--- title: "Photoshop MCP server: set up with Claude Code and Cursor" description: "Photoshop MCP (alisaitteke, MIT): connect Claude Code, Cursor or Claude Desktop to Adobe Photoshop, what the 128 tools do, and macOS and Windows fixes." url: https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/photoshop-mcp updated: 2026-11-13 --- # Photoshop MCP — guide skill for images & thumbnails > **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q="` returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page. From a terminal: `curl -fsSL https://varg.ai/install | sh` installs the vargai CLI (https://varg.ai/how-to/cli.md): `vargai search` and `vargai install ` with no key, every varg model after `vargai login`. Unofficial MIT MCP server: Claude, Cursor or its own chat drive your running Adobe Photoshop with 128 tools. - **Type:** [Guide](https://varg.ai/how-to/guides.md) · [Images & thumbnails](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/image.md) - **Slug:** `photoshop-mcp` - **Status:** live - **Publisher:** Ali Sait Teke (community) - **License:** MIT - **Source:** https://github.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp - **Works in:** Claude Code, Cursor, Any MCP client - **Requires:** Adobe Photoshop open on Windows or macOS (2012 or newer; Generative Fill, Remove and Expand need 24+), Node.js 18+, An Adobe account with generative credits for the Firefly tools - **Cost:** Free (MIT). Needs a Photoshop licence; Firefly tools spend your Adobe generative credits. Anonymous usage analytics are on by default (ANALYTICS_DISABLED=1 turns them off). - **Adoption:** 866 GitHub stars (GitHub, 2026-11-13) ## What it does Photoshop MCP by Ali Sait Teke (alisaitteke) is a community MCP server under MIT that connects Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop or its own browser chat window to Adobe Photoshop running on your Windows or macOS machine. It sends ExtendScript through AppleScript or Windows COM, so an agent can read the document state and use 128 tools (111 single operations and 17 recipes) for layers, selections, adjustments, type, batch jobs and exports, with recipes such as background removal, portrait retouch, carousel splits, web and social export and bulk watermarks landing as one undo step each. Generative Fill, Remove and Expand run through Photoshop's own Firefly on your Adobe account. It is not made or endorsed by Adobe. ## How to use Photoshop MCP, step by step 1. Open Photoshop (Windows or macOS) and install Node.js 18 or newer. 2. Claude Code: `claude mcp add photoshop -- npx -y @alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp`. Cursor, Claude Desktop and other clients: add `{"mcpServers":{"photoshop":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp"]}}}` to the MCP config, or use the Install in Cursor or VS Code button in the README. 3. Check the link: ask the agent to ping Photoshop and report its capabilities (`photoshop_ping`, `photoshop_get_capabilities`). The answer names the Photoshop version and which generative features this install has. 4. On macOS, if it reports `automation_permission_denied` (-1743), allow the app that runs the server (your terminal, Claude or Cursor) to control Adobe Photoshop in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation. 5. Ask for an outcome, for example "Remove the background from this portrait and keep it editable with a mask" or "Split this wide banner into a 5-slide Instagram carousel". Each recipe is one undo step. 6. No agent app? `npx -p @alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp ui` opens a local chat window in your browser; sign in with a provider API key or reuse a Claude Code or Gemini CLI login. 7. Photoshop in a non-default folder: set `PHOTOSHOP_PATH` in the server's env (the `.app` bundle on macOS, `Photoshop.exe` on Windows) and restart the server. ## How it reaches Photoshop Photoshop has no stable HTTP API for outside automation, so the server runs ExtendScript: through AppleScript on macOS and `cscript` with COM `DoJavaScript` on Windows. Everything stays on your machine. An optional UXP bridge panel inside Photoshop polls the server on 127.0.0.1:38452, but it only carries Neural Filters; every other tool uses the scripting path. ## Tools and recipes There are 128 tools: 111 single operations (documents, layers, selections, adjustments, filters, type and fonts, export, `photoshop_execute_script` for raw ExtendScript) and 17 recipes that each finish a job in one undo step, such as background removal with an editable mask, portrait enhancement, dodge and burn and frequency separation setups, web and social export variants, carousel splits, batch watermarks, passport photos, CSV-driven cards and mockups. Errors come back as structured JSON with a code and a suggested next tool, so the agent can recover on its own. The full list is `docs/available-tools.md`. ## Generative tools Generative Fill (needs a selection), Generative Remove and Generative Expand need Photoshop 24 or newer; Generative Upscale needs 27. Nothing is generated by the server: Photoshop sends the request to Adobe Firefly on your signed-in account and spends your generative credits. Ask for `photoshop_get_capabilities` before the first generative call. ## Timeouts Each script gets 30 seconds by default. Pass `timeout_ms` (up to 600000) to `photoshop_execute_script` or set `PHOTOSHOP_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT`; batch recipes already get 600 s and generative tools 120 s. A timeout does not stop a script already running in Photoshop, so ping until it answers before sending more. When even cheap reads time out, the scripting path itself is blocked, and on a nearly full system drive the same timeout means the scratch disk is full. ## The built-in chat window `npx -p @alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp ui` runs a local web chat with the same tools. Its Action Plan mode (beta) plans the whole edit in one model call, runs the tool calls in order without a model round-trip between steps, and repairs a failed step in a bounded loop. With `TYPESAFE_API_KEY` set it can route simple commands (undo, opacity, blend mode, remove background and others) straight to Photoshop without an LLM call; that routing is opt-in and sends prompts to api.typesafe.ai. ## Privacy Anonymous, aggregated usage analytics are on by default. Set `ANALYTICS_DISABLED=1` in the server env (or turn them off in the UI's Settings › Privacy), and `PSMCP_FEEDBACK=0` to stop the feedback question. ## Use when - Have Claude or Cursor edit open Photoshop documents: cut-outs, retouch, resize, export - Batch watermark, resize or export a folder of images for social - Run Photoshop's Generative Fill or Expand from an agent prompt - Split a wide design into a seamless Instagram carousel ## Not for - Working without a Photoshop licence: it drives your installed app - Cloud servers or sandboxes: Photoshop must run in your own desktop session - Linux ## Install - Claude Code: `claude mcp add photoshop -- npx -y @alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp` - Any agent, with the vargai CLI: `vargai install photoshop-mcp` ## Example output https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp/master/images/readme-hero-v2.png — README hero: plain-language requests turned into Photoshop actions (credit: Ali Sait Teke (README), https://github.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp) ## Photoshop MCP: questions and answers ### "Failed to connect to Photoshop" on a Mac with Photoshop 2026. Older versions addressed Photoshop by its app name, which fails for 2026 on some Macs. Since 1.7.38 the server targets the detected `.app` path; update, or set `PHOTOSHOP_PATH` to the full `.app` path ([#72](https://github.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp/issues/72)). Photoshop must already be running: ping never launches it. ### Every tool call ends in `extendscript_timeout`, though the MCP Bridge panel is polling. The panel only handles Neural Filters, so its status says nothing about the scripting path. On Windows with two Photoshop versions installed, COM may try to start the other one: run the version COM points to, usually the newest ([#57](https://github.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp/issues/57)). ### Windows: "The request to the Photoshop object was denied" with Photoshop 2026. The Windows script wrapper broke on Photoshop 2026; it was fixed in June 2026 and tested on 27.7. Update the package ([#8](https://github.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp/issues/8)). ### Generative Fill fails with " command is not currently available". The tool sent wrong event names. The fix was merged on 2026-11-11, after 1.7.38, so it arrives with the next npm release ([#108](https://github.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp/issues/108)). ### Photoshop Beta 28 on Windows fails with 0x80080005 CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE. That beta does not register its COM server, so it fails outside the MCP too; use a release build ([#80](https://github.com/alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp/issues/80)). ### Is this an official Adobe product? No. It is an unofficial community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe. ## Alternatives to Photoshop MCP - [PhotoCraft MCP (agent-driven photo editor)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/photocraft-mcp.md): No Photoshop licence: an open-source Photoshop-class editor with a built-in MCP server and real PSD files. - [Turn circles on a picture into exact edits](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-markup-edit.md): When the change needs a model: circle the spot and GPT Image 2.6 edits only that. - [Background Removal](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/inference-sh-background-removal.md): Only cut-outs: transparent PNGs with BiRefNet, no Photoshop needed. - [Color Grade AI](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/color-grade-ai.md): Grades a frame and writes .cube LUTs for video editors. - [GPT Image 2.6 skills for Claude Code and AI agents](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-2-6.md): Generate the image in the first place, with readable text, before editing it. _Guide written by varg from the Ali Sait Teke source, checked 2026-11-13._ ## More images & thumbnails skills - [GPT Image 2.6 skills for Claude Code and AI agents](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-2-6.md): Prompt, size and price GPT Image 2.6: Flare vs Sunburst, what the API rejects, recipes for posters and sheets. - [Turn circles on a picture into exact edits](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-markup-edit.md): Circle what to change, name each colour, and GPT Image 2.6 edits only the marked spots. Script draws the marks. - [Turn a photo into an animated sticker pack](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-sticker-pack.md): A photo to an animated sticker pack on GPT Image 2.6, exported for Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat and more. - [Turn a selfie into a woke profile with GPT Image 2.6](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/make-a-woke-profile-with-chatgpt.md): One selfie to 11 woke AI versions of you, 4 GIFs and a 4:5 X collage. ~$0.78 on varg, or paste the prompts in ChatGPT. - [Higgsfield YouTube Thumbnail](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/higgsfield-youtube-thumbnail.md): Design truthful, high-CTR YouTube thumbnails and vertical covers with up to three consistent faces. - [Slack GIF Creator](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/anthropic-slack-gif-creator.md): Make animated GIFs that pass Slack's limits: 128×128 emoji or 480×480 message GIFs, validated on export.