Connecting AI apps

Connecting AI apps

The installers connect the supported AI apps they find: the Mac .pkg and the Windows Setup .exe let you choose which (Customize on the Mac's Installation Type step, Choose AI apps in Setup); the zip connects all of them. This page is for checking a connection, adding one later, or setting up an app by hand.

Supported: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, ChatGPT desktop / Codex, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf / Devin Desktop, LM Studio, ChatGPT on the web, and any other MCP app. To chat with Codex, Claude Code or Antigravity from inside After Effects, see Chat in After Effects.

In every app the server is called surehand-ae.

Step-by-step guides for each app are on the website: Claude, ChatGPT and Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, LM Studio.

The quick way: the panel

1. In After Effects, open Window › Extensions › Surehand MCP.
2. Open the panel menu ☰ › Connect an AI app….
3. Each app shows Connected, Connected · in use now, Not connected or Not installed.
4. Click Set up next to an app. To remove the connection, click Remove.
5. Restart that app.

At the bottom, Copy the settings copies the JSON for any other MCP app (see Other MCP apps).

The Connect screen needs the server installed with an installer (.pkg, Setup .exe or the zip). With only the Claude Desktop extension (.mcpb) it says so.

The same thing from a terminal:

node ~/.surehand/ae/server/surehand-ae.mjs clients
node ~/.surehand/ae/server/surehand-ae.mjs connect claude-desktop     # or claude-code, codex, cursor, vscode, windsurf, lm-studio
node ~/.surehand/ae/server/surehand-ae.mjs disconnect cursor

Use the Node.js the installer used: ~/.surehand/node/bin/node (Mac) or %USERPROFILE%\.surehand\node\node.exe (Windows) if it installed a private one.

Claude Desktop

With an installer: the entry goes into Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\).

1. Quit Claude Desktop completely: Cmd+Q on a Mac, tray icon › Quit on Windows. Closing the window is not enough.
2. Open it again.
3. Ask: "Check After Effects is connected."

A Claude Desktop that is running while its settings change can write its old settings back when it quits, and the surehand-ae entry is lost. That is why the installers offer to restart it. If the tools are missing, see Troubleshooting.

With the .mcpb: nothing else to do. Claude Desktop runs it as an extension; manage it under Settings › Extensions.

Claude Code

The installer runs claude mcp add --scope user surehand-ae -- <node> <server> when the claude command is available, otherwise it writes the entry into ~/.claude.json. Start a new Claude Code session afterwards.

To add it yourself:

claude mcp add --scope user surehand-ae -- /path/to/node ~/.surehand/ae/server/surehand-ae.mjs

ChatGPT desktop app and Codex

Both read ~/.codex/config.toml (or $CODEX_HOME/config.toml). The installer adds a marked block:

# >>> surehand-ae >>>
[mcp_servers.surehand-ae]
command = "/path/to/node"
args = ["/Users/<you>/.surehand/ae/server/surehand-ae.mjs"]
startup_timeout_sec = 20
tool_timeout_sec = 600
# <<< surehand-ae <<<

1. Restart the ChatGPT desktop app (or Codex).
2. In ChatGPT: Settings › Plugins › Servers. Turn surehand-ae on.

To add it by hand in the ChatGPT desktop app: Add › MCP server › STDIO, command = the Node path the installer printed, argument = ~/.surehand/ae/server/surehand-ae.mjs (written out in full).

Cursor

The entry goes into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (comments and trailing commas in that file are kept working). Restart Cursor. The installer only connects Cursor if ~/.cursor exists.

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

The entry goes into VS Code's user mcp.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Code\User\), under servers, with "type": "stdio". Restart VS Code (or run MCP: List Servers). Surehand is used in Copilot Chat's Agent mode.

Windsurf / Devin Desktop

Windsurf is now called Devin Desktop. The entry goes into ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json (Windows: %APPDATA%\devin\mcp_config.json), and into Windsurf's older ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json while that folder is there. Restart the app.

LM Studio

The entry goes into ~/.lmstudio/mcp.json (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.lmstudio\mcp.json). Restart LM Studio.

ChatGPT on the web

ChatGPT in a browser can't start programs on your computer, so it needs a secure link (a tunnel). See ChatGPT on the web.

Other MCP apps

Any MCP app that can start a local (stdio) server works. Use ☰ › Connect an AI app › Copy the settings, or write it yourself:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "surehand-ae": {
      "command": "/path/to/node",
      "args": ["/Users/<you>/.surehand/ae/server/surehand-ae.mjs"]
    }
  }
}

• command: the Node.js 18 or later on your computer, or the private one in ~/.surehand/node.
• args: the full path to the server. On Windows: C:\\Users\\<you>\\.surehand\\ae\\server\\surehand-ae.mjs.
• To load every tool up front, add "--tools", "full" after the server path, or see What the AI can do.

Apps that can only reach a server over HTTP can use surehand-ae --http (port 8766, token required). See Security before exposing it beyond your own computer.

Skills

Four Agent Skills teach the AI how to work with Surehand well:

Skill	What it teaches
surehand-ae	The basics: check the connection, read before editing, confirm each edit with its change report, look at the result, never work around a refusal, and ExtendScript traps seen live.
surehand-ae-delivery	Preflight against your own spec, stress tests, versions, localization and farm renders.
surehand-ae-safe-restructure	Structural edits and render speed-ups with pixel proof (Precomp surgery, Proven edits).
surehand-ae-timing-layout	Exact keyframes, easing, measured alignment and reformats (Precision tools).

• The installers write them to ~/.claude/skills/ (Claude Code; Cursor and VS Code read it too) and ~/.agents/skills/ (ChatGPT desktop / Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf / Devin Desktop). A folder is written only when one of those apps is on the computer, or the folder is there already.
• Only the four surehand-ae* folders are written, replaced on update and removed on uninstall. Other skills are never touched.
• Claude Desktop chat: upload them in Customize › Skills › Upload a skill. The zips are in ~/.surehand/ae/skills, one per skill; claude.ai takes the same zips.
• surehand-ae skills shows where they are installed; surehand-ae skills install / uninstall writes or removes them.

After connecting

Ask your AI app: "Check After Effects is connected, then make a 1080p comp with an animated title and show me frame 1." The panel's status changes to Ready · <app name>, and the call appears in the panel's feed.

Your AI app may still ask you to confirm each tool call. That is the app's own setting, separate from Surehand's modes; see The Surehand panel.