mcp-after-effects

🎬 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.

Features
Setup Instructions
Usage Guide
Available MCP Tools
For Developers
License

📦 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/yourusername/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-bridge
This 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 implementation
src/scripts/mcp-bridge-auto.jsx: Main After Effects panel script
install-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.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.