Check the local After Effects and aerender installation paths and whether After Effects is already running. This does not launch or modify After Effects.

Inspect the current After Effects project, compositions, layers, transforms, and effects. Launches After Effects if needed but does not modify the project.

Create a new project and dismiss the After Effects Home/New Project screen. Unsaved changes are protected by default. Optionally save the new project immediately.

Open an .aep, .aepx, or template project. Unsaved changes are protected by default; choose save or discard explicitly when needed.

Save the current project. Provide project_path for Save As; omit it to save to the project's existing path.

Create a composition in the current After Effects project and optionally place it in a project folder.

Add and style a text layer in a composition. Select the composition by id or exact name; when omitted, the active composition is used.

Add a solid layer to a composition. Dimensions, duration, and position default to the composition values.

Import footage, an image sequence, a layered composition, or another project into the current After Effects project.

Run arbitrary ExtendScript inside After Effects for advanced operations not covered by focused tools. The code executes inside a function, may use app/project APIs, and should use an explicit return with JSON-serializable data. Use ES3-compatible syntax only. This is a powerful local tool: JSX can modify projects and access files.

Render a saved After Effects project through aerender. Specify a composition or omit it to render queued items. This writes output files and may run for a long time.