Render After Effects Template

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/tools/ae.ts:99-125 (registration)

  The tool 'ae_render_template' is registered on the MCP server using server.registerTool() with its schema and handler defined inline.

  server.registerTool(
    'ae_render_template',
    {
      title: 'Render After Effects Template',
      description: 'Invoke aerender to render an AE comp. Use dryRun first to verify command.',
      inputSchema: z.object({
        projectPath: z.string(),
        compName: z.string(),
        outputPath: z.string(),
        aerenderBin: z.string().optional(),
        dryRun: z.boolean().default(true)
      })
    },
    async ({ projectPath, compName, outputPath, aerenderBin, dryRun }) => {
      try {
        const bin = aerenderBin || config.aerenderBin;
        if (!bin) return errorResult('AERENDER_BIN is not configured');
        const args = ['-project', safePath(projectPath), '-comp', compName, '-output', safePath(outputPath)];
        if (dryRun) return textResult({ dryRun: true, command: [bin, ...args].join(' ') });
        const result = await runCommand(bin, args);
        if (result.code !== 0) return errorResult('aerender failed', result.stderr);
        return textResult({ ok: true, outputPath, stdout: result.stdout });
      } catch (err) {
        return errorResult('Failed to render AE template', String(err));
      }
    }
  );

• src/tools/ae.ts:112-124 (handler)

  The handler function for 'ae_render_template'. It resolves the aerender binary, builds CLI args, optionally does a dry run, or executes aerender via runCommand and returns the result.

  async ({ projectPath, compName, outputPath, aerenderBin, dryRun }) => {
    try {
      const bin = aerenderBin || config.aerenderBin;
      if (!bin) return errorResult('AERENDER_BIN is not configured');
      const args = ['-project', safePath(projectPath), '-comp', compName, '-output', safePath(outputPath)];
      if (dryRun) return textResult({ dryRun: true, command: [bin, ...args].join(' ') });
      const result = await runCommand(bin, args);
      if (result.code !== 0) return errorResult('aerender failed', result.stderr);
      return textResult({ ok: true, outputPath, stdout: result.stdout });
    } catch (err) {
      return errorResult('Failed to render AE template', String(err));
    }
  }

• src/tools/ae.ts:100-111 (schema)

  The input schema for ae_render_template using Zod: projectPath, compName, outputPath, optional aerenderBin, and dryRun (default true).

  'ae_render_template',
  {
    title: 'Render After Effects Template',
    description: 'Invoke aerender to render an AE comp. Use dryRun first to verify command.',
    inputSchema: z.object({
      projectPath: z.string(),
      compName: z.string(),
      outputPath: z.string(),
      aerenderBin: z.string().optional(),
      dryRun: z.boolean().default(true)
    })
  },

• src/config.ts:12-12 (helper)

  Configuration for aerenderBin read from environment variable AERENDER_BIN, used by the handler.

  aerenderBin: process.env.AERENDER_BIN ?? '',

• src/utils.ts:15-24 (helper)

  The runCommand helper that spawns a child process and returns stdout/stderr/exit code, used to invoke the aerender binary.

  export function runCommand(command: string, args: string[], cwd?: string): Promise<{ code: number; stdout: string; stderr: string }> {
    return new Promise((resolve) => {
      const child = spawn(command, args, { cwd, shell: false });
      let stdout = '';
      let stderr = '';
      child.stdout.on('data', (d) => (stdout += d.toString()));
      child.stderr.on('data', (d) => (stderr += d.toString()));
      child.on('close', (code) => resolve({ code: code ?? -1, stdout, stderr }));
    });
  }