How do I use photoshop-mcp?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@photoshop-mcp Open the image, add a text layer saying 'Sale', and export as JPEG." That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

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photoshop-mcp

by francisanderson

Overview Schema Related Servers Score Discussions

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Photoshop MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets AI assistants (Claude, opencode, Cursor, etc.) drive Adobe Photoshop on Windows through ExtendScript + COM automation.

Built for Photoshop 2020 (v21.x) but compatible with newer versions. ~122 tools covering documents, layers, text, filters, color adjustments, selections & masks, layer styles, export, layout analysis, design QA, and Photoshop state introspection.

Unofficial community project. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe.

How it works

MCP client (opencode/Claude) 
   → Node MCP server (server.js, stdio)
   → bridge.ps1 (PowerShell)
   → Photoshop COM (Application.DoJavaScriptFile)
   → ExtendScript DOM

ExtendScript, not UXP — external automation via COM can only use ExtendScript, which works on all Photoshop versions (2012–2025+). UXP is for in-process plugins and cannot be invoked externally.
Unicode-safe — non-ASCII text (e.g. £, —) is escaped to \uXXXX in generated JSX and a UTF-8 BOM is prepended, so prices/accents round-trip correctly.
Retry on busy — transient COM RPC_E_SERVERCALL_RETRYLATER ("application is busy") errors are retried with backoff.

Related MCP server: ImageMcp

Requirements

Windows
Adobe Photoshop installed (tested on PS 2020 / v21.2)
Node.js 18+

Install

npm install

Configure as an MCP server

Add to your MCP client config (e.g. ~/.config/opencode/opencode.jsonc, Claude Desktop, Cursor):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "photoshop": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\photoshop-mcp\\server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Restart your MCP client after changes so the updated tool list loads.

Tool highlights

Area	Tools
Documents	`create_document`, `open_image`, `save_psd`, `export_image`, `export_as`, `crop_document`, `resize_image`, `close_document`, `generate_variants`
Layers	`create_layer`, `add_text`, `add_text_box`, `add_rectangle`, `add_image`, `place_image`, `duplicate_layer`, `delete_layer`, `rename_layer`, `rasterize_layer`, `group_layers`, `merge_visible_layers`, `flatten_image`, opacity / blend mode / visibility / lock
Layer ops	`move_layer`, `resize_layer`, `rotate_layer`, `move_layer_up/down/to_position`, `fit_layer_to_document`, `align_layers`, `distribute_layers`, `center_in_canvas`, `snap_to_safe_area`
Text	`list_fonts`, `check_font_available`, `set_font`, `set_color`, `set_text_alignment`, `update_text_content`, `fit_text`, `fit_text_to_box`
Filters	`apply_gaussian_blur`, `apply_sharpen`, `apply_noise`, `apply_motion_blur`
Color	`adjust_brightness_contrast`, `adjust_hue_saturation`, `auto_levels`, `auto_contrast`, `desaturate_layer`, `invert_layer`, `adjust_curves`, `apply_lut`, `adjust_vibrance`, `adjust_exposure`, `apply_photo_filter`, `apply_gradient_map`
Selections & masks	`select_rectangle`, `select_all`, `deselect`, `invert_selection`, `create_layer_mask`, `delete_layer_mask`, `apply_layer_mask`, `apply_gradient_mask`, `content_aware_fill`
Layer styles	`apply_layer_style` (drop shadow / outer glow / stroke)
History	`undo`, `redo`, `get_history`, `save_checkpoint`, `restore_checkpoint`
Layout / QA	`analyze_layout`, `detect_overlaps`, `validate_layout`, `design_qa`, `visual_hierarchy`, `brand_check`, `execute_design_plan`, `apply_constraints`
Design system	`save_design_system`, `load_design_system`, `list_design_systems`, `capture_design_system`, `create_component`
Introspection	`get_version`, `get_capabilities`, `get_state`, `get_session_info`, `get_active_document_info`, `get_selection_info`, `get_document_info`, `list_layers`, `get_layer_bounds`, `get_preview`, `render_preview`
Data-driven	`image_stack`, `list_datasets`, `import_datasets`, `generate_from_datasets`
Automation	`play_action`, `execute_script`

Run tools/list in your MCP client to see all ~122 tools.

Configuration reference


`run/`	Temp JSX files (auto-created)
`snapshots/`	Named PNG snapshots for visual regression (`render_snapshot`)
`checkpoints/`	PSD backups for rollback (`save_checkpoint`)
`design-systems/`	Saved design systems (`save_design_system`)

Known limitations

Generative AI (Firefly) and Neural Filters require PS 24+ / a UXP bridge plugin and cannot be driven via ExtendScript.
select_subject needs PS 23+. export_as WebP/AVIF needs PS 23.2+.
On PS 2020, some commands prompt a "Photoshop is busy" if a modal dialog is open — dismiss it and retry.

Credits

Capability design inspired by:

Both are MIT licensed. This project is an independent implementation with additional tools (layout analysis, design QA, design systems, visual regression).

License

MIT

This server cannot be installed

license - permissive license

Not graded

quality - not tested

maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers

–Response time

–Release cycle

–Releases (12mo)

Commit activity

Resources

GitHub Repository

Need Help?

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