Zenith

Author, validate, edit, and render deterministic .zen design docs to PNG/PDF.

Quick Install

Automated & IDE Setup

Copy the AI prompt to install this server into Claude Code, Cursor, or another agent — or use 1-click editor setup below.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code

Manual Client & Custom JSON ConfigExpand JSON ▾

Client Config & Setup

Choose your client or environment

Target File:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zenith": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zenith"
      ]
    }
  }
}

💡 Paste the JSON block into your client's configuration file under mcpServers, then restart the application.

Documentation Overview

Zenith

A design-document format and engine built for the age of AI agents.

Plain-text .zen design files that you can read, diff, review, validate, and let an agent safely edit — compiled deterministically to pixel-exact PNG and print-ready PDF.

Install Quick start Features Validation Commands Agents

_{Every banner and diagram in this README is itself created using Zenith — source in assets/showcase/.}

Zenith is a plain-text format and engine for design files — posters, decks, books, social graphics, diagrams, and more. The idea is simple: design should work the way code does. You should be able to read it, diff it, review it, test it, and let an agent safely edit it.

A .zen file is human-readable KDL text. The engine parses it, validates it against a large diagnostic set, compiles it to a backend-neutral scene, and renders the same file to the same pixels every time — as a PNG or a print-ready PDF.

The sections below are collapsed to keep this page skimmable — click any heading's ▸ to expand it. Install and Quick start are open by default.

Install

The recommended way to install the zenith CLI is the install script, which detects your platform and downloads the matching prebuilt binary from GitHub Releases.

Linux / macOS

Terminal

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zenitheditor/zenith/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

powershell

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zenitheditor/zenith/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Set ZENITH_INSTALL_DIR to change the install location (default ~/.local/bin):

bash

ZENITH_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin \
  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zenitheditor/zenith/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

With cargo

bash

cargo install zenith-tool    # from crates.io (installs the `zenith` binary)
cargo install --git https://github.com/zenitheditor/zenith zenith-tool   # from source

The library crates (zenith-core, zenith-layout, zenith-scene, zenith-render, zenith-tx, zenith-session) are published under their own names for Rust projects that want to build on the engine directly.

With npm

Terminal

npm install -g @zenitheditor/zenith-mcp
npx -y @zenitheditor/zenith-mcp --help

The npm package installs the matching prebuilt zenith binary from GitHub Releases and is focused on the MCP Registry launch path. The unscoped zenith binary remains the Rust CLI.

GitHub Releases

Download directly from GitHub Releases:

Platform	Architecture	Asset
Linux	x86_64	`zenith-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz`
Linux	aarch64	`zenith-<version>-linux-arm64.tar.gz`
macOS	x86_64	`zenith-<version>-macos-x64.tar.gz`
macOS	Apple Silicon	`zenith-<version>-macos-arm64.tar.gz`
Windows	x86_64	`zenith-<version>-windows-x64.zip`

Update

bash

zenith update                   # latest stable release
zenith update --pre             # latest prerelease
zenith update --version <tag>   # a specific release tag, e.g. the ones on the Releases page

Verify with zenith --version.

Build from source

For local development or source installs:

bash

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/zenitheditor/zenith
cd zenith
cargo build --release
cargo install --path zenith-cli   # installs `zenith` to ~/.cargo/bin
./scripts/install.sh --local      # installs the local build to ~/.local/bin

The release binary lands at target/release/zenith. No C toolchain or system libraries are required — the dependency graph is C-free and unsafe is forbidden workspace-wide.

Quick start

bash

zenith validate examples/hello.zen          # report diagnostics (add --json for machine output)
zenith fmt examples/hello.zen               # canonical, idempotent formatting
zenith tokens examples/hello.zen            # list design tokens and their resolved values
zenith inspect examples/hello.zen           # print the node tree (read-only)
zenith render examples/hello.zen --out .    # compile + render to PNG

zenith render examples/multipage.zen --all-pages out/     # one PNG per page
zenith render examples/hello.zen --pdf hello.pdf          # print-ready PDF
zenith render examples/hello.zen --scene scene.json       # dump the scene IR

The smallest valid document:

kdl

zenith version=1 {
  project id="proj.hello" name="Hello Zenith"
  tokens format="zenith-token-v1" {
    token id="color.bg" type="color" value="#f8fafc"
    token id="color.ink" type="color" value="#111827"
    token id="font.body" type="fontFamily" value="Noto Sans"
    token id="size.heading" type="dimension" value=(px)42
  }
  styles {}
  document id="doc.hello" title="Hello Zenith" {
    page id="page.hello" w=(px)480 h=(px)160 {
      rect id="rect.bg" x=(px)0 y=(px)0 w=(px)480 h=(px)160 fill=(token)"color.bg"
      text id="text.hello" x=(px)24 y=(px)24 w=(px)432 h=(px)112 fill=(token)"color.ink" font-family=(token)"font.body" font-size=(token)"size.heading" { span "Hello Zenith" }
    }
  }
}

See examples/ for runnable .zen files covering shapes, rich text, inline markdown (loaded from an external file), code blocks, images, frames/groups, multi-page documents and styles, plus the richer features — gradient, shadow, blur, filter, mask, table, flowchart (shapes + connectors), charts (bar/line/area/pie/donut/sparkline, with legends, value labels, and data binding), and anchors.

Why

Code got source control, types, tests, and PRs. Design files got none of that — and that hurts people and blocks AI.

Code got source control, types, tests, and pull requests. Design files got none of that. They're opaque blobs — you can't diff them, you can't review a change, and the same file can render differently on different machines.

That's a problem for people, and it's a bigger problem for AI. Agents can already write code and open pull requests, because code is text they can read and reason about. Drop them into a design tool and they go blind. Ask an agent to "make the heading brand red and tighten the layout" and there's nothing safe to grab onto — no stable target, no validation, no preview, no way to check the result.

Zenith fixes that. The goal is to make design files as safe to automate as code:

Plain text you own — readable, diffable, yours forever.
Stable IDs so every change is a reviewable patch, not a mouse drag.
Deterministic rendering — the same file always produces the same pixels.
Real validation — text fits, colors come from the design system, nothing falls off the page.
Safe edits — every change is a typed transaction, checked and previewable before it lands, with a source diff and an audit record.

It's not AI image generation

The opposite of an image model: Zenith generates the editable design, not a flat picture.

This is the most common mix-up, so it's worth being blunt: Zenith is the opposite of an image model like Nano Banana, ChatGPT image, or Grok Imagine.

An image generator gives you a flat picture. It's a bag of pixels — you can't open it up and move the logo, you can't force the headline to use your exact brand color, and asking for "the same thing but with a different date" gives you a different image. There's nothing to edit, review, or guarantee.

Zenith doesn't generate a picture. It generates the design itself — a structured, editable document where every element is real and addressable. An agent (or a person) can change one line, swap a color token, or regenerate a hundred on-brand variants, and every render is exact and repeatable. AI writes and edits the source; Zenith guarantees what it means and how it looks.

Agent-native first, not a tool with an API bolted on

The foundation is a programmatic, deterministic engine; the visual editor is a client on top — automation is the front door.

Read the full README →View source on GitHub →

Related MCP Servers

View all in Developer Tools View all alternatives

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to share how this listing worked for you.

Frequently Asked Questions about Zenith

Add the following block to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers: "mcpServers": { "zenith": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "zenith"] } }

AllMCPs Directory Badge

Full Badge Customizer

Showcase your server listing on GitHub or your project documentation. Embed this dynamic SVG badge to highlight official listing status and live engagement.

Badge Style:

Live Dynamic SVG Preview

Markdown (GitHub README)

[![AllMCPs](https://allmcps.com/api/badge/zenith?style=directory)](https://allmcps.com/mcp/zenith)

HTML Embed

<a href="https://allmcps.com/mcp/zenith"><img src="https://allmcps.com/api/badge/zenith?style=directory" alt="Zenith on AllMCPs" /></a>

Technical Specs & Signals

CategoryDeveloper Tools

27Quality signal: Emerging · 27/100How this signal is calculated ▾

Server availabilityNot measured

Not scored for repo-hosted servers — we can't reach the running server, only its GitHub page. Hosted MCP endpoints are health-checked live.

Verified ownership8/20

Documentation & tools11/30

Adoption & activity1/15

Community engagement0/10

A guidance signal from public completeness & health data — not a user rating. New listings start lower and rise as they add docs, get verified, and grow adoption. Signals we can't observe for a listing are skipped, not counted against it.

★ Featured

Moxie Docs MCP

MCP & Agent Skills for Automated Documentation, and codebase conventions + context

Explore Server →

Own this project?

This directory is pre-filled from public sources. Claim via GitHub README, site badge, or DNS TXT to unlock edit access and the Official badge and attach your website — proof is checked automatically, then reviewed by our team.

Free dofollow backlink: add your website and place the AllMCPs badge on it — no claim needed. We detect it automatically and keep it verified as long as the badge stays live.

Claim & get free dofollow

Share & Embed

Add our SVG badge (dark/light directory styles) or embeddable widget to your site.

Explore more

More in 💻 Developer Tools →Best MCP servers for Developers →Alternatives to Zenith →Install in Claude Desktop Install in Cursor Install in VS Code

Zenith

Author, validate, edit, and render deterministic .zen design docs to PNG/PDF.

Quick Install

Automated & IDE Setup

Copy the AI prompt to install this server into Claude Code, Cursor, or another agent — or use 1-click editor setup below.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code

Manual Client & Custom JSON ConfigExpand JSON ▾

Client Config & Setup

Choose your client or environment

Target File:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zenith": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zenith"
      ]
    }
  }
}

💡 Paste the JSON block into your client's configuration file under mcpServers, then restart the application.

Documentation Overview

Zenith

A design-document format and engine built for the age of AI agents.

Plain-text .zen design files that you can read, diff, review, validate, and let an agent safely edit — compiled deterministically to pixel-exact PNG and print-ready PDF.

Install Quick start Features Validation Commands Agents

_{Every banner and diagram in this README is itself created using Zenith — source in assets/showcase/.}

The sections below are collapsed to keep this page skimmable — click any heading's ▸ to expand it. Install and Quick start are open by default.

Install

The recommended way to install the zenith CLI is the install script, which detects your platform and downloads the matching prebuilt binary from GitHub Releases.

Linux / macOS

Terminal

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zenitheditor/zenith/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

powershell

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zenitheditor/zenith/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Set ZENITH_INSTALL_DIR to change the install location (default ~/.local/bin):

bash

ZENITH_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin \
  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zenitheditor/zenith/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

With cargo

bash

cargo install zenith-tool    # from crates.io (installs the `zenith` binary)
cargo install --git https://github.com/zenitheditor/zenith zenith-tool   # from source

With npm

Terminal

npm install -g @zenitheditor/zenith-mcp
npx -y @zenitheditor/zenith-mcp --help

The npm package installs the matching prebuilt zenith binary from GitHub Releases and is focused on the MCP Registry launch path. The unscoped zenith binary remains the Rust CLI.

GitHub Releases

Download directly from GitHub Releases:

Platform	Architecture	Asset
Linux	x86_64	`zenith-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz`
Linux	aarch64	`zenith-<version>-linux-arm64.tar.gz`
macOS	x86_64	`zenith-<version>-macos-x64.tar.gz`
macOS	Apple Silicon	`zenith-<version>-macos-arm64.tar.gz`
Windows	x86_64	`zenith-<version>-windows-x64.zip`

Update

bash

zenith update                   # latest stable release
zenith update --pre             # latest prerelease
zenith update --version <tag>   # a specific release tag, e.g. the ones on the Releases page

Verify with zenith --version.

Build from source

For local development or source installs:

bash

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/zenitheditor/zenith
cd zenith
cargo build --release
cargo install --path zenith-cli   # installs `zenith` to ~/.cargo/bin
./scripts/install.sh --local      # installs the local build to ~/.local/bin

The release binary lands at target/release/zenith. No C toolchain or system libraries are required — the dependency graph is C-free and unsafe is forbidden workspace-wide.

Quick start

bash

zenith validate examples/hello.zen          # report diagnostics (add --json for machine output)
zenith fmt examples/hello.zen               # canonical, idempotent formatting
zenith tokens examples/hello.zen            # list design tokens and their resolved values
zenith inspect examples/hello.zen           # print the node tree (read-only)
zenith render examples/hello.zen --out .    # compile + render to PNG

zenith render examples/multipage.zen --all-pages out/     # one PNG per page
zenith render examples/hello.zen --pdf hello.pdf          # print-ready PDF
zenith render examples/hello.zen --scene scene.json       # dump the scene IR

The smallest valid document:

kdl

zenith version=1 {
  project id="proj.hello" name="Hello Zenith"
  tokens format="zenith-token-v1" {
    token id="color.bg" type="color" value="#f8fafc"
    token id="color.ink" type="color" value="#111827"
    token id="font.body" type="fontFamily" value="Noto Sans"
    token id="size.heading" type="dimension" value=(px)42
  }
  styles {}
  document id="doc.hello" title="Hello Zenith" {
    page id="page.hello" w=(px)480 h=(px)160 {
      rect id="rect.bg" x=(px)0 y=(px)0 w=(px)480 h=(px)160 fill=(token)"color.bg"
      text id="text.hello" x=(px)24 y=(px)24 w=(px)432 h=(px)112 fill=(token)"color.ink" font-family=(token)"font.body" font-size=(token)"size.heading" { span "Hello Zenith" }
    }
  }
}

Why

Code got source control, types, tests, and PRs. Design files got none of that — and that hurts people and blocks AI.

Zenith fixes that. The goal is to make design files as safe to automate as code:

Plain text you own — readable, diffable, yours forever.
Stable IDs so every change is a reviewable patch, not a mouse drag.
Deterministic rendering — the same file always produces the same pixels.
Real validation — text fits, colors come from the design system, nothing falls off the page.
Safe edits — every change is a typed transaction, checked and previewable before it lands, with a source diff and an audit record.

It's not AI image generation

The opposite of an image model: Zenith generates the editable design, not a flat picture.

This is the most common mix-up, so it's worth being blunt: Zenith is the opposite of an image model like Nano Banana, ChatGPT image, or Grok Imagine.

Agent-native first, not a tool with an API bolted on

The foundation is a programmatic, deterministic engine; the visual editor is a client on top — automation is the front door.

Read the full README →View source on GitHub →

Related MCP Servers

View all in Developer Tools View all alternatives

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to share how this listing worked for you.

Frequently Asked Questions about Zenith

Add the following block to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers: "mcpServers": { "zenith": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "zenith"] } }

AllMCPs Directory Badge

Full Badge Customizer

Showcase your server listing on GitHub or your project documentation. Embed this dynamic SVG badge to highlight official listing status and live engagement.

Badge Style:

Live Dynamic SVG Preview

Markdown (GitHub README)

[![AllMCPs](https://allmcps.com/api/badge/zenith?style=directory)](https://allmcps.com/mcp/zenith)

HTML Embed

<a href="https://allmcps.com/mcp/zenith"><img src="https://allmcps.com/api/badge/zenith?style=directory" alt="Zenith on AllMCPs" /></a>

Technical Specs & Signals

CategoryDeveloper Tools

27Quality signal: Emerging · 27/100How this signal is calculated ▾

Server availabilityNot measured

Not scored for repo-hosted servers — we can't reach the running server, only its GitHub page. Hosted MCP endpoints are health-checked live.

Verified ownership8/20

Documentation & tools11/30

Adoption & activity1/15

Community engagement0/10

★ Featured

Moxie Docs MCP

MCP & Agent Skills for Automated Documentation, and codebase conventions + context

Explore Server →

Own this project?

Free dofollow backlink: add your website and place the AllMCPs badge on it — no claim needed. We detect it automatically and keep it verified as long as the badge stays live.

Claim & get free dofollow

Share & Embed

Add our SVG badge (dark/light directory styles) or embeddable widget to your site.

Explore more

More in 💻 Developer Tools →Best MCP servers for Developers →Alternatives to Zenith →Install in Claude Desktop Install in Cursor Install in VS Code