mcp-aftereffects

Discover available atomic operations for ae_do. Without args: all categories with their operation names. With a category: detailed params per operation. Only operations this server will actually execute are listed.

Detailed comp info: size, fps, duration, work area, motion blur, layer summaries. Pass a comp name or item id — or an ARRAY of them to fetch several comps in one call.

Ambient context: project state, active comp, selected layers, item list, AE.* helpers, ES3 rules, and the undo contract (every call = one auto undo group). Call at session start; then rely on ae_do response context.

Execute an atomic operation by name (from ae_catalog). Arguments are validated against the operation's declared parameters before anything reaches AE. Have more than one operation to run? Wrap them in ONE batch.run instead of several ae_do calls — read/verify steps (comp.info, layer.info, render.frame) can ride in the same batch. Every call is automatically wrapped in ONE undo group: a single Ctrl+Z (or project.undo) reverts the entire call, and a batch.run counts as one call. Never call app.beginUndoGroup/endUndoGroup in eval.run code — the wrapper already did. The exception is undo/redo itself (project.undo, command.execute id 16/2035): those run outside the group and cannot ride inside a batch.run. Response includes ambient context (active comp, selected layers, project state) at zero extra round trips. Example: ae_do({ operation: 'keyframe.add', args: { comp: 'Main', layer: 1, property: ['Transform','Position'], time: 2, value: [960,540] } })

Full layer info: transform, effects, masks, text, shape contents, keyframes (incl. interpolation names and bezier ease speed/influence). layerIndex accepts one index, an ARRAY of indices, or 'all' — auditing a whole comp is one call. detail:'summary' drops properties still at their default value (unkeyed, no expression) — start there for audits; the full tree is often 100KB+ per comp. Set includeProperties=false to skip the property tree walk entirely.

Serialize the entire project to JSON (folders, comps, layers, keyframes, effects, shapes, markers, time remap, solids, file refs). Write to `outPath` or return inline.

Rebuild the project from JSON (produced by ae_project_export_json). Supports `clearFirst`, `dryRun` (validate-only), `skipValidation`.

Project-level info: file path, dirty flag, all items with type/summary, active item. Start here.

Render one or more frames to PNG. Use to visually verify edits. The agent's 'eyes' — pair with mutations for a visual feedback loop. Headless and deterministic. Pass `time` for one frame, or `times` for several in ONE call (motion checks): files land at <outPath stem>_<index>.png and are listed in `frames`. `contactSheet` tiles every frame into one labelled PNG (<stem>_sheet.png) so a motion check is one image; `analyze` measures each capture (uniform edge bands = black bars / transparent margins, content bounds, coverage) so off-frame elements and letterboxing are caught numerically. In color-managed projects (workingSpace != None) the capture applies AE's own display transform via a transient OCIO Display Transform adjustment layer, and the PNG comes back viewer-accurate and sRGB-tagged. Where that layer cannot be used — read-only mode, an AE without the OCIO effect, or a failed capture calibration — the result falls back to a pure-math ACES conversion or to raw values with an explicit colorWarning; check colorPipeline / colorWarning on the response.

Save the project. Pass `path` for Save As.

AE version, build, capabilities (saveFrameToPng, app.effects, Socket). Call at session start to know what APIs are available.