Install CoDesign MCP by hand

Set CoDesign up yourself, step by step. Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity and Gemini CLI can install the plugin, which brings the design skills and handbook along with the MCP server. Every other client registers the server on its own: it is the same local server everywhere, and only the command or the config file differs.

The command every agent ends up running

npx -y @imgly/codesign-mcp@latest stdio

Install with the plugin in four steps

For Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity and Gemini CLI. It brings the MCP server along with the design skills and handbook.

Check your client runs local servers

CoDesign runs on your own machine and talks over stdio. A client that only connects to remote MCP servers over HTTP cannot start it, and no amount of config will change that.

On Windows, run your agent inside WSL for now. Clients that start npx directly fail there with spawn npx ENOENT, and a native Windows launcher is on the way.

Get Node 22.15 or newer

Run this in a terminal.

Check the installed Node version

node --version

If it prints nothing, or a version below v22.15, install Node with the line that matches your machine, then open a new terminal so the updated PATH takes effect. With no package manager to hand, the installer at nodejs.org does the same job.

macOS, with Homebrew

brew install node

Linux or WSL, or anywhere nvm is already set up

nvm install --lts && nvm use --lts

Install the plugin

Pick your agent. The plugin bundles the MCP server with the design skills and the design handbook, so there is no server to register separately.

1. In Claude Code, install the plugin from the Anthropic Directory

/plugin install codesign@anthropic-plugin-directory

Or run /plugin directory codesign and install it from Discover. In the terminal: claude plugin install codesign@anthropic-plugin-directory.

1. In the terminal, add the marketplace

codex plugin marketplace add imgly/codesign

2. Install the plugin

codex plugin add codesign@imgly-codesign

1. In the terminal, clone the plugin repo

git clone https://github.com/imgly/codesign

2. Install the plugin folder

agy plugin install ./codesign/plugins/codesign

1. In the terminal, install the extension

gemini extensions install https://github.com/imgly/codesign

Start your agent, then start the onboarding

Start your agent, or restart it if it was already open, so it loads the plugin. Claude Code is the exception: its in-session install loads the plugin straight away. Then send the message below. It runs a short guided flow that explains what CoDesign does and produces one finished design. No account is needed. Signing in to a free IMG.LY account is optional and only adds AI image generation.

Send this once your agent has started

start the CoDesign onboarding

Install without the plugin in four steps

For any MCP client that runs local servers. You register the MCP server on its own, without the bundled skills.

Check your client runs local servers

CoDesign runs on your own machine and talks over stdio. A client that only connects to remote MCP servers over HTTP cannot start it, and no amount of config will change that.

On Windows, run your agent inside WSL for now. Clients that start npx directly fail there with spawn npx ENOENT, and a native Windows launcher is on the way.

Get Node 22.15 or newer

Run this in a terminal.

Check the installed Node version

node --version

macOS, with Homebrew

brew install node

Linux or WSL, or anywhere nvm is already set up

nvm install --lts && nvm use --lts

Register the server

Pick your agent. Keep @latest so npx re-resolves the package instead of reusing a stale cached copy, and keep stdio, which selects the transport. If you merge a JSON block into an existing file, keep any servers that are already there.

Run in a terminal

claude mcp add --scope user codesign -- npx -y @imgly/codesign-mcp@latest stdio

Run in a terminal

codex mcp add codesign -- npx -y @imgly/codesign-mcp@latest stdio

Run in a terminal

agy mcp add codesign -- npx -y @imgly/codesign-mcp@latest stdio

Merge into ~/.gemini/settings.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codesign": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@imgly/codesign-mcp@latest", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Merge into .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codesign": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@imgly/codesign-mcp@latest", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Merge into ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codesign": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@imgly/codesign-mcp@latest", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Merge into .vscode/mcp.json (the key is servers, not mcpServers)

{
  "servers": {
    "codesign": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@imgly/codesign-mcp@latest", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Merge into Zed's settings.json (under context_servers)

{
  "context_servers": {
    "codesign": {
      "command": {
        "path": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "@imgly/codesign-mcp@latest", "stdio"]
      }
    }
  }
}

For a client that reads a JSON config file

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codesign": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@imgly/codesign-mcp@latest", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

For a client that takes a command instead

npx -y @imgly/codesign-mcp@latest stdio

Restart the client, then start the onboarding

A newly registered stdio server is not live in the session that registered it, so restart your client first. Then send the message below. It runs a short guided flow that explains what CoDesign does and produces one finished design. No account is needed. Signing in to a free IMG.LY account is optional and only adds AI image generation.

Send this once your client has restarted

start the CoDesign onboarding

Free local MCP server

Client not cooperating?

Ask in the Discord and someone will take a look. If your agent can run commands, hand it the install guide for agents and it can do the rest itself.

See what CoDesign does Join the Discord