cli-anything-illustrator

name	cli-anything-illustrator
description	Use when driving Adobe Illustrator 2026 from scripts or agents — inspecting documents, layers, artboards, page items, text frames, and swatches, or exporting artwork as PNG, JPEG, SVG, or PDF. Requires Illustrator running with a document open; the bridge is `osascript do javascript` (no CEP panel needed). All commands require Illustrator to be running.
agent_guidance	Always use --json for parseable output. Use `ping` first to verify Illustrator is running. Paths must be absolute. Layer names are case-sensitive. Artboard indices are zero-based. Export formats PNG and JPEG write to the macOS per-user temp dir then move; SVG and PDF use saveAs. `document info` gives you layer_count and artboard_count before you call layer or artboard subcommands.

cli-anything-illustrator

Adobe Illustrator 2026 CLI. Drives Illustrator via osascript do javascript with a temp-file #include transport; no CEP extension required.

Installation

pipx install -e /path/to/illustrator/agent-harness

Requirements:

• macOS (Ventura / Sonoma tested)
• Adobe Illustrator 2026 (version 30.x)
• Python 3.10+

Quick Start

# Verify Illustrator is running
cli-anything-illustrator ping

# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-illustrator --json ping

# Start REPL
cli-anything-illustrator

Commands

ping — Health check

cli-anything-illustrator ping
cli-anything-illustrator --json ping

Returns: {"ok": true, "version": "1.0.0", "app": "illustrator", "app_version": "30.3.0"}. Exits 1 if Illustrator is not running.

---

document — Document commands

# Active document metadata
cli-anything-illustrator document info
cli-anything-illustrator --json document info

# List all open documents
cli-anything-illustrator document list
cli-anything-illustrator --json document list

# Open a file
cli-anything-illustrator document open /path/to/file.ai

# Save the active document
cli-anything-illustrator document save

# Close (without saving)
cli-anything-illustrator document close

# Close and save
cli-anything-illustrator document close --save

document info returns: name, path, width, height, color_space, ruler_units, layer_count, artboard_count, path_item_count, text_frame_count, swatch_count, modified.

Supported open formats: .ai, .eps, .pdf, .svg, .fxg.

---

layer — Layer commands

# List all layers (including sublayers, with depth)
cli-anything-illustrator layer list
cli-anything-illustrator --json layer list

# Show / hide a layer
cli-anything-illustrator layer visible "Artwork" on
cli-anything-illustrator layer visible "Artwork" off

# Lock / unlock a layer
cli-anything-illustrator layer locked "Text" on
cli-anything-illustrator layer locked "Text" off

Each layer entry: name, visible, locked, depth (0 = top-level, 1 = sublayer).

---

artboard — Artboard commands

# List all artboards
cli-anything-illustrator artboard list
cli-anything-illustrator --json artboard list

# Set active artboard (zero-based index)
cli-anything-illustrator artboard set-active 0
cli-anything-illustrator artboard set-active 2

Each artboard: index, name, width, height, x, y.

---

object — Page item commands

# List all page items in active document
cli-anything-illustrator object list
cli-anything-illustrator --json object list

# Filter by layer
cli-anything-illustrator object list --layer "Artwork"

# Show currently selected items
cli-anything-illustrator object selection
cli-anything-illustrator --json object selection

Each item: index, name, type, x, y, width, height, visible, locked, layer.

---

text — Text frame commands

# List all text frames
cli-anything-illustrator text list
cli-anything-illustrator --json text list

# Replace text frame contents (zero-based index)
cli-anything-illustrator text set 0 "New headline text"

Each text frame: index, contents, x, y, width, height, layer.

---

swatch — Swatch commands

# List swatches (excludes [None] and [Registration] by default)
cli-anything-illustrator swatch list
cli-anything-illustrator --json swatch list

# Include system swatches
cli-anything-illustrator swatch list --all

Each swatch: name, spot, color_type. CMYK swatches also have c, m, y, k; RGB swatches have r, g, b.

---

export — Export commands

# Export as PNG (72 DPI by default)
cli-anything-illustrator export png /tmp/out.png
cli-anything-illustrator export png /tmp/out.png --resolution 300
cli-anything-illustrator export png /tmp/out.png --artboard 0

# Export as JPEG
cli-anything-illustrator export jpeg /tmp/out.jpg --quality 8 --resolution 150

# Export as SVG
cli-anything-illustrator export svg /tmp/out.svg

# Save as PDF
cli-anything-illustrator export pdf /tmp/out.pdf

All export commands print {"output": "/path/to/file", "file_size": N}. PNG and JPEG are written to the macOS per-user temp dir first (Illustrator sandbox restriction), then moved to the requested path.

---

REPL Mode

cli-anything-illustrator
# illustrator> ping
# illustrator> --json document info
# illustrator> layer list
# illustrator> export png /tmp/test.png
# illustrator> exit

---

Output Format

All commands support --json for machine-readable output:

cli-anything-illustrator --json ping
# {"ok": true, "version": "1.0.0", "app": "illustrator", "app_version": "30.3.0"}

cli-anything-illustrator --json document info
# {"name": "logo.ai", "width": 800.0, "height": 600.0, "color_space": "CMYK", ...}

cli-anything-illustrator --json layer list
# [{"name": "Artwork", "visible": true, "locked": false, "depth": 0}, ...]

Exit codes: 0 = success, 1 = error (message on stderr or in {"error": "..."} JSON).

---

Architecture Notes

• Transport: Python writes ExtendScript to a temp .jsx file in /tmp, then invokes osascript -e 'tell application "Adobe Illustrator" to do javascript "#include \"/tmp/x.jsx\""'. The #include approach avoids shell-escaping the script body entirely.
• JSON: Illustrator 2026 has native JSON. The polyfill guard (if typeof JSON === "undefined") means the polyfill is a no-op on this version. Scripts avoid undefined values since the native engine serializes them as the text "undefined" (non-standard).
• Export sandbox: Illustrator can only write raster files (PNG, JPEG) to the macOS per-user temp dir (Folder.temp / Python tempfile.gettempdir()), not to /tmp. Vector/PDF exports via saveAs have no such restriction.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
ping fails	Illustrator must be open. Check Activity Monitor.
layer visible "Artwork" on fails	Layer name is case-sensitive; check layer list first.
artboard set-active 5 → "out of range"	Check artboard list for valid indices.
export png /tmp/out.png → file missing	Use an absolute path outside /tmp (e.g. ~/Desktop/out.png). /tmp is writable for .jsx scripts but not Illustrator raster output.
object list returns empty	No page items on visible layers, or document has no objects.

Version

1.0.0