CorelDRAW Signage MCP

Let AI drive CorelDRAW directly via the Model Context Protocol — automated design file generation at scale

中文文档

Overview

This project exposes CorelDRAW as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool server. An AI Agent connects via COM API to create documents, replace text, manipulate shapes, run preflight checks, and batch-export production files — all from natural language instructions.

Key capabilities

• Natural language → CorelDRAW operations, no manual repetition

• Template filling and batch export to PDF / DXF / PNG

• Streamlit Chat UI for local debugging, or connect any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, OpenCode, etc.)

Related MCP server: Illustrator MCP Vectorizer

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Designer's machine (Windows)        │
│                                                 │
│  ┌──────────────┐      ┌────────────────────┐  │
│  │  AI Agent    │─MCP─▶│   MCP Server       │  │
│  │ (runner.py)  │◀─────│ (FastMCP / HTTP)   │  │
│  │              │      │                    │  │
│  │  Streamlit   │      │  CorelDRAW COM API │  │
│  │  Chat UI     │      │  (pywin32)         │  │
│  └──────────────┘      └────────┬───────────┘  │
│                                 │               │
│                         ┌───────▼──────┐        │
│                         │  CorelDRAW   │        │
│                         │ (local proc) │        │
│                         └──────────────┘        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
         │ LLM API calls
         ▼
  Company LiteLLM Proxy (planned)
  or Anthropic / DeepSeek / Qwen direct

Three-layer structure

Tool modules

Shape editing tools (rename / resize / duplicate / lock / flip)

These cover the "resize a box, name it, duplicate it N times, save" workflow end to end.

Vision — can the agent see the canvas?

Two different kinds of "seeing" are available:

• Structured (no vision needed): select_shapes(), find_shape_by_name(), and get_document_info() return every shape's name, id, exact position/size, rotation, lock state and layer as plain data — an agent can inspect and reason about the whole canvas without ever looking at a picture.

• Actual vision: view_canvas(width=1000) takes a live screenshot of the current page and returns it as a real image in the tool result (via FastMCP's Image type, MCP ImageContent) — not a file path. A vision-capable client (Claude Desktop/Code) sees it directly, the same as a pasted screenshot, useful for a final visual sanity check after a batch of edits. This is the one tool in the project that doesn't return ToolResult — see the note in CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md.

Requirements

• OS: Windows 10 / 11 (CorelDRAW COM API is Windows-only). Note: CorelDRAW's modern native Mac app (2024+) has no scripting/automation interface at all (no AppleScript dictionary, no equivalent of COM) — verified by inspecting the app bundle for a .sdef file and Info.plist scripting keys, both absent. There is currently no way for this project, or any external tool, to drive CorelDRAW running on macOS.

• Python: 3.11+, 64-bit (must match CorelDRAW's bitness)

• CorelDRAW: X6 or later (must be installed and activated; X6 verified compatible)

• LLM API Key: one of Anthropic Claude, DeepSeek, or Alibaba Qwen

Installation

# 1. Clone the repo
git clone <repo-url>
cd coreldraw-signage-mcp

# 2. Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

# 3. Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 4. Configure environment variables
copy .env.example .env
# then fill in a real LLM API key

Minimal .env:

# Pick one LLM provider
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-xxxxx

# MCP Server transport (stdio or streamable-http)
MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http
MCP_HOST=127.0.0.1
MCP_PORT=8765

Usage

Option 1 — Streamlit Chat UI (recommended for quick start)

# Make sure CorelDRAW is running first, then:
streamlit run server/app.py

Open http://localhost:8501, enter your API key in the sidebar, and control CorelDRAW with natural language.

Note: The Streamlit UI connects to CorelDRAW directly via COM. Do not run server.py at the same time — two simultaneous COM connections can cause conflicts.

Option 2 — Claude Code / OpenCode via project .mcp.json (HTTP)

The repo ships a .mcp.json that Claude Code and OpenCode auto-discover as a project-level MCP config (this is a different mechanism from the literal Claude Desktop app — see Option 2b if that's what you're using):

# Start MCP Server in HTTP mode
cd server
MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http python server.py

Option 2b — Claude Desktop app (recommended for a single Windows machine)

The Claude Desktop app does not read this repo's .mcp.json — it has its own, separate global config file, and it launches/manages the server process itself over stdio rather than you starting server.py by hand. No LLM API key is needed for this path (Claude Desktop uses your own Claude subscription; the .env API key is only used by the standalone Streamlit chat UI in Option 1).

1. Edit (create if missing) %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "coreldraw": {
         "command": "C:\\path\\to\\coreldraw-mcp\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
         "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\coreldraw-mcp\\server\\server.py"]
       }
     }
   }

   Use the full path to the python.exe inside this project's virtualenv (not a bare python), so it runs with the right dependencies installed.

2. Make sure CorelDRAW is already running.

3. Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop. It starts/stops server.py automatically — you should never need to run it manually in this mode.

4. In a new chat, ask Claude Desktop to do something with CorelDRAW (e.g. "list all shapes on the current page") — it should show the tool call.

Option 3 — stdio mode (for MCP client integration)

cd server
MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio python server.py

Option 4 — Windows runs the server, another machine (e.g. a Mac) runs the client

CorelDRAW's automation API is COM, which only exists on Windows — there is no Mac/Linux equivalent, so the server process itself must run on the Windows box that has CorelDRAW installed. A client on another machine (a MacBook running Claude Desktop/Claude Code, for example) can still drive it, over the network, using the same HTTP transport as Option 2:

1. On the Windows machine (with CorelDRAW running):

   cd server
   set MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0
   set MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http
   python server.py

   0.0.0.0 binds to all network interfaces instead of just localhost. Find this machine's LAN IP with ipconfig (look for the IPv4 Address, e.g. 192.168.1.50). Allow inbound TCP on MCP_PORT (default 8765) through Windows Firewall.

2. On the client machine, point its MCP config at the Windows box's LAN IP instead of 127.0.0.1. For Claude Desktop/Code, edit .mcp.json:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "coreldraw": {
         "type": "http",
         "url": "http://192.168.1.50:8765/mcp"
       }
     }
   }

Security note: this exposes the CorelDRAW automation endpoint to your LAN with no authentication. Only do this on a trusted local network (e.g. behind your home/office router), never expose the port directly to the internet.

Example prompts

Batch room-number signs

1. Place a CDR template (with text placeholders) in server/templates/

2. Prepare an Excel sheet (one sign per row)

3. Type: Batch generate room signs, template: room_template.cdr, data: rooms.xlsx

4. The agent reads the data, fills the template row by row, runs preflight, and exports PDF + DXF

Single sign, quick output

Create a 300×150 mm room sign, room number 301, department "R&D Center",
background CMYK(0,0,0,80), export print-ready PDF and laser-cut DXF

Directory structure

coreldraw-signage-mcp/
├── server/
│   ├── server.py          # MCP Server entry point
│   ├── app.py             # Streamlit Web UI
│   ├── agent/
│   │   ├── runner.py      # Agent main loop (LLM + tool calls)
│   │   └── prompts.py     # System prompt
│   ├── tools/             # MCP tool implementations (30+ tools)
│   ├── core/              # CorelDRAW COM connection & shared models
│   ├── config/            # Settings & template registry
│   └── templates/         # CDR template files
├── docs/                  # Architecture docs & diagrams
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── LICENSE
├── NOTICE
├── requirements.txt
└── pyproject.toml

Development

# Install dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Lint
ruff check server/

# End-to-end test (requires CorelDRAW running locally)
cd server
python test_e2e.py

Roadmap

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Note: the COM API is Windows-only, so end-to-end testing requires a Windows machine with CorelDRAW installed.

License

Apache 2.0 © 2026 深圳市玄熵智能科技有限责任公司 (Xuanshang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen)

coreldraw-mcp