InDesign MCP

An open bridge between Adobe InDesign and AI.

The future of AI is humans using the UI they like, and AI using a UI that works for it. The two aren't mutually exclusive. InDesign is where layout happens, this MCP lets AI handle the repetitive work so I can focus on design. Free and open source.

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InDesign MCP connects your running instance of Adobe InDesign to Claude Code, or any AI tool that speaks the Model Context Protocol. No plugins. No extensions. No restarts. If InDesign is open, your AI can use it.

What it does

Your AI gets direct access to InDesign's full layout engine -- pages, text frames, image placement, typography, paragraph and character styles, find/change, PDF export, and everything in between. 33 tools that map to the operations you'd normally do by hand.

It can also look at your work. The preview and screenshot tools let the AI see your actual layout, not just read coordinates. You describe what's wrong, it sees the problem, it fixes the frames.

How it works

There's no InDesign plugin to install. The bridge talks to InDesign through the same scripting interface that's been built into every version for decades -- ExtendScript, delivered via AppleScript on macOS and COM automation on Windows. Your AI writes the script, the bridge delivers it, InDesign executes it.

The server runs locally over stdio using the Model Context Protocol. Claude Code picks it up automatically. Any other MCP-compatible client will too.

Setup

bun install

Claude Code

claude mcp add -s user indesign-bridge bun run /path/to/src/server.ts

OpenClaw

openclaw mcp set indesign-bridge '{"command":"bun","args":["run","/path/to/src/server.ts"]}'

Any MCP client

Add this to your client's MCP config:

{
  "indesign-bridge": {
    "command": "bun",
    "args": ["run", "/path/to/src/server.ts"]
  }
}

Start a new session. Open InDesign. Go.

Tools

Document -- create, save, close, inspect documents. List and manage layers.

Pages -- list pages, add pages, delete pages, navigate to a page, apply master spreads.

Frames -- text frames, rectangles, ellipses, lines, image placement. All with optional naming so you can reference items later. List all frames on a page.

Text & Typography -- set text content, format with font/size/leading/tracking/color, apply paragraph and character styles, find and replace text across the document.

Appearance -- fill, stroke, opacity, transform (move, scale, rotate). Apply to named frames or the current selection.

Export -- PDF with presets (High Quality Print, Smallest File Size, Press Quality), JPG, PNG, EPUB. Visual preview of the current page. Screenshot the full InDesign window so the AI can see exactly what you see.

Escape hatch -- id_run_script accepts raw ExtendScript for anything the dedicated tools don't cover. The full InDesign DOM is available.

Coordinates

InDesign uses geometricBounds in [top, left, bottom, right] order. All tools accept user-friendly (x, y, width, height) parameters and handle the conversion internally. Units depend on your document settings (points, inches, millimeters, etc.).

Requirements

• Adobe InDesign (any CC version)
• Bun
• macOS or Windows
• On macOS, the terminal needs screen recording permission for the screenshot tool