart Resolve once. The pairs are declared permanent in the Windows MIDI configuration, so this wiring survives restarts.

Without MIDI at all, DeckBridge still does everything except moving faders and lighting transport LEDs - and says so on the tile instead of pretending.

6 Start Bridge #bridge Resolve Free

Resolve Free doesn't expose the external scripting API, so DeckBridge installs a tiny bridge script inside Resolve itself (it lives in Resolve's own Scripts menu) and starts it for you automatically - on macOS and Windows alike. The amber tile appears only when that automation needs a hand. Two known causes:

1. macOS Automation permission (separate from the Accessibility grant in step 3): starting the bridge for you needs permission to control Resolve's menus. Allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation → Elgato Stream Deck → System Events. DeckBridge picks the grant up within seconds - no restart needed. While the permission is denied, DeckBridge deliberately stops trying to bring Resolve forward.
2. A modal dialog open in Resolve blocks its menus - close any open dialog, or run Workspace → Scripts → DeckBridge yourself (one click)

The tile clears as soon as the bridge answers - a couple of seconds.

Upgrades handle themselves: an out-of-date bridge left running inside Resolve is detected, retired and replaced automatically.

7 Your keymap - nothing to configure

DeckBridge reads the keymap you already use, directly from Resolve's own preference files: built-in presets (DaVinci, Premiere, FCP, Avid, Pro Tools) and fully custom ones alike. Rebind a command in Resolve's Keyboard Customization, save, and the deck follows within seconds - no restart, no re-mapping.

• Your keys, in the Page & Settings dial's inspector, shows exactly what was read and from where
• Exported .txt presets can be imported manually as an override - useful for shared machines or locked-down prefs

8 Profiles & the Command picker

DeckBridge ships a profile per Resolve page, and the deck follows Resolve between them. To customize a page, flip Resolve to it and edit what you see - changes stay scoped to that page, and a profile can grow extra Stream Deck pages of its own (more Fader Pairs for Fairlight, say).

Every keystroke-accessible Resolve command - all 491 of them - is available via the Command action: drag it onto any key, search the picker, done. Commands without a binding in your keymap render greyed and light up the moment you assign one in Resolve.

9 Tile states reference

Every state the Status key can show, what it means, and where it sends you:

10 Copy Diagnostics #diagnostics

Every property inspector has a Copy Diagnostics button: one click copies a plain-text snapshot - plugin and Resolve versions, channel health, your active keymap, the last MIDI error if any, and the last 50 log lines. Paste it into an email to support@deckbridge.io; we can usually answer from that alone. Nothing is ever sent automatically - DeckBridge has no telemetry.

11 Uninstall

Before removing the plugin, press Remove DeckBridge data… in the Status key's or Page & Settings dial's inspector (add one from the action list if neither is placed): it de-commissions the MIDI buses (restoring your pristine backup), removes the bridge script from Resolve, and deletes all app data. Then uninstall from the Stream Deck app as usual. Full manual steps live on the support page.