Edit with BeforeEdit's local MCP tools

What your agent can do

BeforeEdit is a Windows photo editor with a pixel art workspace and a vector composer. Its bundled local MCP companion lets an agent use editing tools for photo layers, pixel spans, animation frames, editable saves and rendered exports.

You choose the brief and direct the work. The agent calls editor tools through MCP; the result is a document with layers you can inspect, revise and keep as an editable master.

Install and activate

Install BeforeEdit through GLTX Hub and activate an owned license or an eligible plan. The MCP companion follows the same license as the editor. An owned copy can work offline; a subscription refreshes its license online.

Use an MCP client that can launch a local stdio server. The companion executable is installed beside BeforeEdit. Use its actual installed path, rather than a path copied from someone else's computer.

Choose the folders the agent can use

Set BEFOREEDIT_ALLOWED_ROOTS to the folders the companion may read and write. On Windows, separate multiple folders with a semicolon. Without that setting, access is limited to the process working directory. Give it a dedicated artwork folder.

This example uses placeholder paths. Replace both paths before adding it to your client's MCP configuration; the exact configuration screen depends on the client.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "beforeedit": {
      "command": "C:\\path\\to\\BeforeEdit\\beforeedit-mcp.exe",
      "env": {
        "BEFOREEDIT_ALLOWED_ROOTS": "C:\\Art\\BeforeEdit"
      }
    }
  }
}

Start with a small sprite

Ask your agent to inspect the companion's capabilities, then build a 16 × 16 sprite with named layers. The beforeedit_pixel_build tool can create the canvas, frames, compact RGBA spans and exports in one call. Use beforeedit_pixel_inspect to review the result before export.

Save a .bepixel master and a PNG preview inside an allowed folder. For a photo composition, keep a .bephoto master. PNG, GIF and PSD are delivery formats; they do not preserve every native editing feature.

Check these boundaries before choosing it

BeforeEdit does not promise full Photoshop or Aseprite parity. Some Photoshop smart objects, effects and vector shapes do not round-trip losslessly. Keep the original PSD when those features matter.

The released MCP pixel engine supports canvases up to 1024 × 1024, 64 layers and 240 frames, subject to a total stored-pixel limit. Smaller projects make a better first connection test. GIF has palette and transparency limits; use PNG or APNG when full RGBA matters.

A small tool-call example

After your MCP client initializes the companion and discovers its tools, this call builds a tiny two-frame document and requests an editable master, a PNG sprite sheet and a GIF. Its argument shape follows the released companion's smoke-test fixture. Relative filenames resolve inside the allowed write root.

Use it to check the connection and the export path, not as a finished design. Then inspect the document, open the saved master and check the delivered PNG and GIF. The companion's text and vector tools are also exposed through tool discovery; beforeedit_text_create and beforeedit_vector_create are part of the released catalogue.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "beforeedit_pixel_build",
    "arguments": {
      "width": 16,
      "height": 16,
      "fps": 8,
      "frames": [
        {},
        {
          "duration": 125
        }
      ],
      "layers": [
        {
          "name": "Body",
          "spans": [
            {
              "x": 6,
              "y": 4,
              "colors": [
                "#ffffffff",
                "#ffffffff",
                "#ffffffff",
                "#ffffffff"
              ]
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Accent",
          "frames": [
            {
              "frame": 1,
              "spans": [
                {
                  "x": 7,
                  "y": 7,
                  "colors": [
                    "#d9aa4cff",
                    "#d9aa4cff"
                  ]
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "exports": [
        {
          "path": "sprite.bepixel"
        },
        {
          "path": "sprite.png",
          "scale": 8,
          "spriteSheet": true
        },
        {
          "path": "sprite.gif",
          "scale": 8
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

If the connection fails

Check that the companion path exists, the license is active and your output path is inside an allowed root. Protocol messages use stdout; diagnostics use stderr. A client must support stdio MCP, rather than treating this companion as a hosted HTTP endpoint.

The public BeforePixel website edition is a lighter canvas from the same BeforePixel app. Its hosted agent pairing is a separate release boundary; do not use its browser address as the BeforeEdit MCP server.

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