@snapnedit/mcp

A Model Context Protocol server that gives an AI agent the snapnedit photo-editing and design tools: remove a background, upscale, erase an object, replace a sky, compose a multi-layer design and render it to PNG/JPEG/PDF — all as MCP tools over stdio.

The server runs no models locally. Every tool call is proxied to the snapnedit API through @snapnedit/sdk with your API key, so running it costs nothing but the credits the operations consume.

Running it

Two environment variables are required (both read in src/index.ts; the process exits with a message if either is missing):

SNAPNEDIT_API_KEY=sk_live_... SNAPNEDIT_BASE_URL=https://api.snapnedit.com npx snapnedit-mcp

The server speaks MCP over stdio — stdout is the transport, so diagnostics go to stderr. It is normally launched by an MCP client rather than by hand.

Publishing to npm is imminent — until it lands, build from the monorepo (npm ci && npm run build) and run node packages/mcp/dist/index.js.

Related MCP server: Photo AI Studio MCP Server

Registering it

Claude Code

claude mcp add snapnedit \
  --env SNAPNEDIT_API_KEY=sk_live_... \
  --env SNAPNEDIT_BASE_URL=https://api.snapnedit.com \
  -- npx -y snapnedit-mcp

Claude Desktop

In claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json; Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "snapnedit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "snapnedit-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SNAPNEDIT_API_KEY": "sk_live_...",
        "SNAPNEDIT_BASE_URL": "https://api.snapnedit.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after editing the file. Running from a local build instead of npm looks the same with "command": "node" and "args": ["/absolute/path/to/packages/mcp/dist/index.js"].

Tools

Every image tool takes image (base64-encoded bytes, no data: prefix) and an optional mime; three of them also require a base64 mask. Each returns the edited image as an MCP image content block. Errors from the API (bad input, insufficient credits, a failed job) come back as an error result, not a crash.

Every image tool also accepts three bring your own storage arguments, so large images never have to pass through the agent's context at all:

The two design tools take no such arguments — render_design returns its bytes directly. Both transfers are server-to-bucket, so no browser and no CORS configuration are involved, and neither URL is stored or echoed back. They are billed to — and require — the API key this server already runs with (SNAPNEDIT_API_KEY); the agent supplies no credential of its own.

With destination_put_url or destination_id, the tool returns a JSON delivery report ({ jobId, delivered, delivery, download }) instead of the image bytes, since the result is already in your bucket. A saved destination adds bucket and key to that report — where the object actually landed. If the delivery PUT fails the job still succeeds: the tool returns the image and the delivery record explaining why the bucket copy is missing. An input_url the server cannot fetch (blocked host, redirect, timeout, non-2xx, too large, not an image) fails the job with input_fetch_failed, credits refunded.

Saved storage destinations

A storage destination is one of your own S3-compatible buckets, saved once on the snapnedit account this server's API key belongs to. Two read-only tools cover them:

If the account has a default destination, results are delivered to it even with no destination_id at all — in that case the tool still returns the image, plus the delivery record.

There is deliberately no create / update / delete tool for destinations. Saving one means handing over an access key id and a secret access key, and anything passed to an MCP tool is written into the agent's transcript — logged, replayed, and usually sent on to a model provider. A long-lived cloud credential must not travel that path. Manage destinations in the snapnedit dashboard, or from a server you control with @snapnedit/sdk's createDestination() / updateDestination() / deleteDestination(). Full setup: https://snapnedit.com/docs/storage-destinations.

A destination with delete-after-delivery turned on removes the snapnedit copy once the bucket confirms the write; the report's download is then null and delivery.key names the only copy. A cache hit (the same image, operation and params as an earlier job) re-runs no model but is still delivered to your bucket, and costs no credits.

Which operations a given deployment actually serves is up to that deployment — some may be disabled, in which case the tool call returns an API error.

Usage

get_usage answers "what has this account run, and what did it cost" — the same numbers as the usage dashboard, for whatever range and grouping the agent asks for. Every argument is optional; with none, it reports the last 30 days bucketed by day.

The result is { range, groupBy, totals, series, keys }. totals and every series row carry jobs, credits, cacheHits, free, failed, delivered, deliveryFailed and sessions (plus activeSessions on totals). keys is trimmed on purpose to { id, name, usedToday, dailyCreditLimit } — enough to spot a key about to hit its daily cap, with no other account detail entering the transcript.

How many credits did I spend on upscaling last week, and is any key close to its cap?

Full reference: https://snapnedit.com/docs/usage.

Example prompt

Here's a product photo. Remove the background, upscale it 2×, then build me a 1080×1080 square post: the cutout centered on a dark background with the headline "New arrival" across the top, and render it as a PNG.

The agent chains remove_background → upscale → render_design and hands back the finished image.

Development

This package is developed inside the private snapnedit monorepo and mirrored to github.com/Snap-N-Edit/mcp with its history. The mirror is read-only for code (it references sibling workspace packages, so it does not build on its own) — file issues and feature requests there, and pull requests are welcome as proposals; the change lands through the monorepo and the mirror is refreshed on every release.

Licensed under the MIT License.