After Effects MCP server, built into Flexile
Connect Claude, ChatGPT desktop, Codex, Cursor or another MCP app to After Effects. The AI reads your comp, animates it with Flexile’s easing, text engine, tools and audio, then checks the result.
It ships inside the extension, so there is nothing extra to install. See what it can animate.
Free during beta. No card. Needs After Effects 2025 or newer.
Updated Oct 2026 · Flexile 0.19
Why After Effects MCP setups break
The old way
Open-source servers need Node.js, a setup script and a bridge panel you keep open.
aftereffects-mcp READMEWith Flexile
The server ships in the panel with its own Node.js. Claude Desktop and Cursor connect in one click.
The old way
A tool call can report success while the motion still looks wrong.
Vagon, Sept 2026Neither result proves that the motion feels right.
With Flexile
The AI samples the motion and renders frames to check its work.
What is an After Effects MCP server?
An After Effects MCP server lets an AI app such as Claude, ChatGPT desktop, Codex or Cursor work inside After Effects. The app calls the server’s tools to read a comp, set keyframes or animate text when you ask. Flexile, our After Effects extension, has included one since version 0.17.0, so there is nothing extra to install.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the standard way AI apps call tools. Your AI app starts Flexile’s server on your computer over stdio, and the server passes each request to the Flexile panel open in After Effects. It runs on the Node.js that comes with Flexile, so there is nothing to clone or build.
Set it up in one click
Setup is the easy part. Flexile adds itself to Claude Desktop or Cursor with one click in the panel. You install no Node.js, clone nothing and edit no config file. For Claude Desktop it takes four steps:
- In After Effects, open Window > Extensions > Flexile for AE and sign in.
- On the panel’s AI page, pick Claude Desktop and click Connect Claude Desktop.
- Quit Claude Desktop completely, then open it again. On Windows, quit it from the tray icon.
- In a new chat, find Flexile under + > Connectors. Then ask: “Animate my title with Flexile.”
Flexile backs up Claude Desktop’s config before it changes it, and keeps your other servers. Once Claude starts the server, the panel says Connected to Claude Desktop. In Cursor, click Add to Cursor instead. Claude Code, ChatGPT desktop and other apps take a command or config you copy: see Which AI apps can connect?.
What can the AI do in After Effects?
The AI uses the same engines as the panel, on four of its pages:
What it means for your animation, with prompts and clips: AI for After Effects. Shapes morph cleanly too: shape morph in After Effects.
- Animation. Eases keyframes with Back, Elastic and Bounce, a CSS cubic-bezier or a named curve, re-eases existing keys, morphs shapes and staggers layers along a curve. More on Flexile easing curves.
- Text. The text engine’s 15 effects in In, Out or Keyframes mode, plus reveals by character, word or line.
- Tools. Quick tools, the Overshoot, Bounce, Flicker and Wiggle rigs on Transform and Text properties, and your own Script or Expression tools. The AI can also write new tools, and a script with a syntax error is refused instead of saved.
- Audio. Beat keyframes over MCP by frequency band, and captions over MCP from speech or from lyrics you give it.
Not covered yet: Elements, Learn, Settings and speech-model downloads. Add transitions from Elements yourself, and click Download once in Audio > Subtitles before the AI transcribes.
Flexile tools and After Effects scripting in one chat
The AI gets two kinds of tools. Flexile’s tools ease keyframes, animate text, add the Overshoot and Bounce rigs, run your saved tools and turn music into keyframes. After Effects operations create comps and layers, set keyframes and expressions, and run plain ExtendScript when nothing else fits. One request can use both:
- “Build a title card and reveal the title word by word.” The AI creates the comp and the text layer (
comp.create,layer.create_text). Flexile reveals the words with a text effect (flexile_text) and eases each move with its curves (flexile.ease). - “Make the logo pulse on every kick of the song.” Flexile keyframes the kick onto an audio null (
audio.keys). The AI then links the logo’s Scale to its hit slider with an expression (expression.set). - “Drop nine dots into a grid, one after another, with a bounce.” The AI builds the dots with a script or
layer.create_shapeand keys their Position. Flexile staggers their starts with its sequence tool (flexile.quick_tool) and adds the Bounce rig to each one (flexile.animation_tool).
Then the AI checks the motion with flexile_sample and flexile_render. More prompts are in our guide to using Flexile with AI.
Flexile or an open-source MCP server?
Open-source After Effects MCP servers on GitHub are free and MIT-licensed. Flexile ships its server, Node.js and panel as one extension, and needs a free account. Two open-source servers next to it, from their READMEs (checked 25 September 2026):
MCP server | After Effects | Node.js | Inside After Effects | Licence and price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 or later | 14 or later, you install it | A ScriptUI bridge panel, kept open | MIT, free | |
Flexile | 2025 or newer | 22.17.0, ships inside the extension | The Flexile panel, nothing extra | Free during beta, with a free account |
2024 to 2026 | 24 or later, you install it | Nothing | MIT, free |
See every After Effects MCP server compared, with who each one fits.
Tell your AI. Flexile animates.
Flexile now ships with an MCP server. Connect Claude, the ChatGPT desktop app, Cursor or any other MCP app, and it works right in your After Effects project with Flexile’s own easing, text engine, tools and audio. It reads the comp, builds the motion, checks it and looks at the result. You describe the shot; you don’t click through a single panel.
Set up in the panel’s AI page: one click for Claude Desktop and Cursor, one copied command or config for the rest.
- Claude Desktop
- Claude Code
- ChatGPT desktop
- Codex
- Cursor
- VS Code
- Zed
- Gemini CLI
Text, Animation, Tools and Audio work over MCP. The Elements panel isn’t supported yet, so add transitions from the Elements library yourself for now.
Illustration: the requests, tool names and results match what Flexile’s MCP does. The preview is simplified.
The 13 tools, grouped by job
The server exposes 13 tools. Your AI app picks them. You describe the shot.
Look before changing anything
flexile_brief: the first call. Opens a session and returns the active comp, motion rules and examples.flexile_state: the comp as compact text, with layers, timing, transforms and every keyframed property with its easing.flexile_catalog: operations, easing curves, installed fonts, text effects, tools and comp presets.
Make the change
flexile_animate: motion from intent such as “slide in from left” or “pop”, with curve, duration, stagger and motion blur chosen for you.flexile_text: text animation from intent such as “reveal word by word” or “type on”.flexile_do: one operation or a batch. Behind it sit 79 After Effects operations in 17 categories, plus 5 for audio and subtitles.flexile_tool: lists, creates, edits, runs and deletes your own tools. Built-in tools are read-only.
Check the result
flexile_sample: progress and speed at 11 points, with hitches and reversals flagged.flexile_validate: checks safe area, type size, contrast, linear easing, overshoot, simultaneity, fades, motion blur and reading time.flexile_render: a contact sheet of 6 frames by default, or single frames, plus a zoomed crop.flexile_screenshot: captures After Effects and its dialogs from the operating system, even when After Effects is frozen.
Get help
flexile_guide: Flexile’s motion-design manual, for apps without skill files.flexile_doctor: checks install, panel, sign-in, licence, scripting, rendering and screenshots, and tells you the fix.
Which AI apps can connect?
The panel’s AI page lists each app with the exact paths for your computer.
- One click: Claude Desktop and Cursor, re-pointed every time the panel starts. Claude Desktop’s config is backed up first and your other servers stay.
- Copied command: Claude Code, which also gets Flexile’s motion-design skill.
- Copied config: ChatGPT desktop and Codex CLI (they share
~/.codex/config.toml), VS Code, Zed, and JSON for apps such as Gemini CLI, Cline, LM Studio and Windsurf. - Set-up prompt: for any agent that can edit files or run commands.
Copied set-ups need redoing after a Flexile update moves the extension folder. Steps for each app: use Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in After Effects. If you use ChatGPT, see ChatGPT and After Effects.
Undo, sign-in and the off switch
- One undo step per call. Each call is one undo step whose name starts with “Flexile AI”, so
Cmd+ZorCtrl+Zsteps back through what the AI changed. A batch of up to 200 steps is not transactional, so a failed step does not roll back the ones before it. - An off switch. Allow AI assistants, on the AI page and in Settings, is on by default. Switched off, the panel stops listening until you turn it back on.
- A local bridge. The server reaches the panel over
127.0.0.1with a token that changes on every panel start and never goes into your AI app’s config. - Checked every time. The panel checks sign-in and licence on every request, and shows an activity strip while the AI works.
- Guard rails. Saving can’t be undone, so Flexile tells the AI to save only when you ask, and it refuses to save over another project file. Scripts that open alerts or file dialogs, and changes to locked layers, are refused.
- What leaves your computer. Your AI app sends what the AI reads, such as the comp’s layers and a few preview frames, to its own model. Licence checks go to Flexile, tools the AI saves sync to your Flexile account, and the panel sends usage metrics and error reports. Audio analysis and speech recognition run on your computer.
The AI can run scripts in After Effects, so only paste prompts and instructions you trust.
What you need
Adobe After Effects 2025 or newer, on macOS or Windows
Flexile 0.17.0 or newer (see the installation guide)
A free Flexile account, signed in inside the panel: start for free
The panel open (Window > Extensions > Flexile for AE) with Allow AI assistants on
An MCP app. On macOS, screenshots need Screen Recording permission for that app, and you close After Effects dialogs yourself.
For captions: a Mac (Intel Macs need AVX2) or a 64-bit Intel or AMD Windows PC with SSE4.2 and the Visual C++ runtime
Do I need to install Node.js?
No. Node.js 22.17.0 ships inside the Flexile extension, with builds for Apple silicon Macs, Intel Macs and Windows. Your AI app starts the server with the command the panel’s AI page gives you.
Does it work with ChatGPT?
With the ChatGPT desktop app, yes. It uses a config you copy from the panel’s AI page, shared with Codex CLI. ChatGPT in a web browser can’t reach After Effects on your computer.
Is the Flexile MCP server free?
Yes. Flexile is free for everybody with an account during the beta, the MCP server included. Paid plans will be announced in advance on the pricing page and by email. Your AI app is a separate product. Its account and any paid plan come from its maker, not from Flexile.
What if my AI app can’t reach After Effects?
Keep the panel open, sign in, turn on Allow AI assistants and restart the AI app. Still stuck? Ask the AI to run flexile_doctor, which names the first step that fails.
Does it work with Codex?
Yes. Codex CLI connects with a config you copy from the panel’s AI page. It shares ~/.codex/config.toml with the ChatGPT desktop app.
Still have questions?
Write to us at contact@flexile.io.
39 free tools your AI app can run
Expressions and scripts you add from the library land in your Cloud Tools, where Claude, ChatGPT desktop or Cursor can list, run and edit them through Flexile.
More in Flexile
The same panel also does this, free during beta.
- Easing
Back, Elastic and Bounce curves, speed editing and stagger.
- Shape morph
Morph shape layers into each other in one Apply, without the twisting.
- Text animation
Animate text by character, word or line with 15 effects.
- Transitions
Preview a transition, double-click to insert it and retime it to the cut.
- Scripts and expressions
Save scripts and expressions as one-click tools, or let your AI write them.
- Beat sync
Turn the kick, the bass or any frequency band into keyframes.
- Auto subtitles
Turn speech or lyrics into subtitle layers with a model on your computer.
- AI for After Effects
Ask Claude, ChatGPT or Codex to animate your comp with real keyframes.
Free for everybody during beta
Every feature unlocked while Flexile is in beta, the MCP server included. No card, no trial.
After Effects 2025 or newer. macOS and Windows.