FNF Local Plugin Bridge MCP

Local control of Adobe After Effects, with offline creative skills adapted from the FNF bridge. Based on the MIT-licensed mcp-aftereffects runtime; see attribution.

Codex / desktop MCP client → local stdio server → OS scripting → After Effects
                                  ↓                    ↕
                            bundled AE skills     local file mailbox

No Higgsfield account, cloud relay or installed AE panel is required. Adobe licensing, an installed AE application, OS Automation permissions and AE's scripting file access preference are separate requirements. This integration controls AE; Blender and Premiere require their own adapters. A remote web client cannot directly launch a local stdio process.

Repository layout

Root: the local After Effects MCP runtime, tests and setup CLI.
skills/: the pinned runtime skill bundle.
creative-skills/skills/: editable skill sources and the entry skill installer.
creative-skills/archive/bridge-ae/: original bridge knowledge retained for migration review.

Both original Git histories are retained. The current adapter controls After Effects; future application adapters can be added separately.

Setup

Requires Node 24+, macOS or Windows and After Effects (the upstream defaults probe 2024–2026).

npm ci --ignore-scripts
npm run build
node dist/cli.js doctor
node dist/cli.js install-codex

doctor inspects installation and verifies the bundled skills without launching AE. install-codex registers absolute paths under fnf-after-effects and refuses to overwrite a conflicting configuration. Refresh the MCP connection in your client after registration. Keep this checkout at its registered path. To remove only this registration: codex mcp remove fnf-after-effects.

For another desktop MCP client, node dist/cli.js config prints a JSON configuration using the current Node and server paths. For nonstandard AE installs, set AE_MCP_EXE in the MCP server environment. On macOS, allow the relevant host app's Automation request when first connecting. Enable AE's Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network preference if AE reports file access denied.

For the discoverable entry skill, run python3 creative-skills/scripts/install.py from this checkout. Its companion skills come from this server and need no separate global installation.

First calls

ae_get_skill({}): offline skill index.
ae_get_skill({"name":"ae-clean-rig"}): construction and verification workflow.
ae_get_skill({"name":"ae-clean-rig","reference":"references/07-sliders.md"}): load one focused module.
ae_project_info({}): verify the real AE connection and inspect current work.
ae_catalog({}), then ae_catalog({"category":"layer"}): discover exact operation parameters.
ae_do({"operation":"layer.create_text","args":{"comp":"Main","text":"Hello","name":"Title"}}): edit an existing named comp when requested.

The 12 tools are documented in TOOLS.md. The native operation registry is available through ae_catalog; it includes compositions, text, shapes, properties, keyframes, effects, cameras and project operations. Discover the actual policy-filtered catalog rather than assuming every operation is enabled.

Project behavior

Preserve unsaved work. Inspect before editing and render representative frames for visual proof. batch.run groups operations for undo but does not roll back automatically on failure. A consumed request that times out may have executed: inspect before retrying mutations.

AE_MCP_READONLY=1 restricts project changes. AE_MCP_ALLOW_CATEGORIES filters operations. Arbitrary eval is off unless AE_MCP_ENABLE_EVAL=1. Never use a shared writable directory for the executable mailbox. Keep secrets out of skill documents and server logs.

Skills and development

Ten skill entries and their references are pinned under skills/; no network or sibling checkout is needed to read them. The runtime verifies document hashes and serves only manifest-listed paths. The original bridge archive lives under creative-skills/ in this repository and is excluded from the runtime package.

npm run test:offline
npm run check
node scripts/sync-skills.mjs ./creative-skills

The sync source must be committed and clean. Review the changed manifest and documents before committing the runtime snapshot. Live tests under tests/e2e have separate prerequisites; offline success does not prove rendering on your AE installation. See VALIDATION.md for the actual checks performed on this fork.

This is a private fork, not a published npm package. Do not use the upstream package name when installing this version. Historical upstream documentation is preserved in docs/UPSTREAM-README.md for reference.