Installer · launch commands · environment

CLI & configuration

One command, creative-mcp, installs the servers, registers them with your MCP clients and keeps them healthy. The servers themselves are MCP processes your client launches, not command-line utilities.

The creative-mcp installer

Install it with Homebrew, then let it find your apps and clients:

brew tap zachshallbetter/tap
brew trust zachshallbetter/tap
brew install zachshallbetter/tap/creative-mcp
creative-mcp setup

Nothing to drag into an app or copy into a config file: setup shows its plan, asks once, installs, registers and checks. It ends by telling you which clients to restart and a few requests to try. Run it again at any time; when everything is in place it says so and changes nothing.

Command	What it does
`creative-mcp setup`	Detects your creative apps and MCP clients, suggests the matching tools, installs them and registers only what is missing or out of date.
`creative-mcp doctor`	Checks every server answers, asks each running app whether it is reachable (it never starts an app), runs the Blender add-on check and shows which clients have which servers. Every problem ends with the command that fixes it.
`creative-mcp update`	Runs `brew update`, upgrades the installed tools and creative-mcp itself, reinstalls the Blender add-on and fixes registrations that point at an old command.
`creative-mcp add blender`	Sets up named tools even when no matching app was detected.
`creative-mcp remove blender`	Removes the tool from every client, then uninstalls it. Add `--no-install` to keep it installed.
`creative-mcp detect`, `list`	What was found on this machine; every tool in the catalogue and whether it is installed.

Options: --dry-run prints the plan and changes nothing; --yes accepts the suggestions without prompting; --tools adobe,blender and --clients claude-code,codex,cursor narrow the choice; --no-install only registers; --json gives machine-readable output for detect, list and doctor.

How it registers servers

Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI: through their own mcp add commands at user scope. When claude isn't on your PATH, it uses the Claude Code CLI that ships with Claude Desktop.
Claude Desktop, Cursor: by adding mcpServers entries to their JSON config. The file is backed up once before the first change, and every other setting is kept.
Anything else: it prints the exact entry to add.

Detection reads app bundles, PATH and client config files on your machine and sends nothing anywhere. Status: Implemented and tested (v0.2.3). fully supported on macOS. Source and changes: creative-mcp/cli.

Install and launch a server by hand

One published app server

claude mcp add illustrator -- npx -y adobe-mcp-illustrator

Substitute the desired package name. For another MCP client, configure the command and arguments instead of running it as a one-shot shell command.

Suite coordinator

claude mcp add adobe -- npx -y adobe-mcp-suite

Optional global install is documented for the suite package:

npm install -g adobe-mcp-suite

Homebrew

The Creative MCP tap installs the Suite coordinator and links every app server, including the InDesign UXP bridge, onto your PATH. Homebrew 7 and later asks you to trust a third-party tap once.

brew tap zachshallbetter/tap
brew trust zachshallbetter/tap
brew install zachshallbetter/tap/adobe-mcp

Installed commands: adobe-mcp-suite, adobe-mcp-indesign, adobe-mcp-indesign-uxp-bridge, adobe-mcp-illustrator, adobe-mcp-photoshop, adobe-mcp-premiere and adobe-mcp-aftereffects. Point your client at the command name instead of npx.

Suite app selection

The coordinator accepts --apps ids, --apps=ids, or ADOBE_MCP_APPS. If none is supplied, it loads InDesign and Illustrator, the current workflow dependencies. Use all to load all five app servers.

npx -y adobe-mcp-suite --apps indesign,illustrator
npx -y adobe-mcp-suite --apps=photoshop,aftereffects
ADOBE_MCP_APPS=premiere npx -y adobe-mcp-suite
npx -y adobe-mcp-suite --apps all

Valid IDs: indesign, illustrator, photoshop, aftereffects, premiere. Unknown IDs fail startup. Loading an app does not add coordinator workflows for it.

Run from a source checkout

git clone https://github.com/zachshallbetter/adobe-mcp.git
cd adobe-mcp
npm install

# Suite coordinator
node packages/suite/src/index.js --apps indesign,illustrator

# Standalone MCP server
node packages/illustrator/src/index.js

These entrypoints stay open and speak MCP over stdio, so a client should launch them. The repository’s root scripts are for development checks, not a separate product CLI:

npm run check
npm test

No generic CLI command surface

For the app servers, the documented interface is the MCP protocol, not shell flags like --help, status or export. To inspect tools, connect the server and use tools/list or the server’s MCP help tool. To smoke-check startup, use an MCP client or send MCP initialization and tool-list requests over stdio; tests use stubs and do not require Adobe apps.

Configuration variables

Variable	Scope	Use
`ADOBE_MCP_APPS`	Suite	Comma-separated app IDs; suite-only.
`*_ALLOWED_DIRS`	App-specific	Additional file directories. Use colon-separated paths on macOS and semicolons on Windows.
`*_APP_NAME`	Where package supports it	Select or identify the local Adobe app; see that package guide.
`*_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT_MS`	App-specific	Script/operation wait limit; defaults vary by package.
`_BACKEND`, `_TARGET`	Supported packages only	Select documented backend or compatible local ArtCraft target.
`PREMIERE_WS_PORT`	Premiere	Loopback bridge port; configure the same value in the plugin panel.
`BRIDGE_TOKEN`, `PREMIERE_BRIDGE_TOKEN`	Premiere	Optional shared secret for local bridge authentication; keep private.

These patterns are not universal aliases: check the app README for exact accepted names, defaults, precedence and whether the Suite coordinator forwards them. Configure variables inside the MCP client’s server entry and restart the process after changes.