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Surehand MCP › Setup guide

Use LM Studio with Adobe® After Effects®.

Surehand MCP connects LM Studio to After Effects, so a model running on your own computer can work on your project. Every edit comes back with an exact list of what changed.

Download Surehand MCP LM Studio in the docs

Works with LM Studio · 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.

  1. Install Surehand MCP

    Run the Mac .pkg or the Windows Setup.exe from the download page and keep LM Studio ticked.

  2. Restart After Effects once

    The Surehand bridge starts with After Effects from then on.

  3. Restart LM Studio

    surehand-ae is listed among its MCP servers.

  4. Check the connection

    Ask: "Check After Effects is connected." The Surehand panel shows Ready.

Where the entry goes
~/.lmstudio/mcp.json (Mac) %USERPROFILE%\.lmstudio\mcp.json (Windows)

A core set of 29 tools is loaded to keep the model's context small; the rest are available on demand.

What to ask

Ask in your own words.

LM Studio 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 LM Studio

What you get.

Local models

Pick a model in LM Studio that supports tool calls; Surehand needs the model to call tools.

Same checks

Change reports, proven edits, Preflight and stress tests work the same with any app.

Your controls

Full, Ask or Read-only, and Pause AI, in the Surehand panel.

Everything Surehand MCP does · Its limits

Questions

LM Studio and After Effects.

Can a local model control After Effects?

Yes, through LM Studio and Surehand MCP, with a model that supports tool calls. The tools and their checks are the same as with any other AI app.

Does anything leave my computer with LM Studio?

With a model running locally in LM Studio, the conversation stays on your computer, and so do your project files.

Which model should I use?

One that supports tool calls. Surehand loads a core set of 29 tools to keep the context small, and the rest are available on demand.

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