Idml MCP

What idml-mcp MCP server does

The idml-mcp MCP server connects MCP-capable AI clients to .idml files, InDesign’s XML-based interchange format. It does not automate a desktop copy of Adobe InDesign and does not require Adobe software to be installed. Instead, it opens the IDML package directly, extracts a compact representation of its contents, and writes selected changes back to the package.

The server is suited to workflows where an agent needs to understand an existing layout before changing it. A summary can include pages, frames, stories, image links, and paragraph styles. Story content is represented as indexed text runs, allowing an agent to target a particular piece of text rather than manipulate the underlying XML manually.

How it works

IDML documents are ZIP packages containing XML and related assets. The toolkit reads those package entries and produces structured, LLM-oriented data instead of exposing the full document XML. This keeps document inspection smaller and gives an agent stable identifiers for stories, runs, and image links.

Write operations are targeted. Replacing a text run changes that selected element, while image relinking updates the specified image reference. The project’s tests check that unrelated package entries remain byte-identical, and its documented validation includes real InDesign 2025 exports. Layout geometry and styles are not changed by the supported text and image operations.

The package also provides a library and command-line interface, but the MCP server exposes the same core document operations to clients such as Claude Desktop and Claude Code.

Setup and configuration

Install the repository dependencies and build the project with:

npm install
npm run build

The idml-mcp MCP server is started by running its compiled Node.js entry point. An MCP client configuration needs a server entry whose command is node and whose argument points to packages/idml-mcp/dist/server.js in the checked-out repository. The README does not specify required environment variables or additional configuration files.

Because the server works with files directly and uses Node.js, the documented setup does not require an open InDesign application. Input and output paths are supplied through the tool calls or the related library and CLI workflows.

Tools and capabilities

The idml-mcp MCP server provides four documented tools:

• idml_summarize returns structured information about pages, frames, stories, images, and styles.
• idml_get_story retrieves one story’s plain text together with indexed runs and their styles.
• idml_set_text replaces the text in one selected run while leaving the layout unchanged.
• idml_relink_image changes the file reference for a selected image link without changing its geometry.

These operations support template-based publishing, localization, and agent workflows that combine document analysis with controlled updates. For example, an agent can summarize a catalogue, identify text runs containing dates, replace those runs, and save a revised IDML file. Image references can likewise be pointed at new assets through a separate relinking operation.

The available tools do not provide a general page-to-frame geometry mapping, one-call JSON template filling, structured file diffs, or overflow detection. Those items are listed as roadmap work rather than current capabilities.