Variable

Default

Description

ILLUSTRATOR_MCP_TIMEOUT_NORMAL

30000

Timeout in milliseconds for normal tools

ILLUSTRATOR_MCP_TIMEOUT_HEAVY

60000

Timeout in milliseconds for heavy tools (placing or importing files, export, preflight, style guides and color chips, size variations)

This project

Adobe official MCP (beta)

Installation

npm (npx illustrator-mcp-server) or one-click .mcpb install

Built into Illustrator Beta — get an auth key + URL from the app settings, connect via mcp-remote

Supported versions

Illustrator 2024+ verified / 2020+ unverified (macOS / Windows)

Illustrator Beta 30.4+ only

Number of tools

66

~40

Analyzing & batch-processing existing documents

✅ Structure / color / font analysis, bulk recolor, variations & datasets, batch artboard export (artboard:all), font & broken-link preflight

✅ Its main focus

Creating objects from scratch

✅ Full set — documents, shapes, paths, text frames, path text, gradients

❌ No new objects, text frames, or documents *

Saving documents

✅ save_document (save / save-as)

❌ Export only *

Print & prepress

✅ Crop marks, preflight, overprint / separation info, outlines, color profiles

—

Design system

✅ Design tokens, WCAG contrast check, style guides, text consistency

—

Template

Description

quick-layout

Paste text content and Claude arranges it on the artboard as headings, body, and captions

print-preflight-workflow

Comprehensive 7-step pre-press check (document → preflight → overprint → separations → images → colors → text)

Tool

Description

get_document_info

Document metadata (dimensions, color mode, profile, etc.)

get_artboards

Artboard information (position, size, orientation)

get_layers

Layer structure as a tree

get_document_structure

Full tree: layers → groups → objects in one call

list_text_frames

List of text frames (font, size, style name)

get_text_frame_detail

All attributes of a specific text frame (kerning, paragraph settings, etc.)

get_colors

Color information in use (swatches, gradients, spot colors; each used color listed once with a usage count). include_diagnostics for print analysis

get_path_items

Path/shape data (fill, stroke, anchor points)

get_groups

Groups, clipping masks, and compound path structure

get_effects

Effects and appearance info (opacity, blend mode)

get_images

Embedded/linked image info (resolution, broken link detection). include_print_info for effective resolution per axis & color space mismatch

get_symbols

Symbol definitions and instances

get_guidelines

Guide information

get_overprint_info

Overprint settings on paths, text and raster images + K100/rich black detection, with a heuristic label inferred from colors only (it cannot know your intent)

get_separation_info

Color separation info (process and spot plates actually used, with usage counts; inks with no detected usage are listed separately)

get_selection

Details of currently selected objects

find_objects

Search by criteria (name, type, color, font, etc.)

check_contrast

WCAG color contrast ratio check (manual or auto-detect overlapping pairs)

extract_design_tokens

Extract design tokens as CSS custom properties, JSON, or Tailwind config (writing to a file never replaces an existing one without overwrite: true)

list_fonts

List fonts available in Illustrator (no document required)

convert_coordinate

Convert points between artboard and document coordinate systems

Tool

Description

create_rectangle

Create a rectangle (supports rounded corners)

create_ellipse

Create an ellipse

create_line

Create a line

create_text_frame

Create a text frame (point or area type) with optional tracking, leading and paragraph alignment. font_name must be the exact name from list_fonts — an unknown font is an error, not a silent fallback

create_path

Create a custom path (with Bezier handles)

place_image

Place a raster/PDF image file as linked or embedded (SVG is rejected — use import_svg_as_editable)

import_svg_as_editable

Import an SVG file as editable Illustrator paths/text/groups (not as a linked image)

modify_object

Modify properties of an existing object (incl. text tracking, leading and alignment). Fill/stroke on a group or compound path is applied to every path and text inside it

convert_to_outlines

Convert text to outlines

create_document

Create a new document (size, color mode)

close_document

Close the active document (with unsaved changes, it won't close unless save is specified)

resize_for_variation

Create size variations from a source artboard (proportional scaling)

align_objects

Align and distribute multiple objects

replace_color

Find and replace colors across document (with tolerance)

manage_layers

Add, rename, show/hide, lock/unlock, reorder, or delete layers

place_color_chips

Extract unique colors and place color chip swatches outside artboard

save_document

Save or save-as the active document (save-as won't replace an existing file without overwrite: true)

open_document

Open a document from file path

group_objects

Group objects (supports clipping masks)

ungroup_objects

Ungroup a group, releasing children

duplicate_objects

Duplicate objects with optional offset

set_z_order

Change stacking order (front/back)

move_to_layer

Move objects to a different layer

delete_objects

Delete objects by UUID (locked objects need force_unlock; undo may revert it, but undo steps follow Illustrator's history, not MCP calls)

manage_artboards

Add, remove, resize, rename, rearrange artboards

manage_swatches

Add, update, or delete swatches

manage_linked_images

Relink or embed placed images

manage_datasets

List/apply/create datasets, import/export variables

apply_graphic_style

Apply a graphic style to objects

list_graphic_styles

List all graphic styles in the document

apply_text_style

Apply character or paragraph style to text

list_text_styles

List all character and paragraph styles

create_gradient

Create gradients and apply to objects

create_path_text

Create text along a path (optional tracking and alignment; same exact-font_name rule as create_text_frame)

place_symbol

Place or replace symbol instances

select_objects

Select objects by UUID (multi-select supported)

create_crop_marks

Create crop marks (trim marks) with locale-based style auto-detection (Japanese double-line / Western single-line)

place_style_guide

Place a visual style guide outside the artboard on a non-printing layer (colors, fonts, spacing, margins, guide gaps). Measurement marks on the artboard itself are opt-in (annotate_artboard)

undo

Undo/redo operations (multi-step)

Tool

Description

export

SVG / PNG / JPG export (by artboard, selection, or UUID — selection/UUID export only that object; won't replace an existing file without overwrite: true)

export_pdf

Print-ready PDF export (crop marks, bleed, selective downsampling, output intent)

Tool

Description

preflight_check

Pre-press check (RGB mixing, broken links, low resolution, white overprint, transparency+overprint interaction, PDF/X compliance, etc.). Reports which checks were complete or only partial (coverage)

check_text_consistency

Text consistency check (placeholder detection, notation variation patterns, full text listing for LLM analysis)

set_workflow

Set workflow mode (web/print) to override auto-detected coordinate system

set_illustrator_version

Choose which Illustrator version to use when several are installed

Document type

Coordinate system

Origin

Y axis

CMYK / Print

document

Bottom-left

Up

RGB / Web

artboard-web

Top-left of artboard

Down

Limitation

Details

Windows support

Windows uses PowerShell COM automation (not yet tested on real hardware)

Live effects

Drop shadow and other effect parameters can be detected but not read

Color profiles

Color profile assignment only — full conversion is not available

Bleed settings

Bleed settings cannot be read (Illustrator API limitation)

WebP export

Not supported — use PNG or SVG instead

Japanese crop marks

PDF export draws the marks temporarily on the document with the TrimMark command, exports, then removes them. Single-artboard documents only — multi-artboard documents return an error

Font embedding

Embedding mode (full/subset) cannot be controlled directly — use PDF presets

Size variations

Proportional scaling only — text may need manual adjustment afterward

SVG text glyph fallback

Illustrator does not fall back per glyph across a font-family list. If the first family is installed but lacks a glyph, import_svg_as_editable drops that character silently and still reports success. Use one font-family per text element and choose one that contains the glyphs you need. An uninstalled family is substituted instead and is unaffected; preflight_check covers that separate case

Object notes

Tools identify objects by a UUID stored in each object's note (Attributes panel). A note you wrote yourself is kept — the UUID is added in front of it