Photoshop MCP vs Video Reader MCP
A side-by-side look at the Photoshop MCP and Video Reader MCP MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Photoshop MCP for multimedia process work as a local process; choose Video Reader MCP for multimedia process as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Photoshop MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Multimedia Process domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
Choose Video Reader MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Multimedia Process domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
inspect, outline, read.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Multimedia Process | Multimedia Process |
| Quality signal | 52/100 · Good | 45/100 · Fair |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 709 | 3 |
| Directory activity | 7 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 4 |
| Full listing | View Photoshop MCP | View Video Reader MCP |
Tools & capabilities
Photoshop MCP tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Video Reader MCP tools 4
inspectDocument and media evidence when Markdown is not enough. video_timeline (bounded scene/cue timeline) and render_frame (actual decoded frames), and cite_check (quote/location support, not semantic truth), are anymd Pro; PDF operations: inspect (page facts, metadata), render_page (PNG images), extract_regions (crop bounding boxes), ocr_pages / analyze_regions (configured OCR or vision provider), structure (JSON with document map, elements, geometry; profile quality|research adds trust and accessibility reports), compare (page-level diff of sources[0] vs sources[1]).outlineReturn a document heading tree with stable node ids, title paths, page/slide/chapter ranges and Markdown byte ranges. PDF bookmarks or detected headings, Word headings, PowerPoint slides, EPUB chapters and headings, HTML and Markdown. format json (default) or tree. Pass a node id to read to fetch that section.readRead any document as clean Markdown: PDF, Word (DOCX), PowerPoint (PPTX), Excel (XLSX/XLS/ODS), CSV, EPUB, HTML or a web URL, Markdown/text, images (metadata + OCR), audio/video (metadata, chapters, subtitles). Pages/slides/sheets carry <!-- page N --> style markers for citation. Long documents stop at max_tokens (default 20000) and end with a cursor to continue; choose pages with pages: "1-5,8". A directory returns its readable files.searchSearch documents for text: one file, many files, whole directories (recursive, .gitignore aware), or URLs, across every format read supports. Returns each hit as file + page/slide/sheet + a snippet with the match in bold. mode auto (default) finds the exact phrase and falls back to BM25-ranked passages when there is none; literal or ranked force one. Narrow directories with glob, e.g. "*.pdf".
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Photoshop MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"photoshop-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"-p",
"@alisaitteke/photoshop-mcp",
"ui"
]
}
}
}
Video Reader MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"video-reader-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@sylphx/anymd"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Photoshop MCP is categorized under Multimedia Process and uses a local stdio subprocess. Video Reader MCP belongs to Multimedia Process and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Photoshop MCP for multimedia process work and Video Reader MCP for multimedia process.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Photoshop MCP is listed as free. Video Reader MCP has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add photoshop-mcp and video-reader-mcp as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Photoshop MCP has a quality signal of 52/100 (Good) with 7 views, 0 installs and 709 GitHub stars. Video Reader MCP has 45/100 (Fair) with 2 views, 0 installs and 3 GitHub stars.