# ethbak/icon-composer-mcp [Health: Active]

**Category:** 📐 Architecture & Design  
**Repository:** https://github.com/ethbak/icon-composer-mcp  
**GitHub Stars:** 62  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 931  
**Views:** 3  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/ethbak-icon-composer-mcp

## Description
MCP server for Apple's Icon Composer: programmatically create .icon bundles with Liquid Glass effects (iOS 26+). 12 tools for icon creation, glass effect tuning, dark mode appearances, and App Store export.

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **create_icon** — Create a `.icon` bundle from a foreground image and background color
- **add_layer_to_icon** — Add a new layer to an existing bundle
- **remove_layer** — Remove a layer or group, optionally clean up assets
- **read_icon** — Inspect bundle manifest and assets
- **set_glass_effects** — Configure specular, blur, shadow, translucency
- **set_appearances** — Set dark/tinted mode overrides
- **set_fill** — Set background fill
- **set_layer_position** — Adjust layer scale and offset
- **toggle_fx** — Enable/disable all glass effects at once
- **export_preview** — Render a preview PNG
- **render_liquid_glass** — Render via Apple's ictool (requires Icon Composer)
- **export_marketing** — Export flat opaque PNG for App Store Connect

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "icon-composer-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","icon-composer-mcp"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What ethbak/icon-composer-mcp MCP server does

The ethbak/icon-composer-mcp MCP server provides an MCP interface for Apple Icon Composer bundle workflows. It can create a `.icon` bundle from a foreground image and background color, add or remove layers and groups, inspect the manifest and asset files, and modify the visual properties stored in the bundle.

The server supports PNG and SVG glyphs for initial bundle creation. Additional layers can use PNG, JPG, JPEG, SVG, WebP, HEIC, or HEIF files. A bundle can contain layer scale, offsets, opacity, blend modes, and participation in Liquid Glass effects. The project also provides three workflow prompts with built-in instructions, in addition to its tools.

## How it works

An agent supplies an input image and output location to create a bundle. The server writes a `.icon` directory containing an `icon.json` manifest and an `Assets` directory. Subsequent calls can target that bundle to change its layers, fill, position, appearance overrides, or effects.

Liquid Glass settings include specular highlights, blur material, shadows, and translucency. Appearance controls cover dark and tinted mode overrides, including per-appearance fill specializations. Glass effects can also be enabled or disabled together. Preview rendering can produce PNG output, while the marketing export creates a flat, opaque 1024-by-1024 PNG for App Store Connect.

The ethbak/icon-composer-mcp MCP server can use Apple’s `ictool` for Liquid Glass rendering when Icon Composer is installed on macOS. This path is intended for pixel-level Liquid Glass output. Flat previews, bundle creation and editing, and marketing export do not require Icon Composer and work on any platform.

## Setup and configuration

The ethbak/icon-composer-mcp MCP server requires Node.js 18 or newer. It runs over stdio and can be launched with `npx -y icon-composer-mcp`. MCP clients generally configure the command as `npx` with `-y` and `icon-composer-mcp` as arguments.

The README includes setup examples for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and Windsurf. VS Code uses a `servers` object, a `stdio` type, and the command and argument fields; the other examples use the client configuration format shown in the project documentation. The package can also be installed globally for CLI-only use with `npm install -g icon-composer-mcp`.

For Liquid Glass rendering, install Icon Composer on macOS, for example with `brew install --cask icon-composer`. The `icon-composer doctor` command checks the local setup and dependencies.

## Tools and capabilities

The MCP tool set includes:

- Create, inspect, and update `.icon` bundles.
- Add layers or groups and remove existing layers or groups, with optional asset cleanup.
- Set background fills, including solid, gradient, automatic, or no fill.
- Adjust layer and group scale and X/Y offsets.
- Configure specular, blur, shadow, and translucency behavior.
- Apply dark or tinted appearance overrides.
- Toggle all glass effects on or off.
- Export preview PNGs, render Liquid Glass through `ictool`, and export an opaque App Store marketing PNG.

## Limitations and notes

Liquid Glass rendering through Apple’s `ictool` depends on macOS and an installed Icon Composer release. The project states that it is not affiliated with Apple. The server is also available as a CLI, so it can be used without MCP when an agent connection is not needed.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/ethbak-icon-composer-mcp/readme_