Adobe MCP

adobe-mcp

MCP servers for Adobe applications. Install one application's server on its own, or the suite: one server for every application, with tools that work across them.

The InDesign server was published as indesign-mcp-server up to 2.3.0. It is now adobe-mcp-indesign, with the same tools; replace the package name in your client configuration.

Package	What it drives	npm
adobe-mcp-indesign	Adobe InDesign: documents, pages, text, styles, tables, books, PDF and EPUB export (423 tools)	adobe-mcp-indesign
adobe-mcp-illustrator	Adobe Illustrator: documents, artboards, layers, shapes and paths, typography, colour and swatches, effects and 3D, symbols, patterns, Image Trace, images and links, variables and data sets, actions, export, prepress and printing (308 tools)	adobe-mcp-illustrator
adobe-mcp-photoshop	Adobe Photoshop: documents and formats, image and canvas, layers, masks, smart objects and layer styles, selections and channels, adjustments and fill layers, filters, painting and retouching, type and paths, video timeline, actions and batch, artboards, export, printing and preferences (207 tools)	adobe-mcp-photoshop
adobe-mcp-aftereffects	Adobe After Effects: projects and footage, compositions, layers and time, keyframes and expressions, every effect and its controls, text animators, masks and shape layers, paint and roto, 3D, tracking, colour, render queue and Essential Graphics (164 tools)	adobe-mcp-aftereffects
adobe-mcp-premiere	Adobe Premiere Pro: projects and bins, sequences, timeline edits, markers, effects, keyframes and transitions, transcripts, metadata and export, through a UXP plugin (96 tools; not yet tested against Premiere Pro)	adobe-mcp-premiere
adobe-mcp-suite	InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro in one server (1,200 tools), plus cross-application tools: Illustrator artwork into InDesign layouts, swatches with exact values	adobe-mcp-suite
adobe-mcp-core	The shared foundation: script escaping, the script runner, the server shell and the static script audit	adobe-mcp-core

Each server runs on the machine where the Adobe application is installed and talks to it through ExtendScript, the scripting interface the applications ship with. Premiere Pro has no outside scripting route, so its server talks to a UXP plugin inside Premiere Pro instead. macOS and Windows are supported.

The servers also support corresponding ArtCraft applications:

• PhotoCraft for Photoshop (PHOTOCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT, default 7878)
• VectorCraft for Illustrator (VECTORCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT, default 7979)
• DesignCraft for InDesign (DESIGNCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT, default 7979)
• EffectCraft for After Effects (EFFECTCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT, default 9877)
• FilmCraft for Premiere Pro (FILMCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT, default 9876)

When an ArtCraft application is running or explicitly configured via TARGET=craft or <APP>_TARGET=craft (e.g. PHOTOSHOP_TARGET=craft, DESIGNCRAFT_TARGET=craft), compatible tools route transparently to ArtCraft over its loopback JSON-lines control channel.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (LTS recommended). npx comes with it.
• The Adobe application(s) you want to drive, installed on the same machine: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and/or After Effects 2023 or later, or Premiere Pro 25.6+ with its UXP plugin loaded (see packages/premiere).
• An MCP client (Claude Code, Warp, Cursor, Claude Desktop, or any client that reads an mcpServers block).

Servers speak MCP over stdio. Your client starts the process; there is no hosted endpoint and no API key for the package itself. Tool calls that touch the application need that app open (or launchable) on the machine.

Install from npm

One application

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --scope user indesign -- npx -y adobe-mcp-indesign
claude mcp add --scope user illustrator -- npx -y adobe-mcp-illustrator
claude mcp add --scope user photoshop -- npx -y adobe-mcp-photoshop
claude mcp add --scope user aftereffects -- npx -y adobe-mcp-aftereffects
claude mcp add --scope user premiere -- npx -y adobe-mcp-premiere

Any client that reads an mcpServers block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indesign": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "adobe-mcp-indesign"] },
    "illustrator": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "adobe-mcp-illustrator"] },
    "photoshop": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "adobe-mcp-photoshop"] },
    "aftereffects": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "adobe-mcp-aftereffects"] },
    "premiere": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "adobe-mcp-premiere"] }
  }
}

Full suite

One process with every application's tools (prefixed indesign_…, illustrator_…, and so on) plus cross-application tools when both sides are loaded:

claude mcp add --scope user adobe -- npx -y adobe-mcp-suite

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adobe": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "adobe-mcp-suite"]
    }
  }
}

Optional global install (puts adobe-mcp-suite on your PATH):

npm install -g adobe-mcp-suite

Everything at once (macOS)

The creative-mcp installer finds the Adobe apps and MCP clients on your Mac, installs these servers with Homebrew, registers the ones that match your apps with each client and checks they answer. It shows the plan first and is safe to rerun:

brew tap zachshallbetter/tap
brew trust zachshallbetter/tap
brew install zachshallbetter/tap/creative-mcp
creative-mcp setup

Later, creative-mcp doctor checks the servers, the running apps and each client's registrations.

Homebrew or curl

On macOS or Linux, install with Homebrew from the Creative MCP tap. It installs the suite and links every app server (adobe-mcp-indesign, adobe-mcp-illustrator, adobe-mcp-photoshop, adobe-mcp-premiere, adobe-mcp-aftereffects) onto your PATH:

brew tap zachshallbetter/tap
brew trust zachshallbetter/tap   # Homebrew 7+ asks you to trust third-party taps
brew install zachshallbetter/tap/adobe-mcp

Formula/adobe-mcp-suite.rb in this repository is deprecated. If you installed it, switch with brew uninstall adobe-mcp-suite && brew install zachshallbetter/tap/adobe-mcp.

Or use the installer script, which installs the latest npm release globally:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zachshallbetter/adobe-mcp/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Both methods require Node.js 18 or later. The curl installer supports macOS and Linux shells; Windows users can use npm install -g adobe-mcp-suite.

Then point the client at the binary instead of npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adobe": {
      "command": "adobe-mcp-suite",
      "args": ["--apps", "indesign,illustrator"]
    }
  }
}

Marketplace listing: mcprush.com/zachshallbetter/adobe-mcp-suite.

Each package's README covers its tools, conventions and per-app configuration.

Usage

Choosing applications (suite only)

By default the suite loads every app. Restrict it with --apps or ADOBE_MCP_APPS (comma-separated ids: indesign, illustrator, photoshop, aftereffects, premiere):

npx -y adobe-mcp-suite --apps indesign,illustrator
# equivalent
ADOBE_MCP_APPS=indesign,illustrator npx -y adobe-mcp-suite

Client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adobe": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "adobe-mcp-suite", "--apps", "indesign,illustrator"],
      "env": {
        "INDESIGN_ALLOWED_DIRS": "/Users/you/Work:/Users/you/Desktop",
        "ILLUSTRATOR_ALLOWED_DIRS": "/Users/you/Work:/Users/you/Desktop"
      }
    }
  }
}

On Windows, separate allowed directories with ; instead of :.

What the model sees

• Single-app servers expose that app's tools under their original names (for example create_text_frame, export_pdf).
• The suite prefixes every tool with the app (indesign_create_text_frame, illustrator_create_rectangle). Names that already include the app keep it once (indesign_status).
• Cross-application tools (suite, when both apps are loaded):
  • place_illustrator_artwork_in_indesign — place an artboard of the active Illustrator document on an InDesign page, linked to the .ai file.
  • copy_swatches_illustrator_to_indesign — copy colour swatches with exact process/spot values.

Reconnect or start a new client session after changing MCP config so the tool list refreshes.

Environment variables

Common knobs (see each package README for the full set):

Variable	Purpose
ADOBE_MCP_APPS	Suite only: which apps to load (indesign,illustrator,…)
INDESIGN_ALLOWED_DIRS	Extra directories InDesign tools may read/write
ILLUSTRATOR_ALLOWED_DIRS	Extra directories Illustrator tools may read/write
INDESIGN_APP_NAME / ILLUSTRATOR_APP_NAME	Override the target application name
INDESIGN_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT_MS / ILLUSTRATOR_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT_MS	Per-script timeout
PREMIERE_WS_PORT, BRIDGE_TOKEN, PREMIERE_ALLOWED_DIRS	Premiere UXP bridge

Smoke-check without an MCP client

The process waits on stdin for MCP JSON-RPC; it is not a conventional CLI with --help output. To confirm a binary starts and lists tools, send an initialize request then tools/list over stdio, or run the package tests (they stub the Adobe apps and do not need them installed):

npm test -w packages/suite

Real layout/work calls need the target Adobe application running on this machine.

Install and run from this repository

Use this when developing the servers or when you want the monorepo versions before they are published.

git clone https://github.com/zachshallbetter/adobe-mcp.git
cd adobe-mcp
npm install

Run a server from source (stdio; suitable as a client command):

# suite (optionally limit apps)
node packages/suite/src/index.js --apps indesign,illustrator

# one application
node packages/indesign/src/index.js
node packages/illustrator/src/index.js

Point a client at the monorepo entry instead of npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adobe": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/adobe-mcp/packages/suite/src/index.js",
        "--apps",
        "indesign,illustrator"
      ]
    }
  }
}

How the repository is organised

packages/
  core/          adobe-mcp-core           shared by every server
  indesign/      adobe-mcp-indesign
  illustrator/   adobe-mcp-illustrator
  photoshop/     adobe-mcp-photoshop
  aftereffects/  adobe-mcp-aftereffects
  premiere/      adobe-mcp-premiere       with its UXP plugin in uxp/plugin
  suite/         adobe-mcp-suite          every application in one server

The servers share their infrastructure through adobe-mcp-core, so a fix to escaping, path checks, result handling or the script runner reaches every server. What differs between applications stays in each package: its tools, its instructions, and how the application is told to run a script. Each application package exports a module (its tools, handlers, instructions and script runner); its own server and the suite are both built from it, so a tool is written once.

Development

npm install      # installs every package and links them together
npm run check    # syntax check, every package
npm test         # every package's tests, including each server's static script audit

Run one package's tests with npm test -w packages/illustrator. The static audits run every tool against a stubbed application and check each generated script against the application's scripting object model; they do not need the applications installed.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for releasing and for each package's guide, and docs/handbook/ for the full handbook: architecture, per-application rules for writing tools, how work is planned from the capability atlas and landed, current status, and lessons learned.

Licence

MIT. See each package's LICENSE.