Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@DCC-MCP PhotoCraft Open photo.png, add a hue/saturation adjustment, and export a PNG preview."
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.
PhotoCraft adapter for the DCC-MCP ecosystem: lets AI agents inspect and drive PhotoCraft, the open-source image editor.
PhotoCraft includes its own MCP server (photocraft-cli mcp), and its documentation shows how to register it directly with an agent. If that is all you need, use it — this package does not replace it.
This adapter adds the things a standalone MCP server does not provide:
One control plane across every DCC. PhotoCraft becomes one entry in the same tool registry as Maya, Blender, Houdini, Nuke and the rest, so an agent discovers and calls it through the same dcc-mcp-cli commands and the same gateway instead of managing a second set of per-app connections.
Cross-DCC orchestration. A workflow can move from PhotoCraft to another host in one session — for example, compositing an edit here and exporting the result elsewhere.
Sidecar lifecycle and discovery. The adapter registers the running instance, reports readiness, and exposes a doctor that distinguishes "PhotoCraft is not installed" from "PhotoCraft is installed but misconfigured".
Host detection without Rust. It finds the photocraft-cli binary whether it arrived inside a GUI package or as a standalone archive, on Windows, macOS and Linux.
What it deliberately does not do is reimplement PhotoCraft's command set. Command ids are resolved at runtime against the table the installed host reports, so new upstream commands become reachable without an adapter release.
Related MCP server: photopea-api
Python 3.9 or newer
PhotoCraft 0.2 or newer — only photocraft-cli is required; the desktop app is optional
pip install dcc-mcp-photocraftVerify the host is reachable:
dcc-mcp-photocraft-installRun the adapter:
dcc-mcp-photocraftReport the detected host:
dcc-mcp-photocraft statusAsk your agent to inspect a document:
Use dcc-mcp to summarize poster.pcraft.Variable | Purpose |
| Path to |
| Path to the desktop app binary when it is not on |
| The port passed to |
| The control-channel bearer token |
| Path to a file holding the token; preferred, since it keeps the credential off the process command line |
| Read authority forwarded to |
| Write authority forwarded to |
Most actions run through photocraft-cli and need no window, which is what makes them work on a headless server and in CI. The UI actions (ui_screenshot, ui_inspect) additionally need the desktop app started with:
photocraft --control 7878 --control-token-file /private/path/photocraft-control.token \
--automation-read-root /work/project --automation-write-root /work/projectThen point PHOTOCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT at 7878 and supply the token through PHOTOCRAFT_CONTROL_TOKEN_FILE.
Two things about this channel are easy to get wrong:
A token is always required. Upstream makes an auth frame the mandatory first request on every connection and refuses to dispatch anything before it succeeds. The port alone is not enough. If you did not pass a token at launch, upstream generated one and wrote it to standard error.
The port is yours to choose, and it is configured, not discovered. Unlike the sibling PdfCraft adapter, PhotoCraft does not write its port to a file — it binds the port you give it. Because every Craft app listens on loopback, pick one that does not collide with the others.
Read and write authority are independent: a read fails without a read root and a write fails without a write root, so grant each one you need at launch.
PhotoCraft is pre-1.0 software and upstream describes it as early alpha. Expect the command table to keep changing; discover it at runtime rather than relying on a fixed list.
python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
python -m pytest
ruff check src tests
ruff format --check src testsMIT — see LICENSE.
This server cannot be deployed
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