Illustrator MCP Server

Create a rectangle. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Create a text frame. Positioning differs by kind: for point text (x, y) is the text ANCHOR — y is the BASELINE of the first line (glyphs extend above it), and x is the left edge, center, or right edge depending on justification (so right-aligned text only needs justification: "right" with x at the right edge). For area text (x, y) is the top-left of the text area. verified.bounds always reports the resulting bounding box (top-left, width, height) — that box is what modify_object position moves. If font_name is not found, nothing is created and an error with font_candidates is returned. Note: I…

Delete one or more objects by UUID (get UUIDs from find_objects / get_layers / get_selection). Locked objects are skipped unless force_unlock is true. success is false if any UUID was not found or could not be deleted (see notFound / errors). The undo tool may revert it, but undo steps are Illustrator history steps, not tied to MCP calls. To delete a whole layer use manage_layers instead. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Duplicate one or more objects, optionally offsetting the copies. Copies (and their group/compound-path children) get new UUIDs; notes/memos are kept (objects whose note cannot be rewritten keep the source UUID and are listed in warnings). Missing UUIDs are listed in notFound and per-item failures in failed (success is then false, but copies that were made are still returned). Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Export objects, groups, artboards, or selection. Use target "artboard:all" to batch-export every artboard in one call. For single PNG/JPG exports, the exported image is returned as base64 in the response — you can view it directly without reading the file from disk ("artboard:all" returns file paths only; images larger than ~3.75MB are not inlined). An explicit output_path that already exists is not overwritten unless overwrite is true.

Export print-ready PDF. Japanese trim marks (marks_style "japanese" + trim_marks) are drawn temporarily on the document and removed after export; they are only supported for single-artboard documents (multi-artboard documents return an error). When a preset is given, trim mark settings you do not specify are kept from the preset. An explicit output_path that already exists is not overwritten unless overwrite is true. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) only when generating Japanese trim marks. The exported PDF should be verified by a human before final submission.

Extract colors, typography, and spacing from the document as design tokens in CSS custom properties, JSON, or Tailwind format. Optionally writes the result to output_path (never overwrites an existing file unless overwrite: true).

Search for objects by specified criteria

Get all artboard information

Get all color information used in the document. usedFillColors / usedStrokeColors list each distinct color once with a count of how many paths and text ranges use it (most used first).

Get document metadata

Get tree structure of layers, groups, and objects

Get effect and appearance information

Get structure of groups, clipping masks, and compound paths. Children of a clipping-mask group mark the mask path with clipping: true. When depth cuts the tree off, the item has childrenTruncated: true and childCount (children is empty only because of the depth limit).

Get guide information

Get embedded and linked image information: file path, broken-link status (linkBroken: file missing on disk), pixel size, and effective resolution (ppi at the placed size; rotation-safe).

Get layer structure as a tree

Get overprint settings of paths (incl. compound paths), text (per character) and raster images, each with a heuristic label (K100 / rich black / spot / likely accidental) inferred from colors only. The result includes the scan scope; placed files, symbols and meshes are not inspected.

Get path and shape data, including paths inside groups and compound paths (clipping: true marks a clipping-mask path). Note: fill/stroke do not include per-attribute opacity; use the item-level opacity field for transparency.

Get detailed information about the currently selected objects. While editing text (text cursor or selected characters), the containing text frame is returned with a textSelection field (selected contents, length, start; insertionPoint: true for a bare cursor).

Get color separation info: process and spot plates actually used by the artwork (paths, gradients, text, rasters) with usage counts, inks with no detected usage, global process colors, and Illustrator's document ink list. The result includes the scan scope; placed files, patterns and symbols are not inspected.

Get symbol definitions and instances

Get detailed text frame attributes including per-character runs (font, tracking, akiLeft/akiRight, tsume, proportionalMetrics), kerning pairs with manual kerning values (1/1000 em), paragraph attributes (leading, autoLeading, paragraph style), orientation (horizontal/vertical) and threaded-frame links (nextFrameUUID/previousFrameUUID). Returns cssHints for web/CSS reproduction.

Group multiple objects into a single group. The first UUID in the array becomes the bottommost item, the last becomes the topmost. If any UUID is not found, nothing is grouped and the missing UUIDs are returned in notFound. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Import an SVG file into the active document as editable Illustrator paths/text/groups (NOT as a linked image). Internally opens the SVG as a temporary document, duplicates its contents into the target document, then closes the source. Use this instead of place_image for SVG. Colors are NOT converted: importing into a CMYK document keeps the SVG's RGB colors, and the result then includes a warning with the count (fix with replace_color). Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution. Font caveat: Illustrator does not fall back per glyph across a font-family list. …

List fonts available in Illustrator. Does not require an open document.

List all graphic styles in the active document.

List text frames with summary-level information (including orientation and threaded-frame links nextFrameUUID/previousFrameUUID). Supports reading-order sort, pagination, and a lightweight contents-only mode. layer_name includes text inside groups and sublayers of that layer.

List all character and paragraph styles in the active document.

Add, remove, resize, rename, fit, or rearrange artboards. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

List variables/datasets, apply or create datasets, bind variables to objects, import/export variable XML, or generate artboards from CSV. import (XML) replaces ALL existing variables and datasets in the document. import_csv does not create variables or datasets: it copies the objects on artboard 0 (left unchanged as the template) onto one new artboard per CSV row, placed to the right of existing artboards, and sets the text of copied text frames whose name matches a CSV header. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Add, rename, show/hide, lock/unlock, reorder, or delete top-level layers by name. If several layers share a name, rename/show/hide/lock/unlock/reorder act on the topmost one with a warning, and delete is refused.

Relink or embed a placed (linked) image. embed converts PlacedItem to RasterItem — the original UUID becomes invalid and a new UUID for the RasterItem is returned. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Add, update, or delete swatches in the active document. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Modify properties of an existing object. fill/stroke on a group or compound path are applied to every path and text frame inside it (like Illustrator's UI; clipping paths and guides are skipped) and the result reports how many were changed (painted) and the colors they actually have (verified.descendantFills). success is false if any of them could not be painted. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Move one or more objects to a different layer. Objects that are found are moved; missing UUIDs are listed in notFound and per-object failures in errors (success is false if either is non-empty). Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Open an Illustrator document from a file path. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Extract all unique colors used in the document (path fills/strokes including inside groups and compound paths, text colors, gradient stop colors; spot colors per tint) and place color chip swatches with labels outside the artboard. Pattern fills cannot be shown as chips and are counted in skippedColors. Items already on the chip layer are ignored.

Place a raster or PDF image file (PNG, JPG, TIFF, PSD, PDF, etc.) into the document as a linked or embedded image. SVG is NOT supported here because PlacedItems produces a non-editable linked artwork — use import_svg_as_editable instead to bring SVG content in as editable paths/text. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Place a visual style guide next to the artboard: color chips (path, text and gradient stop colors), font samples, and legends of recurring spacings, artboard margins and guide gaps. Everything goes on a NON-PRINTING layer (created with Print off; if layer_name already exists its print setting is kept and a warning is returned). By default nothing is drawn on the artboard itself; set annotate_artboard=true to also draw semi-transparent measurement bars and numbers ON the artboard (same non-printing layer, but visible on screen and possibly in screen/image exports).

Place a new symbol instance or replace the symbol definition of an existing instance. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Description is built at runtime.

Find and replace fill/stroke colors of paths and text characters across the document or within a specific layer. replacedCount counts replaced path fills/strokes; textFramesChanged counts text frames in which at least one character color was replaced (text strokes with weight 0 are ignored). Every replacement is read back; matches that could not be replaced (e.g. locked) are listed in failed and make success false. A layer scope includes groups and sublayers inside it. from_color must be cmyk or rgb and matches only objects whose current color is stored in that same color type (check with get_…

Create size variations from a source artboard. Duplicates all objects and scales/repositions them proportionally to fit target sizes. New artboards are placed to the right of all existing artboards; copies get new UUIDs. Limitations: no text reflow, effects/strokes scale with objects but may need manual adjustment, proportional placement only (not smart layout).

Save the active Illustrator document. save_as refuses to replace an existing file unless overwrite is true. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Select objects by UUID. Pass an empty array to deselect all. Selected objects can then be manipulated interactively in Illustrator.

Set which Illustrator version to target when multiple versions are installed. Specify a version year (e.g. "2024", "2025"). If Illustrator is already running, connects to the running instance regardless of version. If not running, launches the specified version. Use clear: true to reset to default behavior (connect to any running Illustrator).

Set the session-level workflow and default coordinate system. Call this after confirming the user's intent (web, print, or video). Once set, all tools that omit coordinate_system will use the session default. Use clear: true to reset to auto-detection from document (CMYK/print → document coords, RGB/web → artboard-web).

Change the stacking order of an object. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Undo or redo steps in Illustrator's history. Steps are Illustrator history entries, not MCP tool calls (one tool call may create several steps). Returns count = steps actually performed; if a step fails, the result is an error that still reports how many were performed. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.

Ungroup a group, releasing its children to the parent layer. Note: Illustrator will be activated (brought to foreground) during execution.