Your AI assistant just learned After Effects

What it does

This is a Model Context Protocol server for After Effects, so an AI client can create compositions, add text/shape/solid/camera layers, set keyframes and expressions, tweak masks, and batch-modify layer properties. The plumbing is classic AE automation: a mcp-bridge-auto.jsx panel sits inside After Effects and polls for commands every few seconds, executing whatever the MCP server sends as ExtendScript.

The interesting bit

The architecture is refreshingly honest — no fancy socket layer, just a panel that checks for pending commands on a timer and runs them. There’s also a generic run-script tool, so anything the purpose-built tools can’t express, you can write as raw JS and fire into AE anyway.

Key highlights

• Full layer toolkit: text, shapes, solids, cameras, nulls, masks, track mattes, blend modes, 2D/3D toggling
• Animation support via keyframes, expressions, and batch property setting across layers
• run-script escape hatch for arbitrary ExtendScript
• Requires After Effects 2022+ and Node 14+

Caveats

• The bridge is poll-based, so commands land on a few-second delay rather than instantly
• Setup involves installing a panel into your AE installation — expect some platform-specific fiddling

Verdict

Motion designers who’d rather describe animations in prose than drag keyframes around will find this genuinely fun. If you don’t already live in After Effects, there’s nothing here for you.