NexusInDesign

Adobe InDesign for Claude Code and Codex. One native Windows engine (NexusInDesign.exe, C#, self-contained) drives InDesign 2024 to 2026 through its COM automation only: UXP scripts run by DoScript under NEVER_INTERACT. No panel, no Adobe UXP plugin, no Node.js, no network listener, no Computer Use. Every change is checked against the document's revision and state token, every open document is backed up first, and every exported file is verified.

Install

The usual way is the NexusSystem app (Microsoft Store): it runs this product's get.ps1 and adds the nexus-indesign plugin to Claude Code and Codex from the Nexus catalog.

By hand: download get.ps1 and SHA256SUMS.txt from the latest release, check the hash (and gh attestation verify get.ps1 --repo pironjulien/NexusInDesign), then run the file:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\get.ps1

It installs %USERPROFILE%\.nexus\nexus-indesign\NexusInDesign.exe (no administrator rights), the path both plugins start. Run it again to update; -Remove removes the program and keeps backups and the audit journal. Claude Desktop can also use the MCP bundle (nexus-indesign-<version>-win-x64.mcpb or -win-arm64.mcpb) of each release.

InDesign must be installed (it registers its COM server); the engine starts it when needed and closes it again if it started it hidden and nothing stays open.

Related MCP server: InDesign UXP MCP Server

How agents work with it

The nexus-indesign skill (in plugin/skills) guides the agent:

1. silent_status, silent_list_documents, then open_document or create_document: each returns documentId, revision and stateToken.

2. run_layout_script for every coherent change: in one tracked InDesign pass it checks revision and state token, backs up every open document (restorable with silent_restore_backup), runs the UXP script (app, indesign, doc, input), saves if asked, renders a verified PNG preview and optionally closes. It returns the new revision and token, so calls chain without re-inspection; a failing script is a known outcome with its backup.

3. preflight_document, then finalize_layout (PDF only if the layout contract and Adobe's preflight pass) or export_pdf, export_png, export_idml, package_document, save_document, save_as.

4. silent_close_document for the documents the task opened.

Other tools: analyze_layout and compare_layout_snapshot (geometry, resources, styles, lint and a stable layout fingerprint), preview_layout, create_working_copy, silent_audit_document and the get_* reads, execute_uxp_silent, indesign_doctor (local checks, never starts InDesign) and search_official_dom (offline index of Adobe's official DOM reference, pinned by SHA-256). 32 tools in all.

After a timeout or a crash, silent_operation_status tells what is known; every InDesign command stays refused until silent_reconcile_unknown_operation has proven the documents stable and backed them up (it asks for a full InDesign restart when the interrupted script could still resume).

Settings

Defaults suit most users: documents are read from and written to the user profile; private storage, ~\.nexus, .ssh, .gnupg and AppData are denied. To change the roots, create %USERPROFILE%\.nexus\nexus-indesign\settings.json:

{
  "readRoots": ["C:\\Dev", "%USERPROFILE%\\Documents"],
  "writeRoots": ["C:\\Dev", "%USERPROFILE%\\Documents"],
  "deniedRoots": ["%USERPROFILE%\\Documents\\Secrets"]
}

Environment variables take precedence: INDESIGN_MCP_READ_ROOTS, INDESIGN_MCP_WRITE_ROOTS, INDESIGN_MCP_DENIED_ROOTS (;-separated), INDESIGN_MCP_COMMAND_TIMEOUT_MS (default 120000), INDESIGN_MCP_BACKUP_MAX_AGE_HOURS (24), INDESIGN_MCP_BACKUP_MAX_FILES (200), INDESIGN_MCP_ALLOWED_PARENT_*.

Privacy

Everything stays on the PC. The engine sends nothing over the network; backups, the audit journal (no document text, no path, no code) and the runtime stay in %USERPROFILE%\.nexus\nexus-indesign\private, readable by the current user only. See SECURITY.md for the trust boundary and the safeguards.

Build and test

.\test.ps1
pwsh -File tools/package.ps1 -Version 4.1.1

test.ps1 runs the xUnit suite against an emulated InDesign (no InDesign needed). Every push to main builds and attests the release files through NexusSystem's shared workflows; a new version is promoted to a stable release with the same files. See CONTRIBUTING.md and CHANGELOG.md.

License

MIT (see LICENSE, NOTICE.md and THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md).