AI Assistant for After Effects

A CEP panel that lets you control Adobe After Effects using natural language. Describe what you want — the AI generates and executes ExtendScript code automatically.

Supports Claude, OpenAI, and Ollama (local).

Features

• Natural language control — describe what you want, the AI generates ExtendScript and executes it
• Auto-execution — generated code runs directly in After Effects inside an undo group
• Scene awareness — the AI sees your current project state (compositions, layers, effects, keyframes)
• Auto-retry with error hints — if code fails, it sends the error back with targeted fix hints
• Auto-undo on failure — failed executions are rolled back so partial changes don't pile up
• Code sanitizer — auto-fixes common LLM mistakes (ES3 violations, dimension mismatches, etc.)
• Rate limit handling — automatic retry with backoff on API rate limits
• Conversation history — iterative refinement ("make it bigger", "change the color to red")
• Dark theme — matches After Effects UI

Installation

Option A: Install from ZXP (recommended)

1. Download the latest afx-slop.zxp from Releases
2. Install using ZXPInstaller or Anastasiy's Extension Manager
3. Restart After Effects
4. Go to Window > Extensions > AI Assistant

Option B: Install from source (development)

1. Enable unsigned extensions

# macOS
defaults write com.adobe.CSXS.11 PlayerDebugMode 1

# Windows (Command Prompt as Administrator)
reg add HKCU\Software\Adobe\CSXS.11 /v PlayerDebugMode /t REG_SZ /d 1 /f

Adjust CSXS.11 to match your CEP version: CSXS.12 for AE 2025, CSXS.11 for AE 2022–2024, CSXS.9/CSXS.10 for older versions.

2. Deploy the extension

# Install dependencies and deploy to CEP extensions folder
npm install
npm run deploy

On macOS you can alternatively symlink:

ln -s /path/to/afx-slop ~/Library/Application\ Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/afx-slop

Note: Windows symlinks (mklink /D) are not recommended — CEP cannot load host scripts through them. Use npm run deploy instead, which copies the extension to the correct location. Re-run after making changes.

3. Enable scripting in After Effects

Go to Edit > Preferences > Scripting & Expressions and enable:

• "Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network"

4. Open the panel

Restart After Effects, then go to Window > Extensions > AI Assistant.

Configure

Click the Settings header in the panel, select your LLM provider, and enter your API key.

Usage

Type natural language prompts in the input field. Press Enter to send (Shift+Enter for newline).

Example prompts

Compositions and setup:

• "Create a 10-second 1920x1080 composition at 30fps"
• "Duplicate the active comp and rename it to 'v2'"
• "Set the comp background to dark blue"

Layers:

• "Add a text layer that says 'Hello World' in white, centered"
• "Add a solid blue background layer behind everything"
• "Create a null object and parent all layers to it"
• "Add an adjustment layer with a Curves effect on top"

Animation:

• "Add a zoom-in animation to the text layer"
• "Fade in all layers over 1 second"
• "Add a bounce scale animation to layer 1"
• "Animate the text position from left to center with ease"
• "Add a wiggle expression to the position of the text layer"
• "Stagger the fade-in of all layers by 0.2 seconds"

Effects and styling:

• "Apply a Gaussian blur of 15px to the background"
• "Add a drop shadow to the text layer"
• "Set the text color to red and font size to 72"
• "Add a vignette using a dark solid with an elliptical mask"

Project management:

• "List all compositions in the project"
• "Rename layer 1 to 'Title'"
• "Lock all layers except the text layer"
• "Render the active comp to the desktop as a QuickTime file"

Iterative refinement — follow up with context from the conversation:

• "Make it bigger"
• "Change the color to red"
• "Make the animation slower"
• "Add the same effect to all other layers"

Providers

Provider	Models	API Key
Claude (Anthropic)	Sonnet 4, Opus 4, Haiku 4	console.anthropic.com
OpenAI	GPT-4o, GPT-4o Mini, GPT-4.1	platform.openai.com
Ollama (Local)	Any model (qwen2.5-coder, llama3, etc.)	None (free, local)

Building a ZXP for distribution

# One-time: install the signing tool
npm install -g zxp-sign-cmd

# Build (first run creates a self-signed certificate interactively)
./scripts/build-zxp.sh

# Force a new certificate
./scripts/build-zxp.sh --new-cert

Output: build/afx-slop.zxp

The certificate is stored in .certs/ (gitignored). Keep your certificate password safe for future builds.

Development

npm install          # install dev dependencies
npm test             # run tests (36 tests across 3 suites)
npm run test:watch   # run tests in watch mode
npm run lint         # lint client JS + ExtendScript
npm run lint:fix     # auto-fix lint issues
npm run deploy       # copy extension to CEP extensions folder

ESLint is configured with two rulesets:

• client/js/ — modern JS (ES2020) for the CEP Chromium environment
• host/ — ES3 for ExtendScript (catches accidental use of let, arrow functions, template literals, etc.)

Debugging

With the .debug file in place and PlayerDebugMode enabled, open Chrome DevTools at:

http://localhost:8088

Requirements

• Adobe After Effects CC 2020 or later (macOS or Windows)
• An API key for your chosen LLM provider (or Ollama running locally)

License

MIT