Photoshop MCP Server

Blend two source channels into a new alpha channel (Image > Calculations): each source is a layer (or merged) and channel, from this or another open document of the same pixel size, optionally inverted; with a blending mode and opacity

Convert the image to another colour mode (Image > Mode): RGB, CMYK, Grayscale, Lab, Bitmap, Indexed Color or Multichannel, and/or another bit depth. Indexed Color takes the palette, colours, forced colours, transparency, matte and dither of its dialog; Bitmap (from Grayscale) takes the method, output resolution and halftone screen. Returns the document with its mode. Converting can flatten or discard information

Copy, copy merged, cut or clear the selection on the active layer, or paste as a new layer: paste, paste_into the selection, paste_in_place (Edit > Paste Special > Paste in Place: at the copied pixels' original position) or paste_outside the selection (Paste Outside: the selection is masked out)

Close the active document. Unsaved changes are discarded unless save is true

Close every open document (File > Close All). Unsaved changes are discarded unless save is true; with save, documents that have never been saved are refused before anything closes

Combine image files into a new document with one of Photoshop's multi-file commands, without its dialog: stack (File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack), photomerge (File > Automate > Photomerge panorama), hdr (File > Automate > Merge to HDR Pro, with its last-used settings) or statistics (File > Scripts > Statistics stack mode). Large merges can outlast the script timeout

Turn the background layer into a normal layer that can move and hold transparency, or make a layer the background

Convert the image to another colour profile (Edit > Convert to Profile) with a rendering intent, black point compensation and dither

Bundle layers into one embedded smart object (Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object), or convert a layer so filters applied to it stay editable as Smart Filters (Filter > Convert for Smart Filters)

Convert type layers (Type menu): to paragraph or point type, to a shape layer (Convert to Shape), to a work path (Create Work Path, which replaces the current work path), or to a selection shaped like the text, as the Type Mask tools make

Copy CSS for shape and type layers (size, position, colours, gradients, shadows, type settings), or SVG markup for a shape layer, to the clipboard (Layers panel context menu: Copy CSS, Copy SVG)

Copy one layer's style to other layers (Layer > Layer Style > Copy Layer Style, then Paste Layer Style, which replaces their styles), or copy only some effects, added to their own styles as Option/Alt-dragging an effect does

Description is built at runtime.

Create an artboard: new at a position and size (Layer > New > Artboard), from layers (Artboard from Layers), from a group (Artboard from Group), or a new document of type Artboard (File > New). The steps in the document form one history state

Add an alpha channel (Channels panel > New Channel) whose colour shows masked or selected areas, or a spot colour channel (New Spot Channel) with its ink colour and solidity; optionally filled from the selection (Save Selection as Channel)

Create a document (File > New, Preset Details) with a size in pixels, resolution, colour mode, bit depth, background fill, pixel aspect ratio and optional colour profile, optionally as an artboard document

Save an action as a droplet: an application that plays the action on files dropped onto it, with Batch's open, save and naming options (File > Automate > Create Droplet)

Description is built at runtime.

Put layers inside a frame (Add Frame to Layers) or turn a group into a frame (Add Frame To Layer Group); the frame clips its contents to its shape

Add a new empty pixel layer or a group above the active layer, or inside a group

Add a type layer: point type at a position, or paragraph type in a box (width and height), with its font, size, colour and formatting. Line breaks in text start new paragraphs

Create a video timeline or a frame animation for the document, or convert between the two (Timeline panel: Create Video Timeline, Create Frame Animation, Convert to Frame Animation, Convert to Video Timeline)

Crop the image to a rectangle (Image > Crop, or the Crop tool), optionally rotating the crop and resampling the result to a size. Bounds reaching outside the canvas extend it, as dragging the Crop tool past the edge does

Save the selection, an area or the whole image as a pattern (Edit > Define Pattern), for pattern fill layers and fills. The area must be a plain rectangle; without one, the selection is used, or the whole image when nothing is selected

Delete layers or groups (with everything inside them)

Draw a classic gradient on the active layer, inside the selection if there is one, from one point to another (Gradient tool in Classic gradient mode): linear, radial, angle, reflected or diamond, with colour and opacity stops, reverse, dither, transparency and interpolation. Without colours it runs from the foreground to the background colour

Draw with the shape and pen tools: rectangles (with rounded corners), ellipses, triangles, polygons, stars, lines, custom shape presets and pen points, combined with path operations. Mode shape makes a shape layer filled with a colour; path adds a path to the Paths panel; pixels fills the shape on the active layer

Duplicate the active document (Image > Duplicate), optionally merged into one layer

Duplicate layers or groups (Layer > Duplicate Layer), placed above each original, optionally renamed

Change the Actions panel: create an empty set, delete a set, an action or one of its steps, clear every set, reset to Default Actions, load an .atn file or one of Photoshop's bundled sets, or save a set as an .atn file (Actions panel menu)

Description is built at runtime.

Change artboards: set name, position, size, background colour and auto-nesting (Properties panel), duplicate one, ungroup them back to layers (Layer > Ungroup Artboards), clear their guides (View > Guides > Clear Selected Artboard Guides), add guides from a shape (New Artboard Guides From Shape), or pick the Artboard or Frame tool

Description is built at runtime.

Edit a frame animation (Timeline panel in frame mode): new, delete, copy, paste, reverse or tween frames, select a frame, make frames from layers, flatten frames into layers, match a layer across frames, delete the animation, and the New Layers options. Tween and Paste Frames use the dialog's last settings

Change the history: revert to the last save (File > Revert), delete a state or snapshot, clear the history, make a new document from a state, set the history brush source or pick the History Brush tool (History panel), or purge every document's history (Edit > Purge > Histories). Clearing and purging cannot be undone

Work with layer masks (Layer > Layer Mask and the Layers panel): add a mask (Reveal All, Hide All, Reveal Selection or Hide Selection), apply it to the pixels, delete it, disable or enable it, link or unlink it from the layer, invert it, target the mask or the layer content for editing, load the mask as a selection, or copy or move it to another layer

Edit a path's anchor points, as the Add Anchor Point, Delete Anchor Point, Convert Point and Direct Selection tools do: add a point (splitting a segment in half without changing its shape, or at a position), delete one, move a point or its direction handles, convert it between smooth and corner, or change a component's path operation. The path is rebuilt under its name; a work path becomes a saved path

Work with guides in the active document (View > Guides): add guides at pixel positions, lay out columns, rows and margins (New Guide Layout), make guides from the selected shape layer (New Guides From Shape), clear all guides or only canvas guides, or clear slices (View > Clear Slices). Returns the guides afterwards

Smart object commands (Layer > Smart Objects): New Smart Object via Copy, Edit Contents (opens the source as the active document; save and close it to update the layer), Replace Contents, Export Contents, Relink to File (also resolves a broken link), Update Modified Content, Update All Modified Content, Embed Linked, Embed All Linked, Convert to Linked, Reset Transform, Convert to Layers, and choosing which layer comp of the placed document shows (Properties panel)

Work with vector masks (Layer > Vector Mask): make one from a path (Current Path), disable or enable it, or delete it. Rasterize a vector mask with rasterize_layers

Run your own ExtendScript in Photoshop and return its last expression. It runs unrestricted: it can change or delete anything and read or write files. Prefer the specific tools

Save each artboard as its own file, cropped to the artboard with its background, as PNG, JPEG, PSD, TIFF or PDF (File > Export > Artboards to Files), or all of them as one multi-page PDF (Artboards to PDF). The document is not changed

Export the document as one PNG, PNG-8, JPEG or GIF file (Save for Web), optionally resized. Works on a temporary copy, so the document is unchanged

Export layer comps, each to its own file (File > Export > Layer Comps to Files) or as the pages of one PDF (Layer Comps to PDF). The document is returned to its state before the export

Export each top-level layer or group (or the ones chosen) to its own file, named <prefix><layer name>.<ext>, by showing one at a time on a temporary copy (File > Export > Layers to Files)

Export paths as an Adobe Illustrator file (File > Export > Paths to Illustrator): all paths, one named path, or just the document bounds

Fade the filter, adjustment or paint stroke just applied: blend it with what was there before at an opacity and blend mode (Edit > Fade). Only works directly after that edit

Fill (Paint Bucket tool) or erase (Magic Eraser tool) the area of similar colour around a point on the active layer, within the selection if there is one. Erasing on the Background layer turns it into an ordinary layer, as the Magic Eraser does

Fill the selection (or the whole layer when nothing is selected) on the active layer with the foreground or background colour, black, 50% gray, white, a pattern, a History state, or Content-Aware fill (Edit > Fill). A pattern fill can run one of the scripted patterns Photoshop ships (Edit > Fill > Pattern > Script: Brick Fill, Cross Weave, Place Along Path, Random Fill, Symmetry Fill) with its settings given here instead of in its dialog. Content-Aware needs a selection and fills it directly, without the Content-Aware Fill workspace. For a specific colour use fill_selection

Fill the area inside a path on the active layer with a colour (Paths panel > Fill Path), with blend mode, opacity, feather and anti-aliasing. Give a path from the Paths panel or points for a temporary one

Fill the selection on the active layer with a colour (Edit > Fill), with a blend mode, opacity and optionally preserving transparency

Fill type with an image: move an image layer directly above a type layer and clip it to the type (Layer > Create Clipping Mask), so the image shows only through the letters

Find and replace text in type layers (Edit > Find and Replace Text), keeping each layer's formatting. Searches every visible, unlocked type layer, or one layer. Line breaks in the replacement start new paragraphs

Flatten every layer into a background layer (Layer > Flatten Image), or merge only the visible layers (Merge Visible)

Generate Image (Edit > Generate Image): create an image from a text prompt as a new layer filling the active document. Needs Photoshop signed in to an Adobe account and an internet connection; uses generative credits

Set up Generator image assets (File > Generate > Image Assets): name layers with asset specs such as "icon.png", "200% hero@2x.png24" or "50x50 thumb.jpg80%" so Generator writes them to a folder next to the PSD, set the document-wide defaults layer ("default 200% @2x/"), and turn Image Assets on or off for the document

Generative Fill (Edit > Generative Fill) inside the current selection: generate content from a prompt, or with an empty prompt remove what is selected and fill from the surroundings. Results go to a new Generative Layer. Needs a selection, Photoshop signed in to an Adobe account and an internet connection; uses generative credits

List the active document's artboards with id, name, position and size in pixels, layer count and background (Artboard properties in the Properties panel)

Describe the active document: size in pixels, resolution, mode, bit depth, colour profile, layer count, active layer, channels, guides, selection bounds and history

Read the active document's File Info metadata: title, author, description, keywords, copyright, IPTC origin, categories, the camera data (Exif), and optionally the raw XMP packet

Read the histogram (Histogram panel) of the composite image or of one channel: the pixel count at each of the 256 levels, with the total, mean and median

Describe layers' styles: whether effects are shown, and each effect and instance with whether it is on and, with detail, all its settings

Describe the running Photoshop (About Photoshop, System Info): version, build, locale, free memory, the preferences folder, the file types it opens, the script dialog mode, and optionally the full System Info report or whether named features are enabled

Read Photoshop's preferences (Photoshop > Settings, or Edit > Preferences on Windows) that scripts can reach: general, interface, file handling, performance, cursors, transparency, units and rulers, guides and grid, plug-ins, type, and the script dialog mode

Read the active document's print settings (File > Print): the printer and the printers available, copies, colour handling, print space, rendering intent, position and scale, printing marks, functions and PostScript options

Describe smart object layers: whether they are linked or embedded, their source file, the layer comps of the placed document and which one shows, and their Smart Filters in order with whether each is on

Describe the document's timeline (Timeline panel): frame rate, playhead time, duration and work area when Photoshop reports them, the frame count in frame animation mode, and the video layers

Open Adobe Bridge (File > Browse in Bridge), or close the active document and switch to Bridge (File > Close and Go to Bridge). Needs Bridge installed

Put layers into a new group (Layer > Group Layers), placed where the first of them was; they keep the order given

Harmonize a layer with the image beneath it (the Properties panel's Harmonize): match its light, colour and shadows to the background. Results go to a new layer. Needs Photoshop signed in to an Adobe account and an internet connection; uses generative credits

List the tools by area, or describe one tool's parameters

Import a video file's frames as layers of a new document, optionally as a frame animation (File > Import > Video Frames to Layers)

Work with layer comps (Layer Comps panel): list, create, apply, update (recapture) or delete one; apply the previous or next comp; change a comp's options (Layer Comp Options); duplicate a comp; go back to the Last Document State; or clear a comp's warning (Clear Layer Comp Warning; every comp when no name is given)

Link layers together so they move and transform as one, or unlink them

List the Actions panel's action sets and the actions in each, optionally with each action's recorded steps (Window > Actions)

List the Channels panel: each channel's name, kind (component, alpha masked or selected areas, spot colour), visibility, opacity or spot solidity, colour, and whether it is targeted

List open documents with their size in pixels, resolution, colour mode, bit depth, file and whether they have unsaved changes

List installed fonts with their PostScript name, family and style, filtered by a search string

List the History panel's states and snapshots, and which one is current

List the layers and groups, top to bottom, with id, name, kind (pixel, text, smart object, adjustment, shape...), visibility, opacity, blend mode, lock, bounds in pixels and parent group. Ids are what other tools take in target.ids

List the Paths panel: each path's index, name and kind (saved path, work path, clipping path, vector or type mask) and its number of components; optionally every component's anchor points and direction handles, in pixels

Apply locks to layers, optionally to every layer inside the target groups (Layer > Lock Layers, Lock All Layers in Group). Locks not listed are turned off; an empty list unlocks

Combine image files into one multi-page PDF or a full-screen PDF slideshow (File > Automate > PDF Presentation), in the order given (a file may repeat), optionally adding the open documents, with slideshow timing, looping and transitions, file names on the pages, and Photoshop PDF save options

Save the current state as a History snapshot, so it can be returned to later

Brush presets and files (Brushes panel and its menu): load a brush file (.abr) as the current tool's brush (Import Brushes), save the current tool's brush to a file (Export Selected Brushes), define a preset from the selection, or the whole image when nothing is selected (Edit > Define Brush Preset), save the current brush and its settings as a new preset (New Brush Preset), rename or delete a preset, or restore the default brushes (Reset Brushes), replacing the current set or appending to it

Target channels for editing (clicking them in the Channels panel), duplicate a channel (into this or another open document), delete alpha or spot channels, or merge spot channels into the colour channels (Merge Spot Channel, which flattens the image)

List, add, remove or clear the Count tool's numbered markers (count items) in the document. Positions are pixels from the top-left corner; indexes start at 0

Work with variable data sets on the active document: import them from a text file (File > Import > Variable Data Sets), apply one (Image > Apply Data Set), or save a PSD per data set into a folder (File > Export > Data Sets as Files). Variables themselves are defined in Image > Variables > Define

Work with notes (non-printing annotations): import the notes from a PDF or FDF file into the active document (File > Import > Notes), delete all of its notes (Note tool: Clear All), choose the Note tool, or show or hide the Notes panel (Window > Notes). Writing a note's text is done by hand with the Note tool

Layer style commands (Layer > Layer Style): Clear Layer Style, Rasterize Layer Style (bake the effects into pixels), Scale Effects by a percentage, or hide or show all of a layer's effects

Work with the Measurement Log panel (Window > Measurement Log): export all or the selected measurements to a tab-delimited text file, delete them, select or deselect all rows, toggle Auto Display Panel, or show or hide the panel

Paths panel commands: rename, duplicate or delete a path; select or deselect it (Path Selection); load it as a selection (Make Selection); make a work path from the selection (Make Work Path); make it the clipping path; fill or stroke it on the active layer; save it as a custom shape preset (Edit > Define Custom Shape); or show/hide the Paths panel

List the files in File > Open Recent, open one of them by its index, or clear the list (Clear Recent File List)

List, add or remove the scripts and actions Photoshop runs when an event happens, and turn them on or off (File > Scripts > Script Events Manager)

Store, read or erase named values that persist in Photoshop between sessions (Application.putCustomOptions, getCustomOptions and eraseCustomOptions), for keeping settings across calls

Use the Styles panel: apply a loaded style preset to layers by name (replacing their styles), load a style library (.asl) into the panel, or save the panel's styles as a library (Styles panel menu: Load Styles, Save Styles)

Make a layer's mask from a colour range (Properties panel, masks: Color Range): a sampled colour with a fuzziness, or a preset range such as reds, highlights or skin tones. Replaces the layer's existing mask

Combine open grayscale documents of the same pixel size into one image (Channels panel > Merge Channels): three into RGB or Lab, four into CMYK, or two or more into Multichannel, in channel order (e.g. red, green, blue)

Merge a layer into the one below (Merge Down), or merge a group into one layer (Merge Group)

Modify the selection (Select > Modify): expand, contract, feather, smooth or border by pixels; grow or select similar colours by tolerance

Make a new layer from existing pixels (Layer > New): Layer via Copy copies the selected pixels (or the whole layer when nothing is selected) to a new layer; Layer via Cut moves the selected pixels to a new layer; Stamp Visible merges a copy of every visible layer into a new layer above the target and keeps the originals

Open a file (File > Open, Open As): PSD, PSB, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, PDF, EPS, DCS, camera raw and DNG, HEIF, WebP, AVIF, JPEG XL, JPEG 2000, OpenEXR, Radiance, Cineon, DICOM, IFF, PCX, PICT, Pixar, PBM, Scitex CT, Targa, WBMP, Photoshop 2.0, Photoshop Raw, video and audio (as video layers), or a .psdt template (which opens as a new untitled document). openAs reads the file as PDF, EPS, Photoshop Raw or DICOM with that format's options, also when the extension does not match the contents

Open a camera raw file through Camera Raw without its dialog, with the camera's defaults, the settings last used, or custom Basic, Detail, Lens and Calibration values and Workflow Options (colour space, bit depth, size, resolution). These are the object model's older Camera Raw controls

Check that Photoshop is reachable: platform, how the server addresses Photoshop, whether it is running, its version and open documents. Use this first when a call fails to connect

Work with a colour the way the Color Picker and Color panel do: give a colour in any model (or read the current foreground or background colour) and get its HSB, RGB, Lab, CMYK, grayscale and hex values, whether it is web-safe and the nearest web-safe colour (Only Web Colors); optionally snap it to web-safe and make it the foreground or background colour

Place an image, PDF, vector or other file in the active document as a smart object (File > Place Embedded), or as a smart object linked to the file (File > Place Linked), positioned, scaled and rotated

Play an action from the Actions panel by its name and set. Dialogs in the action stay closed and use their recorded settings

Print the active document with its print settings and no Print dialog (File > Print), or print one copy with the current settings (File > Print One Copy). Set the printer and options first with set_print_options

Run a command on every layer of the document: Delete Hidden Layers (Layers panel menu) or Rasterize All Layers (Layer > Rasterize > All Layers)

Free memory with Edit > Purge: the undo buffer, the clipboard, the histories of open documents, or all of them. It cannot be undone

Quick Export the whole document, or chosen layers, groups or artboards, as PNG, JPG or GIF into a folder in one step (File > Export > Quick Export As; Layers panel > Quick Export As). Files are named after the document or each layer

Quit Photoshop (File > Exit, or Photoshop > Quit Photoshop on macOS). Refuses while documents have unsaved changes unless discardUnsaved is true, which closes them without saving first

Rasterize type, shape, smart object or fill layers into pixels (Layer > Rasterize), or only one part of them

Record measurements to the Measurement Log (Image > Analysis > Record Measurements) from the selection, the Ruler tool's line or the Count tool's items, with a chosen set of data points. The ruler source needs a line drawn with the Ruler tool

Refine a layer mask's edges as Select and Mask does, writing the result back to the layer mask. Without a mask, the current selection is refined into a new mask

Refine the selection's edge as Select and Mask does, without opening the workspace: edge detection radius (optionally smart), smooth, feather, contrast, shift edge and colour decontamination, output to the selection, a layer mask, a new layer or a new document

Remove the background of layers (the Properties panel's Remove Background quick action): Photoshop finds the subject and adds a layer mask hiding the rest. It uses the Select Subject model, which may process in the cloud depending on Preferences > Image Processing

Render the timeline to a video file through Adobe Media Encoder (File > Export > Render Video), at the document size

Apply the last filter again, with the same settings, to layers (Filter > Last Filter). A filter must have been applied in this Photoshop session

Replace the sky in the active document (Edit > Sky Replacement) with an image file, without the dialog. Photoshop finds the sky, adds a Sky Replacement group with the new sky and lighting and colour layers, and returns it. Edge, brightness, temperature, lighting and colour settings match the dialog's

Change the canvas size (Image > Canvas Size) in pixels, keeping the image anchored at a side or corner. New areas take the Canvas Extension Color on a background layer (the background colour unless extensionColor is given) and stay transparent elsewhere

Resize the image (Image > Image Size): width and/or height in pixels (the other follows the aspect ratio when omitted), resolution, and the resampling method, with noise reduction for Preserve Details and optionally scaling layer styles (Scale Styles). With resample "none", only the resolution changes and the pixels stay as they are

Repair or move the selected area on the active pixel layer by an offset: patch it from nearby pixels (Patch tool, Normal or Content-Aware), or move or extend it and fill the gap (Content-Aware Move tool). Needs a selection; dx and dy are the drag in pixels

Enlarge the canvas to show every pixel that extends beyond it (Image > Reveal All)

Reverse the stacking order of two or more layers (Layer > Arrange > Reverse)

Rotate the whole image by an angle in degrees (Image > Image Rotation); positive is clockwise. Or flip the canvas horizontally or vertically

Play an action on every file in a folder, a list of files, or the open documents, and leave, save over, or save them to a folder (File > Automate > Batch). Long batches can outlast the script timeout (PHOTOSHOP_SCRIPT_TIMEOUT_MS)

Run a File > Automate or File > Scripts command on the active document without its dialog: crop_and_straighten (Crop and Straighten Photos: each scanned photo into its own document), fit_image (Fit Image: resize to fit a box), conditional_mode_change (Conditional Mode Change), lens_correction (Automate > Lens Correction's automatic profile correction), delete_empty_layers (Delete All Empty Layers), flatten_layer_effects (Flatten All Layer Effects), flatten_masks (Flatten All Masks)

Run an application command: beep, bring Photoshop to the front, redraw the screen, hide Photoshop or the other applications or show them all again (Photoshop menu, macOS only), open Help > Photoshop Help, or open the Creative Cloud account page in the browser

Run any Photoshop menu command by its string id (e.g. "toggleRulers") or four-character id (e.g. "TglR"), as Application.runMenuItem does. A command that opens a dialog shows it and waits; prefer the specific tools

Run a video timeline command on the selected clips, keyframes or video layer at the playhead (Timeline panel menu: Move & Trim, Split at Playhead, Work Area, Keyframes, Convert Frames, Enable Onion Skins, Show; Layer > Video Layers: Insert, Delete, Duplicate, Reload or Restore Frame, Hide Altered Video). Toggles switch the setting each time

Run a Type menu command: Update All Text Layers (also updates legacy and Asian text layers for vector output), Replace All Missing Fonts, Save Default Type Styles or Load Default Type Styles

Read pixel colours of the composite image at points (Color Sampler tool and Info panel), optionally making the first the foreground or background colour (Eyedropper tool) and keeping the samplers in the document

Save the active document in place, or at filePath in the format its extension names, with that format's options (File > Save As): PSD, PSB (Large Document Format), TIFF, PNG, JPEG, Photoshop PDF, GIF, Photoshop EPS, DCS 1.0 and 2.0 (.eps with epsType), BMP, Targa (.tga), Pixar (.pxr) or Photoshop Raw (.raw). With asCopy the document keeps referring to its own file

Store the selection in an alpha channel (Select > Save Selection), or load a channel as the selection (Select > Load Selection), combined with the current one

Resize a layer while keeping important content such as people and buildings unchanged (Edit > Content-Aware Scale): width and height in percent, the Amount of content-aware against normal scaling, Protect Skin Tones, and an alpha channel to protect

Select the whole canvas (Select > All), deselect (Select > Deselect), or invert the selection (Select > Inverse)

Select a rectangle, an ellipse, a polygon or freehand outline (the Polygonal Lasso and Lasso tools), or a one-pixel row or column (Single Row and Single Column Marquee tools), in pixels from the document's top-left corner, combined with the current selection. The ellipse is a fine polygon, so its edge is close to but not exactly the Elliptical Marquee's

Select by colour (Select > Color Range): pixels near a sampled colour within a fuzziness, or a preset range (reds ... magentas, highlights, midtones, shadows, out of gamut), optionally inverted. Works inside the current selection when there is one, and samples the active layer

Select automatically: the main subject (Select > Subject), the sky (Select > Sky), or the in-focus areas with Focus Area's automatic settings (Select > Focus Area). Subject uses the device or cloud processing chosen in Preferences > Image Processing

Load layers' transparency as the selection, as Cmd/Ctrl-clicking a layer thumbnail does: replace, add to, subtract from or intersect with the current selection. With several layers, replace selects all of their pixels together

Make a view tool current in the Tools panel: Hand, Zoom, Rotate View (needs the graphics processor), Slice or Slice Select. Using the tool on the canvas stays with the user

Set how actions play back (Actions panel menu > Playback Options: accelerated, step by step, or pause between steps), and toggle Button Mode or Allow Tool Recording

Bring an open document to the front by name or index

Make a layer the active one; many commands work on the active layer

Set a layer's Blending Options (Layer Style dialog): blend mode, opacity and fill opacity; Advanced Blending knockout, the channels it blends into and the group options (Blend Interior Effects as Group, Blend Clipped Layers as Group, Transparency Shapes Layer, Layer Mask Hides Effects, Vector Mask Hides Effects); and Blend If ranges for this layer and the underlying layer

Set the current tool's brush in the Brush Settings panel (Window > Brush Settings): Brush Tip Shape (size, hardness, angle, roundness, spacing, flip), Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Texture, Dual Brush, Color Dynamics, Transfer and Brush Pose, each section's on/off switch, the jitters and their Control (fade, pen pressure, tilt, stylus wheel, direction, rotation), and the Noise, Wet Edges, Build-up, Smoothing and Protect Texture checkboxes; clearControls first turns every dynamics option off (Clear Brush Controls). Only the settings given change; one the tool lacks is an error. stroke_path paints…

Change a channel's options (Channels panel > Channel Options): name, kind (converting an alpha channel to a spot channel or back), colour, opacity or solidity, and show or hide it (the eye icon). Colour channels such as Red can only be shown or hidden

Move the in or out point of clips (layer duration bars) in the video timeline, or set their duration

Clip layers to the layer below them (Layer > Create Clipping Mask), so they show only where it has pixels, or release them (Layer > Release Clipping Mask)

Use the Clone Source panel (Window > Clone Source) and its menu: choose which of the five clone sources the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush use, reset the active source's scale and rotation (Reset Transform), and toggle the overlay options Show Overlay, Auto Hide, Clip to Brush Tip and Invert. The overlay toggles flip the current state, which Photoshop does not report to scripts. Set a source's sample point with stroke_path cloneSource; show the panel with show_photoshop_panels

Choose the colour settings file (Edit > Color Settings, e.g. "North America General Purpose 2"), Dynamic Color Sliders (Color panel) and the Gamut Warning opacity (Preferences > Transparency & Gamut); returns the current values. With no arguments it only reads them

Replace the colour table of an Indexed Color image (Image > Mode > Color Table) with a list of colours, in table order

Set the foreground and background colours used by fills, strokes, brushes and new documents

Set the active document's File Info metadata: title, author, description, keywords, copyright, IPTC origin and categories, or replace its whole XMP packet. Only the fields given change. Camera data (Exif) is read-only

Set and read file-handling preferences: image previews saved with files (macOS icon and full-size previews, Mac and Windows thumbnails), the length of File > Open Recent, and the History Log (on or off, saved to the file's metadata or a text file, and its detail). Call with no settings to read them

Read or set the history preferences: History Options (Automatically Create First Snapshot, Allow Non-Linear History, number of history states) and the History Log (Preferences > History & Content Credentials: on or off, saved to metadata, a text file or both, and how much it records)

Description is built at runtime.

Suspend a linked layer's link (the red X Shift-clicking the link icon shows) or restore it, without unlinking

Rename layers and set their opacity, fill opacity, blend mode, visibility and locks

Select several layers at once in the Layers panel, for commands that act on the selected layers: set or add to the selection, select All Layers, Deselect Layers, Select Linked Layers, Similar Layers (same kind as the target), or find layers whose names contain some text (Select menu). Returns the selected layers

Change what the Layers panel shows, without changing the document: Isolate Layers (show only the target layers), Remove from Isolation, or Collapse All Groups

Set the Density (opacity) and Feather of a layer's layer mask, vector mask or smart-filter mask (Properties panel, masks)

Set the document's measurement scale (Image > Analysis > Set Measurement Scale): how many pixels make a length in logical units, e.g. 100 pixels = 2 millimeters. Without arguments, returns the current scale

Change Photoshop's preferences (Photoshop > Settings, or Edit > Preferences on Windows). Give only the settings to change; the result lists every preference afterwards. Some take effect after a restart

Set the document's pixel aspect ratio (View > Pixel Aspect Ratio), for video work with non-square pixels, and/or toggle View > Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction, which previews the image with those pixels

Change the active document's print settings (File > Print) without the dialog: printer, copies, colour handling (including separations), print space, rendering intent, black point compensation, hard proof, position and scale, printing marks, functions (emulsion down, negative, background, border, bleed) and PostScript options. Only the settings given change

Soft-proof the active document: choose a Proof Setup preset (View > Proof Setup: working CMYK or one plate, legacy Mac RGB, sRGB, monitor RGB, colour-blindness types), and toggle View > Proof Colors and View > Gamut Warning. The toggles switch the current state, which scripts cannot read

Turn Quick Mask Mode on (the selection becomes a red overlay that painting edits) or off (the overlay becomes the selection again)

Turn one Smart Filter on a smart object, or all of them, off or on (the eye icons under the layer in the Layers panel)

Render a multi-layer smart object with a statistical stack mode (Layer > Smart Objects > Stack Mode), for example median to remove moving objects or mean to reduce noise. Give several aligned layers and they are first converted into one smart object (an image stack)

Change a type layer's text and/or formatting (applied to the whole layer), its position, and its warp (Type > Warp Text)

Set the timeline: show or hide the Timeline panel, set the frame rate (Set Timeline Frame Rate), move the playhead to a time or Go To a frame or the work area, and choose the Layers panel's Animation Options

Choose the active tool and set its options bar: a brush preset (Brushes panel or the Brush Preset picker), size, hardness, opacity, flow, blend mode, the tablet pressure buttons for size and opacity, Smoothing and its options (Pulled String Mode, Stroke Catch-up, Catch-up on Stroke End, Adjust for Zoom), the Mixer Brush's Wet, Mix and Sample All Layers, Tolerance and Contiguous (Color Replacement, Paint Bucket, Magic Eraser), and the painting cursor style (Preferences > Cursors). The Mixer Brush, Spot Healing Brush and Red Eye tools can be made active here; painting with them stays on the canv…

Set Character and Paragraph panel options on type layers: anti-aliasing, text and warp orientation (vertical type), kerning, language, No Break, OpenType ligatures and oldstyle figures, the paragraph type box size, indents, paragraph spacing, hyphenation, justification spacing, hanging punctuation and the composer

Zoom the active document (View > Zoom In, Zoom Out, Fit on Screen, 100%, 200%, Print Size) and choose the screen mode (View > Screen Mode: standard, full screen with menu bar, full screen)

Show or hide panels (Window menu), hide or show all panels at once (Tab), reset to the Essentials workspace, and use the Histogram panel menu (compact, expanded or all-channels view, statistics, channels in colour, uncached refresh) and the Info panel's Color Samplers item

Split the image into one grayscale document per channel (Channels panel > Split Channels). The original closes; the image must be flattened first (flatten_image)

Paint along a path on the active layer with a painting or retouching tool, using that tool's current brush and options (Paths panel > Stroke Path). Give a path from the Paths panel or points for a temporary one. Set the brush first with set_tool_options. Clone Stamp and Healing Brush need cloneSource

Stroke the selection's edge on the active layer (Edit > Stroke): colour, width in pixels, inside, centre or outside, blend mode and opacity

Switch the foreground and background colours (Switch Foreground and Background Colors, X), or with reset: true return them to black and white (Default Foreground and Background Colors, D)

Show or hide a type panel (Window > Character, Paragraph, Character Styles or Paragraph Styles). Each call switches the panel between shown and hidden

Toggle View menu items for the active document: Extras, each View > Show item (layer and selection edges, target path, grid, guides, count, smart guides, slices, notes, pixel grid, brush preview), Rulers, Lock Guides, Lock Slices, Snap and each Snap To item. show_all, show_none, snap_to_all and snap_to_none set rather than toggle. Photoshop does not tell scripts whether an item is on

Move layers by dx, dy pixels, scale them by a percentage, rotate them by degrees, or flip them, around an anchor point; optionally transform a copy of each, keeping the original. Video layers transform the same way once they are Smart Objects

Move, scale or rotate the selection outline (Select > Transform Selection), or the selected pixels themselves

Trim away transparent pixels, or pixels the colour of the top-left or bottom-right corner, from any of the four sides (Image > Trim)

Step back (undo) or forward (redo) through the history, or go to a state by index. Undone steps stay available until something new is done

Move a group's layers out to where the group was and remove the empty group (Layer > Ungroup Layers)

Warp layers with a preset style (Edit > Transform > Warp): arc, arch, bulge, flag, wave, fisheye, twist and the rest, with bend and horizontal and vertical distortion in percent, horizontal or vertical. Warping a Smart Object stays editable

Correct or change a layer's perspective (Edit > Perspective Warp) with one quad: four corners in the image move to four new positions, e.g. to square up a photographed sign. Corners go top-left, top-right, bottom-right, bottom-left, in pixels. Needs the graphics processor enabled