Surehand MCP › Setup guide
Use Cursor with Adobe® After Effects®.
Surehand MCP connects Cursor to After Effects. It suits technical directors and script authors: Cursor can run any After Effects script, with modern JavaScript converted for ExtendScript, and every edit comes back with an exact list of what changed.
Works with Cursor · Tested on After Effects 2025 and 2026, macOS and Windows 11 · Free and MIT licensed
Set it up
Four steps.
No administrator rights and no account. Node.js comes with the installer.
Install Surehand MCP
Run the Mac
.pkgor the WindowsSetup.exefrom the download page. The installer connects Cursor when~/.cursorexists.Restart After Effects once
The Surehand bridge starts with After Effects from then on.
Restart Cursor
The surehand-ae server appears in Cursor's MCP settings.
Check the connection
Ask: "Check After Effects is connected." The Surehand panel shows Ready · Cursor.
Use the Node.js the installer used: ~/.surehand/node/bin/node on a Mac or %USERPROFILE%\.surehand\node\node.exe on Windows if it installed a private one. Comments and trailing commas in the file keep working.
What to ask
Ask in your own words.
Cursor picks the tool; the tool does the measuring.
"Check Endcard against our broadcast spec before I send it."
"Stress-test the lower third with long German names and Arabic."
"Un-precompose Logo_Lockup and prove nothing changed."
"I inherited this project. What does the render queue actually pull in?"
With Cursor
What you get.
In-chat views
Cursor shows Preflight, proven edits, X-ray and stress-test results as views in the chat.
Agent Skills
The four Surehand skills are installed where Cursor reads them.
Scripts with errors that help
When a script fails, the error comes back with the failing line, the code around it and a hint.
Questions
Cursor and After Effects.
Can Cursor run After Effects scripts?
Yes. Through Surehand MCP, Cursor can run JavaScript inside After Effects (converted for ExtendScript, keeping line numbers) and get the result back as JSON, along with a change report of what the script changed.
Does Cursor need anything special?
No. The installer adds surehand-ae to ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Restart Cursor afterwards.
Is it safe to let Cursor edit a production project?
Set Surehand to Ask in its panel, and every edit waits for your Allow with the exact code shown. Each edit is one undo step, and checkpoints save a copy without overwriting the original. The permissions are safeguards against mistakes, not a sandbox.