Drive your photo library from a prompt

imagic Max ships an MCP server, so Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and Codex can scan a shoot, cull it, grade each frame and export the keepers — while a live browser view shows you every edit as it lands.

What it looks like

A recorded session on a real 711-photo shoot at sunset. The before and after images are genuine imagic renders, the adjustment values are the ones that were actually applied, and the library shows the shoot's scene frames — click any of them to inspect its edit.

live session imagic
Bypass permissions Sonnet 5Medium
imagic live preview +
← →127.0.0.1:8765
imagiclive from your AI agent waiting
now editing
Waiting for your agent to start editing.
beforeafter
library

Set it up

Four steps, about five minutes. You only do the first two once.

Install imagic and activate

The MCP server is part of imagic Max. The free 7-day trial includes it, so you can do this before buying anything. Launch the app once and enter your key — the agent reuses that activation, and headless runs are refused until it exists.

Register imagic with your agent

One command. Point it at the installed app with the --mcp flag.

macOS
claude mcp add imagic -- /Applications/imagic.app/Contents/MacOS/imagic --mcp
Windows
claude mcp add imagic -- "C:\Program Files\imagic\imagic.exe" --mcp
pip install
claude mcp add imagic -- imagic-mcp

Cursor, Codex, Copilot and Claude Desktop take the same command and arguments in their own config files — see the setup reference.

Ask for what you want

Plain language. The agent picks the tools; you do not have to name them.

Cull this shoot, grade the keepers for the venue lighting,
and export them to a folder next to the originals.

It will scan, score every frame, sort them into keep / review / trash, then edit and export. On a large shoot, ask it to analyse first and show you the counts before it commits.

Watch it happen

The moment the server starts it opens a local preview. Nothing is uploaded — it is served from your own machine.

http://127.0.0.1:8765

Every frame appears with a before/after slider at full resolution, plus a running log of the tools the agent called. It is the fastest way to catch an edit going the wrong way while there is still time to redirect it.

What your agent can do

Twenty-one tools, grouped by what they are for. You rarely call them by name — this is what the agent is choosing between.

StageToolsWhat it does
Ingestscan_directoryPulls a folder of RAW or JPEG into the library. Re-scanning is safe.
Cullanalyze_photos, reselect_photosScores sharpness, exposure and composition, finds duplicates, sorts into keep / review / trash. Re-selecting re-ranks instantly from stored scores.
Reviewlist_photos, get_photo, set_photo_status, get_library_statsInspect and override. Your manual keep/trash decisions always survive a re-cull.
Editapply_adjustments, apply_preset, list_presets, get_photo_editsPer-frame slider adjustments or a named look. Everything lands in imagic's normal edit history, so it is reviewable and undoable.
Stylestart_style_calibration, record_style_calibration, learn_style_from_library, apply_my_style, get_style_profile, match_style_from_examplesTeaches imagic how you edit, from a short calibration session or from photos you have already edited.
Qualitycheck_score_freshness, reanalyze_stale_photosFinds photos scored by an older version of the AI and re-runs them.
Exportexport_photosRenders the edits to a folder you name.

Worth knowing

Nothing leaves your machine. The MCP server, the preview and the rendering all run locally. Your agent sends instructions; your photos stay where they are.
Edits are non-destructive. Every adjustment the agent makes is stored the same way the desktop editor stores yours — open the photo in imagic afterwards and change anything you disagree with.
Photos in iCloud download first. If your shoot lives in an iCloud-synced folder with the files evicted, macOS fetches each one before it can be read, which makes a large import look stalled. Select the folder in Finder and choose Download Now first.
Activate before you automate. Headless and MCP runs need an activated imagic Max licence. If the agent reports the licence is not activated, open the imagic app once and activate, then retry.

Try it on your own shoot

The 7-day trial is full imagic Max, MCP server included. No card.

Start the free trial