After Effects Mcp Vision

An MCP server that lets an AI agent build and see inside a live Adobe After Effects session.

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Most tool integrations let a model change things it cannot look at. This one lets an agent change your comp, render a frame, look at the pixels, and correct itself. It drives whatever project you have open; it never needs its own.

Requires After Effects 2022 (22.0) or later, on macOS or Windows. Earlier versions cannot work: every layer is addressed by Layer.id, which Adobe added in 22.0.

Quick start

1. Install. Download the .dmg (macOS) or .exe (Windows) from

[Releases](../../releases), quit After Effects, and run it. The installer is unsigned, so the first run needs one extra step ([details](docs/INSTALL.md#first-run-warnings)):

• macOS 15+: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway, then

an admin password.

• Windows: at "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then

Run anyway.

1. Open After Effects. The server starts by itself on 127.0.0.1:8791,

about 15 seconds after After Effects finishes loading. No panel needs to be open.

1. Connect your client. Open Window > Extensions > AE MCP Vision, pick

your client, and copy the config — it has your real token filled in. Or, for Claude Code, one command:

``bash # macOS Terminal, or Git Bash on Windows claude mcp add --transport http --scope user ae-vision http://127.0.0.1:8791/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer $(cat ~/.ae-mcp-vision/token)" ``

``powershell # Windows PowerShell claude mcp add --transport http --scope user ae-vision http://127.0.0.1:8791/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer $(Get-Content ~/.ae-mcp-vision/token)" ``

1. Check it. Ask your agent to "run ae_query with sessionInfo". You

should get your After Effects version back.

Connecting other clients

The server speaks standard MCP over Streamable HTTP with a bearer token, so it is not tied to any one model or harness.

| Client | How | | |---|---|---| | Claude Code | HTTP, native | one-liner above | | Claude Desktop | stdio bridge (mcp-remote) | [INSTALL.md](docs/INSTALL.md#claude-desktop) | | Codex CLI, IDE extension, ChatGPT desktop app | HTTP, native, shared ~/.codex/config.toml | [INSTALL.md](docs/INSTALL.md#codex-and-the-chatgpt-desktop-app) | | Anything else | HTTP if it supports headers, otherwise the stdio bridge | [INSTALL.md](docs/INSTALL.md#any-other-mcp-client) |

ChatGPT connectors added on chatgpt.com cannot be used: they are called from OpenAI's servers, which cannot reach a server on your machine.

The tools

Sixteen verb-dispatching tools. Everything is addressed by stable id (Item.id, Layer.id) and properties by matchName path, so it survives reordering and works on localized installs.

| Tool | What it does | |---|---| | ae_query | sessionInfo, tree, find, propertyKeys, propertyValues, selection, bounds, and describe for a tool's live schema | | ae_set | Batched property and expression writes, with per-item errors | | ae_animate | Add, remove and read keyframes, with easing | | ae_layers | Create, delete, duplicate, rename, reorder, reparent, lock, solo | | ae_effects | List available, apply, remove, inspect parameters | | ae_project | Create comps, import footage, folders, rename, relink, open, save, and collect files for handoff | | ae_capture | Vision: one frame, a labelled contact sheet over time, or one layer isolated | | ae_masks | Rect and freeform masks, feather, modes (add, subtract, …), rename, and a whole animated roto path in one call, read from disk if you like | | ae_timing | Layer in/out/start, comp settings, markers | | ae_shapes | Rect, ellipse, polygon, star and path layers; trim paths, repeaters, dashes | | ae_compose | Precompose, track mattes, blend modes, parenting, 3D, cameras | | ae_render | Render to a file, batch outputs, or hand off to Media Encoder | | ae_layout | Measure, align, distribute, stack, pin, fit, stagger — AE has no layout engine | | ae_text | Text animators and range selectors | | ae_template | Essential Graphics — expose properties, export a .mogrt | | ae_diagnostics | Missing footage, font substitutions, broken expressions; reload the host |

Mutating calls run inside an undo group, so an agent's whole batch is one Cmd-Z.

Documentation

| | For | |---|---| | [docs/INSTALL.md](docs/INSTALL.md) | Every install path, every client, troubleshooting, uninstalling | | [docs/RECIPES.md](docs/RECIPES.md) | How to build things: value shapes, measurement traps, ExtendScript hazards | | [docs/CAPABILITIES.md](docs/CAPABILITIES.md) | A measured pass / fail / needs-review matrix of what AE techniques are reachable | | [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) | Dev setup, architecture, testing, releasing |

The first three are also served over MCP as ae-vision://install, ae-vision://recipes and ae-vision://capabilities, so an agent can read them without a repo checkout.

Security

The bearer token is the trust boundary: anything holding it can drive After Effects as you.

• Listens on 127.0.0.1 only. The token lives in ~/.ae-mcp-vision/token

(mode 0600) and is required on every request.

• The Host header is pinned to loopback, which blocks DNS rebinding. Requests

from web origins are refused, which blocks a web page in your browser from reaching it; only the extension's own panel is allowed through.

• ae_capture writes only inside an app-owned folder. ae_project save

requires a .aep/.aepx path and will not overwrite without overwrite: true.

Credits

This project started as a fork of Dakkshin/after-effects-mcp, which established the idea of driving After Effects from an MCP client. v2 replaced its file-polling transport with a server running inside After Effects, moved to stable-id addressing, and added ae_capture.

Licence

MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE). Copyright (c) 2025 Dakkshin, copyright (c) 2026 Nate Ryan. Both notices travel with every copy, including the installers.

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: VolksRat71
• Source: VolksRat71/after-effects-mcp-vision
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.