Atlas MCP tools

Atlas MCP lets an AI app on the same computer (Claude's desktop app, Claude Code, any MCP client) drive Atlas. The user turns it on in Settings → Atlas MCP and sets it up with Set up Atlas MCP in Claude (or Copy setup for other AI apps). It needs After Effects open with the Atlas panel and Atlas MCP on; if After Effects shows a dialog, calls wait or time out and the AI is told. It listens on this computer only, answers only the Atlas connector, runs no script of its own, and needs no account or key. The connector takes its list of tools from the panel each time, so a newer Atlas brings its new tools with no reinstall.

How the tools behave:

• They work on the active comp in After Effects. Make or open one first (new_comp).
• Places by name: a pin on the map ("Paris" or "Pin: Paris"), a country (name or ISO code), a bundled town or city ("Paris", "Paris, France"), or "lat, lon" in degrees. A town not in Atlas's bundled list needs coordinates.
• Each tool is one step of After Effects' Undo (undo), and answers with a sentence and a small result.
• Anything an option leaves out takes the panel's own default. A wrong option comes back as a plain message naming the options.
• Calls run one at a time in the order sent; a long build holds the next call until it finishes (atlas_guide answers at once).
• The Data tab's outcomes are all reachable through import_file, import_data and open_data.

atlas_status

What Atlas sees now: the project, the comps, the active comp and its map (World or City, projection, centre, scale, style), its pins, whether the Atlas Particles plug-in is installed (particles, point clouds, live heat and flows need it), and the styles available. Call it first, and whenever unsure what the comp holds. No options.

atlas_guide

This manual. Without options it lists the topics; topic returns one (by id, such as Tutorials, The Map Root, the camera rig and the layers Atlas makes, Camera tab, Frequently asked questions, or words of its title); search returns the best-matching paragraphs ("spin globe day night clouds"). Answers at once, without After Effects.

new_comp

Makes a comp and opens it. name (required), width (1920), height (1080), seconds (10), fps (25).

build_world_map

A World map from bundled Natural Earth (offline) in the active comp. Give fit (a country by name or ISO code, fitted to the frame) or centreLon, centreLat and scale (150 the world, 480 a globe filling a 1080 comp, 900 Europe, 4,600 the UK, 40,000 a city). projection: mercator (default), equirect, ortho (the globe), robinson, naturalearth, winkel3, miller, azeqd, tmerc, conicea. style (default Dark Dashboard in the tool; the panel's own default is Street Light). output: raster (default) or vector. detail: auto, 110m, 50m, 10m.

It builds the default layers (Ocean, Land, Countries, Lakes, Country borders, Coastline), De facto borders, at the profile in Settings. Live globe is on only for ortho with output: "vector"; a raster globe is a still picture, and the tool cannot make a live vector Mercator map (a raster Mercator map follows the Root anyway). Rebuilding replaces the map and keeps pins, arcs and labels. No camera is added (use fly_to).

build_city_map

A street map from OpenStreetMap (needs the network the first time; cached). centreLat, centreLon (required), zoom 4 to 16 (14 streets; 6 a country, 10 a region, 16 a neighbourhood), style (Street Light), output (raster default, or vector). The default layers; the OpenStreetMap credit is added by itself. A zoom over the profile's tile budget is refused: lower it.

apply_style

Restyles every Atlas layer in the active comp in place with a style by name (a shipped preset or the user's own). A raster image is rendered again. style (required). It does not edit a style: colour and font edits are in the panel's Style tab.

add_pins

Places pins. places: a list of { name, lat?, lon? } (without coordinates the name is looked up in Atlas's places; "Paris, France" narrows it; misses are reported). design: dot (default), drop, ring, beacon, flag, callout, badge, square, diamond, crosshair, star. Labels (true), size (1), appearAt (seconds: the pins appear one after another 0.2 s apart). A pin of the same name is updated, not duplicated.

connect_places

Arcs between pins already on the map: a chain of places in order, or with hub from the hub to each place. shape: great (default), curved, straight. drawAs: line (default), Particles: moving data, both (needs the plug-in). start, duration (1.5), stagger, arrowheads, distances (a label counting up). Curved only: streams (1 to 24 nested curves), bend (auto, left, right), spacing (%). Arcs rise with the Root's Height (%) under a tilted camera; setting Height is a panel step (Elements → Arcs or Hubs → Height (%)).

highlight_countries

Highlights or outlines areas: countries, states and provinces (Lancashire, Bavaria, Texas), nations and regions (Wales, Greater London, Île-de-France), groups (EU, NATO). countries: names or ISO codes, each optionally with a year ("France 1940": dated areas reveal in date order); "Córdoba, Argentina" picks within a country. show: fill-outline (default), outline, fill. reveal: fade, wipe, draw, pop, none. start, duration (1), stagger (0.15). A nation, region or group is one merged shape. World maps. Spotlight is a panel step.

add_labels

Names that keep clear of pins and of each other. World: countries, capitals, places (cities by population), states, lakes, rivers. City: streets, districts, water. At least one is needed. Airports, ports, contour heights and points of interest are panel steps.

add_route

City maps: the route along the streets between from and to (a pin, a town by name, which gets a pin first, or "lat, lon"). drawAs: line, Particles: moving data, both. start, duration (2).

inspect_file

Reads a data file on this computer without changing the comp: a table's columns with what Atlas found each to be (country, latitude, longitude, time, years, numbers) and sample rows; a map file's features and properties; a track's length and times; a grid's cells; and the outcomes it can become. path (required). Data files only (the Import section's types). Call it before import_file.

import_file

Puts a data file on the map as one outcome: as = paths, image, Pins, heatmap, track, bubbles, choropleth, Arcs and Hubs, cloud, Particles: moving data (only what inspect_file says it can become). path and as are required. Options (any left out take the panel's defaults):

• title; columns by name: place, lat, lon, value, time, category, colour, from, to, fromLon, toLon, start, end, id.
• Time: byYear (step through year columns), start, over (rows appear over this many seconds), stepSeconds (1), duration (track 4, particles 10, cloud 4).
• Colours: colours (data layers: blues, reds, viridis, heat, diverging; clouds: fire, ice, viridis, magma), low and high (#RRGGBB), colour (one colour for clouds and particles); legend, legendCorner, scale (linear, sqrt, log).
• Per outcome: maxRadius (bubbles), radiusKm and live (heatmap; columns.value weights it, columns.time grows it), fill (paths, image), kind (events, trips, tracks) and look (flow, pulse, fireflies, comet) for particles, style (spikes, dots, columns), height, rise, cellKm (cloud), recordedPace and elevation (track), shape, arcsAs (Pins or layer) and top (arcs).

import_data

The same, for data in the conversation: data (CSV text, a JSON array of rows, or a GeoJSON FeatureCollection), name (required), format (worked out by default). Atlas keeps it as a file beside the saved project (Atlas Data). Without as it keeps and inspects the data and returns the saved path; with as it also makes the outcome, with every import_file option.

open_data

Live public data, no key: source = usgs (earthquakes: period hour, day, week, month; magnitude all, 1.0, 2.5, 4.5, significant), eonet (NASA natural events: category, days, status), worldbank (indicator such as SP.POP.TOTL, NY.GDP.PCAP.CD, SP.DYN.LE00.IN; fromYear, toYear), geoboundaries (country ISO3, level ADM0 to ADM3), openflights (airports; afterwards airport codes in any table resolve). Kept beside the project. Without as it says what came back; with as it makes the outcome, with the import_file options. OpenStreetMap places (Overpass) are paused in 1.0.1.

fly_to

Moves Atlas's camera to a place over time (adds the camera when there is none; a country is fitted). zoom (3), tilt (0 to 60), heading, start, duration (2). rebuildMap (true) runs Update map afterwards so the map reaches the frame's edges and stays sharp through the move. Several calls with later start times make a camera tour.

Orbit a place

Flies to a place, tilts and sweeps round it. zoom (3), tilt (45), sweep (30: a gentle pan), direction (clockwise, anticlockwise), start, leadIn (1.5), duration (6), rebuildMap (true).

remove_camera

Takes Atlas's camera out and makes the map flat again. No options.

list_layers

The Atlas layers in the active comp, oldest first, each with its kind and whether it is on. No options.

remove_layer

Removes one Atlas layer by name (as list_layers gives it) with what belongs to it (a pin's dot, label and marker; an arc's traveller and label; a particles layer's readout and bake; a legend). Never a layer Atlas did not make, the Map Root, the camera or the attribution.

undo

After Effects' Undo: steps (1 to 20), or redo. In 1.0.1 a map build can take more than one step to undo (see Limits and things to know); check with atlas_status or list_layers afterwards.

list_particles

The comp's particles layers: what each holds (events, trips, tracks, flows, a point cloud; how many; the time they span), its categories and colours, drawn as particles or heat, the looks that suit it, Start and Duration, readout and bake. Call it before the other particles tools; a layer is named as it gives it.

set_particles_look

look: flow, comet, pulse, fireflies (events take pulse or fireflies). layer may be left out when the comp has one particles layer. Flows and point clouds have no look.

set_particles_colours

colours: a list of { category, colour } (#RRGGBB); categories left out keep theirs. One colour over everything, or colours by value: make the layer again with import_data / import_file options.

set_particles_heat

on (true for heat, false for particles), radiusPx, colours (heat, viridis, blues, reds, diverging). Events, trips and tracks.

add_readout

A live readout beside a particles layer: pieces (clock, counters, bars, histogram), corner, or remove. Not for flows or point clouds.

bake_particles

Renders a particles layer to a PNG sequence (Atlas Sequences) in place of the live effect, for a machine without the plug-in. The project must be saved. range (comp, workArea), or restore.

look

A frame of the active comp as a picture (time in seconds, or the current time), so the AI sees what it made. Use it after building something.