EffectCraft MCP Server

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Let Claude make motion graphics and visual effects with the EffectCraft installed on your computer — Windows, macOS and Linux:
animated titles, effects on videos, motion templates, and renders to MP4, ProRes, WebM, GIF, image sequences and Lottie.

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Why

EffectCraft is an open-source, After Effects-class motion graphics compositor written in Rust, with a headless CLI (effectcraft-cli), 665 commands, 306 effects, an After Effects-style scripting model and an MCP mode. This Model Context Protocol server turns that engine into file-in / file-out tools for Claude, so you can ask things like:

"Make a 5-second 1080×1080 intro: purple background, my logo popping in, and 'SUMMER SALE' typed out with a glow." "Add a lower third with 'Ana Pérez — Director' over interview.mp4." "Put a cinematic grade and a light blur on every clip in D:\Clips, speed them up to 150 % and export MP4s." "Render the 'Final' comp of promo.ecproj as ProRes 4444 with alpha and as a GIF." "Export this animation as Lottie for my website."

Sibling of lightcraft-mcp-server, photocraft-mcp-server, vectorcraft-mcp-server, filmcraft-mcp-server, pdfcraft-mcp-server and audacity-mcp-server.

Platforms

OS	EffectCraft package to install	Where the server finds it (no setup needed)	Status
Windows 10/11 (x64, x86, arm64)	MSI or portable zip	C:\Program Files\EffectCraft, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\EffectCraft, PATH	✅ Verified (Windows 11)
Linux (x86_64, aarch64)	.deb, .rpm or .tar.gz	/usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, /opt/effectcraft/bin, ~/.local/bin, PATH	✅ Verified (Debian 12, headless)
macOS 11+ (Apple silicon and Intel)	.dmg (the app) plus effectcraft-cli-<version>-macos-universal.zip	/Applications/EffectCraft.app, /usr/local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, ~/.local/bin, ~/bin, PATH	🟡 Supported, not yet tested on a Mac

All downloads: EffectCraft releases (there is also a FreeBSD tar.gz; set EFFECTCRAFT_DIR to it). Anywhere else: set EFFECTCRAFT_DIR (folder, .tar.gz root or EffectCraft.app) or EFFECTCRAFT_CLI.

• macOS: the DMG contains only the app. Unzip the separate effectcraft-cli zip and move effectcraft-cli to /usr/local/bin (or point EFFECTCRAFT_CLI at it). The first run checks Apple's notarization online.
• Linux: the AppImage and Flatpak contain only the app, not effectcraft-cli; use the deb, rpm or tar.gz. For an AppImage app, set EFFECTCRAFT_APP so open_in_effectcraft can start it. On a server without a GPU, the verified setup used libxkbcommon0 libvulkan1 libegl1 mesa-vulkan-drivers libasound2 fontconfig.

How it works

Part	What it is
EffectCraft engine (effectcraft-cli mcp)	EffectCraft's own engine: compositor, text, shapes, keyframes, expressions, effects, templates, render queue and exporters. Started fresh and headless for each job with an in-memory project, so it never touches the EffectCraft app or an open project.
MCP server (Node.js)	11 high-level tools. Builds comps from a simple layer list, imports your media by reference (it is only read), renders where you asked and checks every output first: EffectCraft itself would replace existing files silently.
Live app (optional)	open_in_effectcraft control=true starts the app with its loopback-only control channel (port 9877) and run_effectcraft_commands / run_effectcraft_script live=true drive it. The channel has no password: close the app when you are done.

Tools

Tool	What it does
create_motion_graphic	A comp of any size, frame rate and length from layers listed top to bottom — text (any font, stroke, alignment), shapes (rectangle, rounded, ellipse, star, polygon), solids, images / videos / audio (cover or contain, speed), nulls, adjustment layers — with position, scale, rotation, opacity, blend mode and timing; entrances and exits (fade, slide left / right / up / down, pop, zoom, blur, typewriter, spin); keyframes; expressions; effects with animated parameters
apply_effects	A video or image (or a folder of them) in a comp of its own size: effects with optional keyframes, trim, speed, and layers on top (titles, captions, logos)
use_template	The built-in Lower Third, Title Card, Logo Reveal, Kinetic Type, Social Square, Vertical Story, Slideshow and 3D Text Orbit, or any .ectemplate: set its controls by name, put footage behind it, add layers, change the length
render_project	Any comp of an .ecproj with a time range, resolution, frame rate, quality, bitrate and alpha; the project is never modified
get_project_info	Comps, layers, footage (with missing files) and Essential Graphics controls
render_frame	Frames of a project or a video at the given times, shown to Claude and optionally saved
list_effectcraft_catalog	306 effects with parameter ids, templates and their controls, fonts, 665 commands, formats
run_effectcraft_script	After Effects-style JavaScript (app.project, addComp, layers.addText, setValueAtTime, expressions...) — most .jsx scripts run as they are — then render / save
run_effectcraft_commands	Any engine commands plus set_property, add_keyframe, add_effect, get_layer... in one session ($steps[N].field references), headless or live, then render / save
open_in_effectcraft	Open projects or media in the EffectCraft app (optionally with the control channel)
get_effectcraft_status	Platform, installation, version, commands, effects, app / control port

Imports	MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, MXF, GIF, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP, EXR, PSD, SVG, WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, .ecproj, .ectemplate, Lottie, glTF / GLB / OBJ
Renders	MP4 (H.264), HEVC, AV1, ProRes (proxy … 4444 XQ, with alpha), WebM (VP9, alpha), GIF, PNG / JPEG / TIFF / EXR sequences, WAV, AIFF, Lottie (.json), .ecproj

Positions are pixels from the top-left corner of the comp; times are seconds. Image sequences go to their own <name>_frames folder.

Example

{
  "name": "summer-sale",
  "width": 1080,
  "height": 1080,
  "duration": 5,
  "background": "#2e1065",
  "layers": [
    { "type": "text", "text": "SUMMER SALE", "size": 120, "color": "#ffffff", "y": 760,
      "animate_in": { "type": "typewriter", "duration": 1.2 }, "effects": [ { "effect": "Glow" } ] },
    { "type": "media", "path": "C:\\Brand\\logo.png", "fit": "none", "scale": 60, "y": 420,
      "animate_in": { "type": "pop", "duration": 0.6 }, "animate_out": { "type": "fade", "duration": 0.5 } },
    { "type": "shape", "shape": "ellipse", "width": 900, "height": 900, "color": "#7c3aed", "opacity": 40,
      "expressions": [ { "property": "scale", "expression": "[100 + 5*Math.sin(time*3), 100 + 5*Math.sin(time*3)]" } ] }
  ],
  "formats": ["mp4", "gif", "ecproj"],
  "output_dir": "C:\\Videos"
}

Requirements

• EffectCraft with effectcraft-cli (tested with 0.7.0); see Platforms
• Node.js ≥ 20 (bundled with Claude Desktop for .mcpb installs)

Installation

Claude Desktop (recommended, all platforms)

1. Download effectcraft-mcp-server.mcpb from the latest release.
2. Double-click it (or drag it into Claude Desktop → Settings → Extensions) and click Install.
3. Optional: if EffectCraft is not in a standard location, fill in its folder or the effectcraft-cli path in the extension settings.

Codex (OpenAI)

Recommended — the marketplace (gets updates): Plugins → Add → Add marketplace, source jhonsu01/craft-marketplace, reference main, then install EffectCraft Bridge from Craft Bridges (craft-marketplace). New versions arrive by refreshing the marketplace. Or upload the zip (Codex then keeps it in your account and refuses a newer zip with the same name):

1. Download effectcraft-mcp-server-<version>-codex.zip from the latest release.
2. In Codex: Plugins → Add → New plugin, choose the zip and click Add plugin.
3. Codex starts the server with node, so Node.js ≥ 20 must be on PATH. If EffectCraft is not in a standard location, set EFFECTCRAFT_DIR or EFFECTCRAFT_CLI as system environment variables (Codex has no settings form for local plugins).

DeepSeek Harness

1. Plugins → Add plugin, enter github:jhonsu01/craft-marketplace#path:/plugins/effectcraft-mcp-server and click Install, then Enable now.
2. Harness runs the server with its own MCP client and node (Node.js ≥ 20 on PATH); the tools appear as mcp__effectcraft__<tool> and the output files as cards that open in Harness.
3. Harness does not update plugins by itself yet: to upgrade, uninstall the plugin and install it again with the same address.

Claude Code / other MCP clients

git clone https://github.com/jhonsu01/effectcraft-mcp-server.git
cd effectcraft-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Windows:

claude mcp add effectcraft -- node "%CD%\dist\bundle.cjs"

macOS / Linux:

claude mcp add effectcraft -- node "$PWD/dist/bundle.cjs"

Configuration

Variable	Meaning
EFFECTCRAFT_DIR	EffectCraft folder, one of its executables, a .tar.gz root (with bin/) or EffectCraft.app. Default: auto-detect
EFFECTCRAFT_CLI	Path of effectcraft-cli / effectcraft-cli.exe (wins over EFFECTCRAFT_DIR)
EFFECTCRAFT_APP	Path of the desktop app when it lives elsewhere (e.g. a Linux AppImage)
EFFECTCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT	Control port of the desktop app (default 9877)
EFFECTCRAFT_MCP_TIMEOUT	Maximum seconds per engine call (default 3600)

Safety

• Files are never overwritten unless overwrite: true: a free name (_2) is used in folders and an existing output_path is an error. Inputs and .ecproj projects are only read; a project is saved only as a new copy (format ecproj).
• All paths must be absolute. The engine runs headless with an in-memory project and never touches the EffectCraft app unless live: true.
• Everything runs locally with no network access. Each job uses a private engine in a temporary folder that is deleted at the end.

Development

npm run build       # TypeScript + single-file bundle (dist/bundle.cjs)
npm test            # unit tests (Windows, macOS and Linux path logic)
npm run test:e2e    # 23 end-to-end checks over real MCP stdio (synthetic image; videos rendered by EffectCraft)
npm run pack:mcpb   # effectcraft-mcp-server.mcpb
npm run pack:codex  # Codex plugin zip

Linux test in Docker (unpack effectcraft-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz first):

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/work:ro" -v "/path/to/effectcraft-0.7.0-linux-x86_64:/opt/effectcraft:ro" -w /work node:22-bookworm bash -c "apt-get update && apt-get install -y libxkbcommon0 libvulkan1 libegl1 mesa-vulkan-drivers libasound2 fontconfig && node scripts/e2e.mjs"

License

Apache-2.0. EffectCraft is © its authors (Storytold), MIT or Apache-2.0. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by EffectCraft or Storytold. After Effects is a trademark of Adobe.