Adobe Creative Suite MCP server

Adobe MCP Server provides an interface for AI applications to control Adobe applications including Photoshop and Premiere Pro through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This tool allows AI clients such as Claude to interact directly with Adobe applications, making it possible to automate tasks, generate designs, or provide conversational guidance for users unfamiliar with the software.

Installation Requirements

Before installing the MCP server, ensure you have:

• An AI with MCP Protocol support (tested with Claude Desktop and OpenAI Agent SDK)
• Python 3
• NodeJS
• Adobe UXP Developer Tool (available through Creative Cloud)
• Adobe Photoshop (26.0+), Premiere Pro (25.3 Build 46+), or other supported Adobe applications

Setting Up the MCP Server

Install Claude Desktop (or other MCP client)

1. Download and install Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download
2. Launch Claude to verify it works

Install MCP for Development

Navigate to your project directory and run the appropriate command for your Adobe application:

Photoshop

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

Premiere Pro

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

InDesign

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

AfterEffects

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

Illustrator

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

Restart Claude Desktop after installation.

Set Up Proxy Server

Using Prebuilt Executables (Recommended)

1. Download the appropriate executable for your platform from the latest release
2. Unzip the executable
3. Double-click or run from terminal/console

Running from Source

1. Navigate to the adb-proxy-socket directory
2. Run node proxy.js

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

Keep this running — the proxy server must remain active for communication between Claude and Adobe plugins.

Install Adobe Plugins

For UXP-based Applications (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, InDesign)

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

Enable Developer Mode in Photoshop

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

For CEP-based Applications (AfterEffects, Illustrator)

Mac

1. Create this directory if it doesn't exist: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions

2. Create a symlink to the plugin:

cd /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions
ln -s /Users/USERNAME/src/adb-mcp/cep/com.mikechambers.ae com.mikechambers.ae

or

cd /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions
ln -s /Users/USERNAME/src/adb-mcp/cep/com.mikechambers.ai com.mikechambers.ai

Windows

1. Create this directory if it doesn't exist: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions

2. Create a symbolic link (run Command Prompt as Administrator):

mklink /D "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions\com.mikechambers.ae" "C:\Users\USERNAME\src\adb-mcp\cep\com.mikechambers.ae"

or

mklink /D "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions\com.mikechambers.ai" "C:\Users\USERNAME\src\adb-mcp\cep\com.mikechambers.ai"

Using MCP with Adobe Applications

Launch Required Components

1. Start Claude Desktop
2. Start the adb-proxy-socket server
3. Launch your Adobe application (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, etc.)

For Photoshop

1. In UXP Developer Tool, click Load for the Photoshop MCP Agent
2. In Photoshop, open Plugins > Photoshop MCP Agent > Photoshop MCP Agent
3. Click Connect in the agent panel

For Premiere Pro

1. In UXP Developer Tool, click Load for the Premiere MCP Agent
2. In Premiere, open Window > UXP Plugins > Premiere MCP Agent > Premiere MCP Agent
3. Click Connect in the agent panel

For InDesign

1. In UXP Developer Tool, click Load for the InDesign MCP Agent
2. In InDesign, open Plugins > InDesign MCP Agent > InDesign MCP Agent
3. Click Connect in the agent panel

For AfterEffects

1. Open Window > Extensions > Illustrator MCP Agent

For Illustrator

1. Open a file (required for plugin launch)
2. Open Window > Extensions > Illustrator MCP Agent

Connecting Claude to Adobe Applications

1. In Claude's chat input field, click the "+" button
2. Click "Add from Adobe Photoshop / Premiere"
3. Select config://get_instructions
4. Submit to Claude

This loads instructions that help Claude better understand how to work with Adobe applications.

Prompting Examples

You can ask the AI about available functions:

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

Use natural language for commands:

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

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

Troubleshooting

MCP Won't Run in Claude

If Claude reports the MCP isn't working, try editing your Claude config file to include an absolute path for the UV command.

Plugin Connection Issues

• Make sure the application is running before loading the plugin
• Use the debug button in UXP Developer Tool to check for errors
• Verify the proxy server is running
• Check that the Connect button changes state after clicking

AI Client Errors

• Examine the command/code box for error details
• Ensure the plugin is connected and the proxy server is running
• If responses are slow, try starting a new chat to reduce context size

Usage Tips

• When asking the AI to view content, image results appear in the Tool Call item in the chat
• Guide the AI with specific suggestions (e.g., "consider using clipping masks")
• Don't make changes in Adobe apps while the AI is working
• For Photoshop text, provide guidelines on font sizes and alignment
• For fonts, use PostScript names
• In Premiere, the plugin works best with a single sequence
• Consider pairing Premiere with media-utils-mcp for expanded functionality

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