🎬 After Effects MCP Server
✨ A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Adobe After Effects that enables AI assistants and other applications to control After Effects through a standardized protocol.
Table of Contents
📦 Features
🎥 Core Composition Features
- Create compositions with custom settings (size, frame rate, duration, background color)
- List all compositions in a project
- Get project information such as frame rate, dimensions, and duration
🧱 Layer Management
- Create text layers with customizable properties (font, size, color, position)
- Create shape layers (rectangle, ellipse, polygon, star) with colors and strokes
- Create solid/adjustment layers for backgrounds and effects
- Modify layer properties like position, scale, rotation, opacity, and timing
🌀 Animation Capabilities
- Set keyframes for layer properties (Position, Scale, Rotation, Opacity, etc.)
- Apply expressions to layer properties for dynamic animations
⚙️ Setup Instructions
🛠 Prerequisites
- Adobe After Effects (2022 or later)
- Node.js (v14 or later)
- npm or yarn package manager
📥 Installation
-
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Dakkshin/after-effects-mcp.git cd after-effects-mcp -
Install dependencies
npm install # or yarn install -
Build the project
npm run build # or yarn build -
Install the After Effects panel
npm run install-bridge # or yarn install-bridgeThis will copy the necessary scripts to your After Effects installation.
🔧 Update MCP Config
Go to your client (eg. Claude or Cursor ) and update your config file
{
"mcpServers": {
"AfterEffectsMCP": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["C:\\Users\\Dakkshin\\after-effects-mcp\\build\\index.js"]
}
}
}
▶️ Running the Server
-
Start the MCP server
npm start # or yarn start -
Open After Effects
-
Open the MCP Bridge Auto panel
- In After Effects, go to Window > mcp-bridge-auto.jsx
- The panel will automatically check for commands every few seconds
- Make sure the "Auto-run commands" checkbox is enabled
🚀 Usage Guide
Once you have the server running and the MCP Bridge panel open in After Effects, you can control After Effects through the MCP protocol. This allows AI assistants or custom applications to send commands to After Effects.
📘 Creating Compositions
You can create new compositions with custom settings:
- Name
- Width and height (in pixels)
- Frame rate
- Duration
- Background color
Example MCP tool usage (for developers):
mcp_aftereffects_create_composition({
name: "My Composition",
width: 1920,
height: 1080,
frameRate: 30,
duration: 10
});
✍️ Working with Layers
You can create and modify different types of layers:
Text layers:
- Set text content, font, size, and color
- Position text anywhere in the composition
- Adjust timing and opacity
Shape layers:
- Create rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and stars
- Set fill and stroke colors
- Customize size and position
Solid layers:
- Create background colors
- Make adjustment layers for effects
🕹 Animation
You can animate layers with:
Keyframes:
- Set property values at specific times
- Create motion, scaling, rotation, and opacity changes
- Control the timing of animations
Expressions:
- Apply JavaScript expressions to properties
- Create dynamic, procedural animations
- Connect property values to each other
🛠 Available MCP Tools
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| `create-composition` | Create a new comp |
| `run-script` | Run a JS script inside AE |
| `get-results` | Get script results |
| `get-help` | Help for available commands |
| `setLayerKeyframe` | Add keyframe to layer property |
| `setLayerExpression` | Add/remove expressions from properties |
👨💻 For Developers
🧩 Project Structure
src/index.ts: MCP server implementationsrc/scripts/mcp-bridge-auto.jsx: Main After Effects panel scriptinstall-bridge.js: Script to install the panel in After Effects
📦 Building the Project
npm run build
# or
yarn build
🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Star History
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.