Inkscape (inksmcp)

What Inkscape (inksmcp) MCP server does

Inkscape (inksmcp) MCP server gives an AI assistant structured operations for building and modifying Inkscape documents. It can create new SVG files, open drawings made in other applications, inspect document structure and real element bounds, arrange objects, and save changes. The workflow is intended for layouts where text dimensions, spacing, alignment, and connections need to be calculated rather than estimated from manually written SVG coordinates.

Supported work includes posters, diagrams, charts, flowcharts, floor plans, datasheets, and comic pages. Existing files can be searched by properties such as color, element type, text, or symbol. Data-driven operations can repeat a template for rows from JSON or CSV files and divide a page into panels or cells.

How it works

The server keeps the active document in an lxml tree, which acts as the source of truth for edits. Operations that depend on Inkscape itself are sent to one persistent inkscape --shell process. This covers measurement, Boolean path operations, connectors, rendering, and export without starting a new Inkscape process for every call.

Editing tools are transactional: a tool operation either completes as a whole or does not apply. Responses can warn about overlapping text, and render_preview sends a PNG preview back to the assistant so it can check the result before exporting. The Inkscape (inksmcp) MCP server can export PNG, PDF, plain SVG, EPS, EMF, and other formats supported by Inkscape; PDF export can optionally convert text to paths.

Setup and configuration

Install Inkscape 1.x and uv. Register the server with an MCP client using the uvx inksmcp command. For Claude Code, the documented command is:

claude mcp add --scope user inkscape -- uvx inksmcp

Other clients can use an MCP configuration with uvx as the command and inksmcp as its argument:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "inkscape": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["inksmcp"]
    }
  }
}

The documented quick-start configuration names Claude Desktop and Cursor. Operating-system details, client-specific instructions, and troubleshooting are provided in the project’s getting-started documentation. Inkscape must be installed separately because the server invokes it as an external process.

Tools and capabilities

Document tools create, open, save, inspect, and report Inkscape information. Element tools add, update, delete, import, and repeat shapes, paths, text, groups, images, arrows, and symbol uses. Arrangement tools handle alignment, layout, splitting, connections, stacking order, layers, page fitting, and page resizing.

Additional tools support graph paper and axes, plots in data coordinates, Boolean and related path operations, guarded raw Inkscape actions, previews, and export. The Inkscape (inksmcp) MCP server also supports measured relationships: captions can be placed relative to actual text bounds, boxes can fit their contents, and connectors can remain attached as objects move.

Limitations and notes

The project identifies itself as beta software, version 0.3. It is developed on Windows with Inkscape 1.4.4, while continuous integration also runs on Linux and macOS. The complete tool list uses about 9,000 tokens of context per session.

Gradients and patterns cannot currently be created as style keys, although existing ones can be applied through a raw style. SVG 1.2 flowed text can be moved but not edited. Inkscape remains a separate GPL-licensed program; the MCP server is MIT-licensed and calls Inkscape externally.