Inkscape MCP — AI-powered vector graphics

AI agents create, edit, layer, animate, and export SVG files using Inkscape. Works as an MCP server (stdio/HTTP), Claude Desktop .mcpb bundle, webapp dashboard, or Windows desktop app.

Preview

Dashboard	Animation Studio	Layer Manager

Animated SVG presets render live in the browser — no Inkscape CLI needed.

How it runs

Mode	Inkscape	When
Headless (default)	CLI via inkscape --actions	Batch processing, export, validation, fleet pipelines
Live GUI (optional)	Open Inkscape manually + --active-window	Interactive editing with agent co-pilot

Headless by default — no GUI needed for most operations.

Features

• Create and edit SVG files (shapes, text, paths, booleans)
• Layer management — list, create, rename, hide, lock, reorder
• SMIL animation — bounce, fade, slide, rotate, pulse, shake presets
• Live Path Effects — bend, roughen, envelope, spiro, power stroke
• Export to PNG, PDF, EPS, DXF
• Fleet pipeline — hand off to GIMP, Blender, Unity, Resonite
• LPEs, text operations, object inspection, hands-in control

Install

Let your AI set it up

Do you use an AI coding assistant (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, GitHub Copilot, ...)? Paste this into it:

Set up inkscape-mcp on this PC for me: https://github.com/sandraschi/inkscape-mcp - follow docs/AI_SETUP.md in that repository.

It checks your PC first (Inkscape, ports, disk) and installs nothing until that passes. It asks before installing Inkscape, then sets up the server and connects it to your AI app.

Or do it yourself

Claude Desktop only: download the .mcpb from Releases and drag it onto Claude.

Windows, with the dashboard: git clone https://github.com/sandraschi/inkscape-mcp, then double-click start.bat. It installs what is missing (uv, bun, dependencies), starts the server and opens the dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:11029. Run it again any time: it resumes or reports that it is already running. stop.bat stops it. start.bat -Check tells you whether it will work here, without installing anything.

Windows desktop app: the NSIS installer from Releases.

Every method: INSTALL.md.

The first start.bat run takes 2-4 minutes and the window can sit quiet while Python packages install. This is normal. Don't close it.

Something went wrong?

• It stopped during install. Run start.bat again. It continues where it stopped.
• "held by another program" on port 11028 or 11029. Another app uses that port. Close it, then rerun.
• Export / convert does nothing. Inkscape is missing. winget install Inkscape.Inkscape, then restart.
• Still stuck? See TROUBLESHOOTING.md, or open an issue and attach logs\start.log.

What You Can Do

"Create a bouncing circle animation with a pink fill and 2-second duration, then export as PNG."

"List all layers in my SVG, hide the background layer, and rename the top layer to 'Hero'."

"Convert this text element to paths, then apply a roughen LPE with medium intensity."

Documentation

Doc	Contents
Installation	All install methods, prerequisites
Onboarding	First-run: Inkscape requirement, sanity check, pitfalls
Configuration	Env vars, Ollama, Tauri desktop mode
Tool Reference	All 17 tools, 60+ operations
Development	Contributing, local setup, building
Troubleshooting	Common issues

Requirements

• Windows, macOS, or Linux
• Inkscape 1.0+ (1.2+ recommended for Actions API)
• uv (fetches Python 3.12+ itself; start.bat installs uv for you)
• Optional: Ollama for AI-assisted SVG generation

License

MIT — see LICENSE.md.