affinity

Affinity Control

Affinity (/Applications/Affinity.app, the unified Canva-era app) has no AppleScript dictionary, CLI, or URL scheme, and its file formats are proprietary. Its only automation surface is the AI connector: when enabled, the app serves its JavaScript scripting SDK on http://localhost:6767/sse. The endpoint speaks the MCP protocol, but this skill drives it directly over HTTP/SSE with a zero-dependency Node CLI — no MCP client configuration, no tool schemas loaded into context. Verified end-to-end against Affinity 3.3.0 (build 4850).

• scripts/affinity-cli.mjs — the CLI (Node ≥ 18, no npm install needed).
• references/api-reference.md — verified endpoint tool contracts + SDK preamble digest. Read it before writing scripts.
• references/sdk-map.md — curated SDK digest: module map, node model, creation recipes (text, image, adjustments), gotchas. Read it when writing anything beyond the basic drawing recipe.
• references/sdk-docs/ — the complete vendored SDK documentation (142 topics, ~1.8 MB). Grep it for exact signatures only after sdk-map.md; never read the big files whole (nodes.js is ~300 KB).
• Online signature reference for the native *Api layer the vendored JS wraps: https://sdk.affinity.studio/latest/js/ (apis/<ApiName>/<method>.html, enums/<Enum>.html).

The control loop

1. Preflight — the endpoint cannot be enabled remotely:

   node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs ping     # → "OK http://localhost:6767 — Affinity 1.0.0"
   

   If it fails, ask the user to launch Affinity and enable the AI connector (Affinity Settings → AI connector; see the setup guide — the Claude-side connector steps there are NOT needed, only the in-app toggle).

2. Write the script — JavaScript against the Affinity SDK. Start from references/api-reference.md, then references/sdk-map.md for the right module and recipe; grep references/sdk-docs/ for exact signatures. Scripts are top-level executable code; output ONLY via console.log() (return values are dropped). Entry point:

   const { app } = require('/application');   // '/application.js' works too
   const doc = app.documents.current;          // null when no document is open
   

   Three things trip up almost every first script, so get them right up front:

   • New documents default to millimetres. NewDocumentOptions setters are write-only; set o.units = UnitType.Pixel (from /units.js) before o.width/height/dpi.
   • Text size is in document pixels, not points: px = pt * doc.dpi / 72.
   • app.documents.all is a plain Array, node .children a lazy Collection — see sdk-map.

   Unsure what the user's settings allow? Log require('/environment').Environment.permissions (→ {fileSystem, network, genAI}) and .fileSystemRoots before writing code that needs them.

   When an API resists, search the crowd-sourced hints pool: node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs search "set blend mode".

3. Execute:

   node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs run myscript.js
   

   Runs via the endpoint's execute_script and prints the script's console output. Errors come back as text — iterate on the file and re-run.

4. Verify visually — never assume a script worked:

   node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs render --out /tmp/check.jpg            # current spread
   node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs render --selection --out /tmp/sel.jpg  # selection only
   

   Then Read the JPEG (max 1024 px). The document session uuid is fetched automatically.

5. Ship — when the user is happy with a script, install it for reuse:

   node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs add --title "My Script" --description "What it does" --file myscript.js
   

   Library scripts appear in Affinity under Window → General → Scripts.

CLI cheatsheet

node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs ping                          # endpoint alive?
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs run file.js                   # execute script, print console output
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs run -                       # same, script read from stdin (heredoc)
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs render [--selection] [--spread N] --out f.jpg
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs tools [--json]                # list endpoint tools (verified list in api-reference)
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs call <tool> '{"arg":"val"}'   # generic tool call
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs add --title "T" --description "D" --file f.js
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs list                          # library scripts
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs save --title "T" --out f.js   # export library script to disk
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs search "query"                # SDK hints search
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs docs [<topic>]                # list / print SDK doc topics
node scripts/affinity-cli.mjs docs-dump <dir> [--force]     # (re-)vendor SDK docs; resumable

Env overrides: AFFINITY_MCP_URL (default http://localhost:6767), AFFINITY_TIMEOUT_MS (default 120000 — raise for long batch scripts).

Known limitations

• A PERMISSION_DENIED error (the SDK preamble calls it NOT_ALLOWED) = the user disabled AI / filesystem / networking for scripting in Affinity settings — ask them to enable what's needed; don't probe around it.
• Script filesystem access is Desktop-only (app.userDesktopPath); no network from script code. Prefer render for verification over script-side exports.
• Library scripts cannot be deleted through the endpoint — only from the Scripts panel.
• Setting the current spread clears the selection; set it only when actually switching.
• doc.close() closes without prompting and discards unsaved changes — only close documents the script created itself, or save() first.
• Endpoint sessions can die during long batches (POST → HTTP 404) — just re-run; each CLI invocation is a fresh session (the preamble gate is handled automatically).
• After an Affinity update, check app.version against the version noted above. If it moved, dump into an empty directory (docs-dump /tmp/sdk-new, then replace references/sdk-docs/) — dumping over the old tree keeps stale files and skips changed ones — and refresh the api-reference and sdk-map digests.
• Fallback if the endpoint route is ever unavailable: macOS GUI automation (System Events keystrokes/menus) works but is brittle and unverifiable — use it only for trivial one-shot actions, never for document editing.

Security

Unlike the other app-automation skills, this one opens no port of its own — the listener is Affinity's. But turning the AI connector on is still a decision worth naming.

• Enabling the connector makes Affinity serve its full scripting SDK on http://localhost:6767/sse, an endpoint that executes JavaScript against the user's open documents. affinity-cli.mjs is only a client of it.
• The endpoint carries no authentication: while it is enabled, every local process, and every other user on a shared machine, can drive Affinity through it. The CLI refuses an SSE endpoint that redirects off AFFINITY_MCP_URL's origin, so a hijacked session can't silently repoint it — but that protects this client, not the endpoint.
• What scripts may touch is gated by Affinity's own AI / filesystem / networking switches (a PERMISSION_DENIED error means one is off). Turning one on widens what any client can do, not just this skill — ask rather than assume.
• To close it, turn the AI connector off in Affinity's settings. The endpoint goes with it; nothing this skill installed keeps listening.