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Adobe Creative Suite MCP server

Bridges Adobe Creative Suite applications including Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and InDesign through WebSocket connections and UXP plugins, enabling natural language control of layer manipulation, filter application, video editing with transitions and effects, and document creation workflows.
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Setup instructions
Provider
Mike Chambers
Release date
Jun 09, 2025
Language
JavaScript
Stats
216 stars
View on GitHub

This proof of concept project enables AI control of Adobe tools (Photoshop and Premiere) through the MCP protocol, allowing AI clients like Claude Desktop to perform tasks ranging from basic editing to complex project creation. It creates a bridge between LLMs and Adobe applications, enabling conversational interfaces for creative work.

Requirements

To run this MCP server, you'll need:

  • AI LLM with MCP Protocol support (tested with Claude Desktop and OpenAI Agent SDK)
  • Python 3 for the MCP server
  • NodeJS for the proxy server
  • Adobe UXP Developer Tool (available via Creative Cloud)
  • Adobe Photoshop (26.0+) or Adobe Premiere Beta (25.3 Build 46+)

Installation Options

Quick Start (Recommended for Testing)

1. Download Release Files

Download the latest release from the releases page, including:

  • Source code
  • Claude MCP installers (.dxt files)
  • Adobe plugins (.ccx files)

2. Install Claude Desktop

  1. Download and install Claude Desktop
  2. Launch Claude Desktop to verify it works

3. Install MCP in Claude Desktop

  1. Launch Claude Desktop
  2. Double-click the appropriate .dxt file:
    • photoshop-mcp.dxt for Photoshop
    • premiere-mcp.dxt for Premiere Pro
  3. Restart Claude Desktop

4. Run the Proxy Server

Using prebuilt executables (recommended):

  1. Download the appropriate executable for your platform from the latest release.

  2. Unzip the executable.

  3. Run the executable from terminal or console:

    macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon):

    ./adb-proxy-socket-macos-x64

    or

    ./adb-proxy-socket-macos-arm64

    Windows:
    Double-click adb-proxy-socket-win.exe or run in Command Prompt:

    adb-proxy-socket-win.exe

  4. You should see a message like:
    Photoshop MCP Command proxy server running on ws://localhost:3001

  5. Keep this running — the proxy server must stay active for Claude to communicate with Adobe plugins.

5. Install Adobe Plugins

  1. Open the Adobe application (Photoshop or Premiere Pro)
  2. Download and launch Adobe UXP Developer Tools from Creative Cloud
  3. In UXP Developer Tools: File > Add Plugin
  4. Select the appropriate .ccx file from your downloads
  5. Click Load to install the plugin
  6. In your Adobe application, find the plugin panel:
    • Photoshop: Plugins menu
    • Premiere Pro: Window > UXP Plugins menu
  7. Click Connect in the plugin panel

Development Setup

1. Download Source Code

Clone or download the source code from the main project page.

2. Install Claude Desktop

Same as Quick Start step 2.

3. Install MCP for Development

Navigate to the project directory and run:

For Photoshop:

uv run mcp install --with fonttools --with python-socketio --with mcp --with requests --with websocket-client --with numpy ps-mcp.py

For Premiere Pro:

uv run mcp install --with fonttools --with python-socketio --with mcp --with requests --with websocket-client --with pillow pr-mcp.py

Restart Claude Desktop after installation.

4. Set Up Proxy Server

Same as Quick Start step 4.

5. Enable Developer Mode in Adobe Applications

For Photoshop:

  1. Launch Photoshop (2025/26.0 or greater)
  2. Go to Settings > Plugins and check "Enable Developer Mode"
  3. Restart Photoshop

For Premiere Pro:

  1. Launch Premiere Pro Beta (25.3 or greater)
  2. Developer mode should be available by default in the beta

6. Install Plugins for Development

  1. Launch UXP Developer Tools from Creative Cloud
  2. Enable developer mode when prompted
  3. Select File > Add Plugin
  4. Navigate to the appropriate directory and select manifest.json:
    • Photoshop: uxp/ps/manifest.json
    • Premiere Pro: uxp/pr/manifest.json
  5. Click Load
  6. In your Adobe application, open the plugin panel and click Connect

Using Claude with Adobe Apps

Launch the following:

  1. Claude Desktop
  2. adb-proxy-socket node server
  3. Launch Photoshop and/or Premiere

Photoshop Setup

  1. Launch UXP Developer Tool and click the Load button for Photoshop MCP Agent
  2. In Photoshop, if the MCP Agent panel is not open, open Plugins > Photoshop MCP Agent > Photoshop MCP Agent
  3. Click connect in the agent panel in Photoshop

Premiere Setup

  1. Launch UXP Developer Tool and click the Load button for Premiere MCP Agent
  2. In Premiere, if the MCP Agent panel is not open, open Window > UXP Plugins > Premiere MCP Agent > Premiere MCP Agent
  3. Click connect in the agent panel in Premiere

Note: You must reload the plugin via the UCP Developer app every time you restart Photoshop and Premiere.

Setting up a Claude Session

  1. In Claude, click the "+" button in the chat input field
  2. Click "Add from Adobe Photoshop / Premiere"
  3. Select config://get_instructions
  4. Submit that to Claude
  5. Once processed, you're ready to begin

Prompting Examples

You can ask about available functionality:

Can you list what apis / functions are available for working with Photoshop / Premiere?

Some sample prompts:

Create a new Photoshop file with a blue background, that is 1080 width by 720 height at 300 dpi

Create a new Photoshop file for an instagram post

Create a double exposure image in Photoshop of a woman and a forest

Add cross fade transitions between all of the clips on the timeline in Premiere

Tips for Best Results

General Tips

  • You can see images returned by the AI in the Tool Call items in the chat
  • Ask the AI to think about and check its work
  • Guide the AI with specific suggestions (e.g., "consider using clipping masks")
  • More advanced AI models generally produce better and more creative results
  • Avoid making changes in Adobe apps while the AI is working
  • The AI will learn from mistakes but loses memory when starting a new chat

Photoshop Tips

  • Ask the AI to look at the content of the Photoshop file to see the output
  • Provide guidelines on font sizes and text alignment
  • The AI has access to all Postscript fonts on your system
  • Ask for creative suggestions

Premiere Tips

  • The plugin works best with a single sequence
  • Consider pairing with the media-utils-mcp to expand functionality

Troubleshooting

MCP Won't Run in Claude

If you get an error that the MCP is not working, you may need to edit your Claude config file and provide an absolute path for the UV command.

Font Availability Issues

The MCP server lists available fonts but may omit some if you have many fonts installed. By default, it lists the first 1000 fonts alphabetically. You can specify fonts by their Postscript name.

Plugin Connection Problems

  • Ensure the app is running before loading the plugin
  • Check for errors using the debug button in UXP developer tool
  • Verify the node/proxy server is running
  • If the Connect button remains after clicking, there may be connection issues

AI Client Errors

  • Check error messages in the command/code box
  • Ensure the plugin is connected and the proxy server is running
  • If responses become slow, check server load or start a new chat

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "adobe-photoshop" '{"command":"python","args":["-m","mcp","run","ps-mcp.py"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "adobe-photoshop": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "-m",
                "mcp",
                "run",
                "ps-mcp.py"
            ]
        },
        "adobe-premiere": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "-m",
                "mcp",
                "run",
                "pr-mcp.py"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "adobe-photoshop": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "-m",
                "mcp",
                "run",
                "ps-mcp.py"
            ]
        },
        "adobe-premiere": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "-m",
                "mcp",
                "run",
                "pr-mcp.py"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect

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