After Effects MCP

A production-minded Model Context Protocol server for Adobe After Effects.

Headless Startup bridge · sync tool calls · hybrid high-level tools + JSX escape hatch · composition frame capture as images · resources & prompts for agents.

Build motion graphics, review cuts, and render YouTube-ready projects from an MCP client while keeping After Effects as the execution environment.

Documentation

• Installation guide
• Usage guide
• Changelog
• Join the Discord

Features

• Headless by default — no “open panel + Auto-run” required
• Sync-feeling RPC — tools wait for AE (request IDs, timeouts, clear errors)
• Motion tools — comps, layers (text/shape/solid/null/camera…), keyframes, expressions, effects
• Vision — ae_capture_frame returns a PNG still so agents can verify work
• Resources — ae://project, ae://docs/*
• Prompts — lower-third, kinetic type, debug comp
• Companion skill — skills/after-effects-mcp/SKILL.md
• Editorial planning — sentence-aware cut scoring, explainable EDLs, clean/retention/story modes, YouTube structure, chapters, and b-roll/graphic suggestions
• Quality workflow — multi-frame QA, saved preview reviews, approve/reject decisions, and autonomous or approval-gated builds
• Motion system — reusable brand-aware hook, lower-third, chapter, statistic, quote, subscribe, and end-screen templates
• One-shot motion videos — canonical blueprints, visual grammar, coherence validation, deterministic scene builds, multi-frame QA, repair passes, and approval-aware previews
• Export presets — automatic MP4, MOV, and PNG render presets with explicit output paths

Requirements

• Adobe After Effects 2022+
• Node.js 20+
• AE preference: Edit → Preferences → Scripting & Expressions → Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network

Connection model (important)

When	What you do
One-time setup	install-bridge, enable scripting file/network access, open AE once
Day-to-day	Leave After Effects open. Only restart the AI client (Grok / Claude / Cursor)
If tools go quiet	AI client restart is enough — MCP auto-kicks the bridge into running AE. Or run ae-mcp ensure

You should not need to restart After Effects every time you reconnect the AI.

How it works: when the MCP server starts (AI client launch), it runs AfterFX.exe -r ae-mcp-ensure.jsx against the already open AE session, restarts the headless poller, and a watchdog re-kicks if heartbeats die.

Install

git clone https://github.com/HeroicSwan/after-effects-mcp.git ae-mcp
cd ae-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm run install-bridge

If AE was already open during install, restart AE once so Startup bootstrap loads. After that, only restart the AI client.

npm run health
# or force reconnect without touching AE:
node dist/index.js ensure

MCP client config

Claude / Cursor / generic

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ae-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/Users/YOU/Projects/ae-mcp/dist/index.js", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

Grok / Codex / Claude Code

Point the MCP server command at node + absolute path to dist/index.js with arg serve.

The After Effects panel can write the Codex entry directly into C:\Users\YOU\.codex\config.toml. Restart Codex after installing it.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT uses a remotely reachable HTTPS MCP endpoint rather than launching this local Windows stdio command directly. Select ChatGPT (remote MCP) in the After Effects panel to create ~/.ae-mcp/chatgpt-setup.json and a setup guide. Set AE_MCP_CHATGPT_MCP_URL before setup if you already have an authenticated HTTPS relay. Never expose the local bridge without authentication.

CLI

Command	Description
ae-mcp serve	MCP stdio server (default)
ae-mcp health	Check live bridge / AE
ae-mcp install-bridge	Copy Startup bootstrap into AE script folders

Typical agent workflow

1. ae_health
2. ae_create_composition / ae_get_composition
3. ae_create_layer → ae_set_keyframes / ae_set_expression / ae_apply_effect
4. ae_capture_frame — look at the still
5. Iterate

Tool catalog (v0.1)

Tool	Purpose
ae_health	Connection + project snapshot
ae_list_instances	Live AE instances
ae_get_project_info	Project summary
ae_list_compositions	Comp index
ae_get_composition	Comp + layers
ae_create_composition	New comp
ae_get_layer / ae_create_layer / ae_set_layer_properties	Layers
ae_duplicate_layer / ae_delete_layer	Layer ops (confirm for delete)
ae_set_keyframes / ae_set_expression	Animation
ae_apply_effect / ae_set_effect_property / ae_list_effects / ae_remove_effect	Effects
ae_search	Find items/layers by name
ae_capture_frame	PNG still (+ image content)
ae_capture_frames	Multi-frame visual QA manifest
ae_create_editorial_plan	Sentence-aware YouTube edit decision list
ae_audit_editorial_plan	Pacing, hook, coverage, and cut-quality audit
ae_build_youtube_edit	Approval-aware YouTube edit builder
ae_create_motion_template	Brand-aware reusable AE motion graphic
ae_create_motion_blueprint	Create the canonical motion-video plan
ae_validate_motion_blueprint	Explain timing, brand, scene, and template problems
ae_audit_motion_coverage	Verify beat choreography, object motion, scene variation, and settle moments
ae_repair_motion_blueprint	Apply safe deterministic blueprint repairs
ae_build_motion_video	Build, QA, preview-render, and review a complete motion video
ae_render_composition	Automatic AE render/export preset
ae_create_review / ae_decide_review	Preview approval workflow
ae_run_jsx	Escape hatch

Architecture

MCP client → ae-mcp (stdio) → in-process broker → ~/.ae-mcp/instances/<id>/
                                                     command.json → result.json
                                              ← AE Startup bootstrap.jsx

Development

npm run build
npm test
npm run typecheck

Before publishing changes, run the full local release check described in the installation guide.

License

MIT