After Effects MCP Server

The After Effects MCP Server bridges the gap between creative software and AI‑powered assistants by exposing Adobe After Effects’ rich animation and compositing capabilities through the Model Context Protocol. Instead of scripting manually inside After Effects, developers can send high‑level commands—such as “create a composition,” “add a text layer,” or “apply a keyframe”—to the server, which translates them into native After Effects actions. This removes the need for custom plug‑in development and allows AI assistants like Claude or Cursor to orchestrate complex visual workflows directly from natural language prompts.

At its core, the server offers three pillars of functionality. First, core composition features let users programmatically generate new projects with precise resolution, frame rate, duration, and background color, or query existing compositions for metadata. Second, layer management covers the full spectrum of layer types—text, shape, solid, and adjustment layers—with customizable properties such as font, color, geometry, and transform values. Finally, the animation capabilities expose keyframe creation for standard properties (position, scale, rotation, opacity) and the ability to attach expressions, enabling dynamic, data‑driven motion graphics that evolve over time.

For developers building AI workflows, this server is a powerful tool. An AI assistant can parse user intent (“Animate the headline to bounce in from the left”) and translate it into a sequence of MCP calls: create or identify the target layer, set initial keyframes, and apply an easing expression. Because MCP standardizes the interface, the same assistant can switch between different creative tools—such as Photoshop or Premiere—without changing its core logic. The server’s integration with the MCP Bridge panel in After Effects ensures commands are executed automatically, reducing latency and enabling real‑time feedback.

Real‑world scenarios include automated post‑production pipelines where an AI drafts a storyboard, then hands off the composition structure to After Effects for rendering; or collaborative creative sessions where multiple team members issue commands via chat, and the server synchronizes all changes across a shared project. Unique advantages of this implementation are its native support for After Effects’ expression engine and its ability to expose detailed project metadata, allowing AI assistants to make context‑aware decisions (e.g., adjusting keyframe timing based on composition duration). Overall, the After Effects MCP Server transforms a traditionally manual, UI‑centric application into a programmable asset that can be seamlessly woven into AI‑driven creative workflows.