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What is this?

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives AI assistants like Claude full control over the Affinity creative suite on macOS. It bridges the gap between AI and professional design software — launch apps, navigate menus, draw shapes, apply filters, export files, and more — all through natural language.

Features

• 23 tools covering the complete Affinity workflow
• Unified Affinity app support (Affinity by Canva)
• Menu navigation — browse and click any menu item up to 4 levels deep
• UI inspection — read buttons, dialogs, text fields, and interact with them
• Mouse & keyboard — click, drag, type text, send shortcuts and key codes
• Screenshots — capture the Affinity window for visual feedback
• Document ops — create, open, save, export, flatten, rotate, flip
• Layers & filters — add layers, list filters, import macros

Prerequisites

• macOS (uses AppleScript and System Events)
• Affinity by Canva (v2 — the unified app)
• Bun runtime (v1.0.0+)
• Accessibility permissions — System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility — grant access to your terminal app and/or Claude Desktop

Quick Start

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/sekharmalla/affinity-mcp-server.git
cd affinity-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Run the server
bun run start

Install as Claude Code Plugin

The easiest way to get started with Claude Code — one command, no manual config:

claude plugin add /path/to/affinity-mcp-server

This automatically:

• Registers the MCP server (all 23 tools available immediately)
• Installs the affinity-design skill — workflow guidance that teaches Claude how to orchestrate the tools for real design tasks (create posters, export files, navigate menus, etc.)

The skill is the key value-add: the MCP tools are low-level primitives (click here, type this), but the skill provides high-level workflow knowledge (how to create a poster, how to export for web, how to navigate Affinity's UI patterns).

Configuration

Add the server to your AI client's MCP configuration:

Claude Code

claude mcp add affinity-mcp-server bun run /path/to/affinity-mcp-server/index.ts

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "affinity-mcp-server": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/path/to/affinity-mcp-server/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "affinity-mcp-server": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/path/to/affinity-mcp-server/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "affinity-mcp-server": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/path/to/affinity-mcp-server/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Tool Reference

App Lifecycle

Tool	Description
affinity_status	Check if Affinity is running, list open windows
affinity_launch	Launch Affinity if not already running

File Operations

Tool	Description
affinity_open_file	Open a file in Affinity (image, .af, .psd, .svg, etc.)
affinity_new_document	Create a new document, optionally from last preset
affinity_save	Save or Save As the current document
affinity_export	Export via File > Export (PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF, etc.)
affinity_close_document	Close the current document

Menu System

Tool	Description
affinity_click_menu	Click any menu item by path (up to 4 levels deep)
affinity_get_menus	List all items in a top-level menu
affinity_get_submenu	List items in a submenu

UI Inspection & Interaction

Tool	Description
affinity_get_ui	Inspect the front window — buttons, text fields, dialogs
affinity_click_ui	Click a UI element by description or title

Input

Tool	Description
affinity_keystroke	Send a keystroke with optional modifiers
affinity_key_code	Send a key code (Escape, Return, arrows, etc.)
affinity_type_text	Type text into text fields, dialogs, or the text tool
affinity_mouse_action	Click or drag at screen coordinates

Drawing & Tools

Tool	Description
affinity_select_tool	Select a tool (move, pen, rectangle, text, brush, etc.)

Document Operations

Tool	Description
affinity_document_ops	Flatten, flip, rotate, clip/unclip canvas
affinity_add_layer	Add a layer (pixel, mask, adjustment, fill, etc.)
affinity_undo_redo	Undo or redo actions

Filters & Macros

Tool	Description
affinity_filters	List available filters
affinity_run_macro	Import and run an .afmacro file

Capture

Tool	Description
affinity_screenshot	Take a screenshot of the Affinity window

How It Works

AI Client  ──stdio──>  MCP Server  ──execSync──>  osascript  ──AppleScript──>  System Events  ──>  Affinity

The server receives MCP tool calls over stdio, translates them into AppleScript commands, and executes them via osascript. System Events handles menu navigation, UI interaction, and keyboard/mouse input. For drag operations, it uses Python's Quartz framework for smooth coordinate interpolation.

The Story Behind the Poster

The poster at the top of this README wasn't designed by a human in Affinity. It was created by Claude using this MCP server — opening Affinity, creating a document, placing elements, styling text, and exporting the final PNG. It's the ultimate proof that this tool works: the project's marketing material was made by the project itself.

Troubleshooting

Accessibility Permissions

The server needs Accessibility access to control Affinity via System Events. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility and add your terminal app (Terminal, iTerm2, Warp, etc.) and/or Claude Desktop.

Process Name Quirk

The App Store version of Affinity registers as "Affinity Affinity Store" in System Events — not just "Affinity". This is hardcoded as PROCESS_NAME in index.ts. If you have the non-App Store version, you may need to change this to "Affinity 2" or whatever your version reports.

To check your process name:

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to return name of every process whose name contains "Affinity"'

Screenshot Permissions

For affinity_screenshot, you also need Screen Recording permission in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on adding tools, submitting PRs, and reporting issues.

License

MIT — Copyright (c) 2025 Sekhar Malla