Install IMG.LY CoDesign in your coding agent

Get Node 22 or newer in place

Check the version first. If Node is missing or older than v22, install or upgrade it yourself rather than handing that back to the user. Use whatever the machine already has: nvm, Homebrew, winget, or the system package manager. Ask only if the install needs a permission you do not have.

node --version

nvm install 22 && nvm use 22

Add the MCP server

Run this once, using the line for your client. On the Claude Code line, --scope user registers CoDesign for every project on this machine; Codex takes no scope flag. Keep @latest so npx re-resolves the package instead of reusing a stale cached copy, and keep stdio, which selects the transport and is a subcommand rather than a flag.

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

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

Running in something else? Read those two lines as a pattern rather than looking for your own name on this page. The server is the same everywhere: npx -y @imgly/codesign-mcp@latest stdio, started locally over stdio. Your job is to find how your own client registers one and pass it that command. Most coding agents have an mcp subcommand of their own, and --help on your CLI will name it. If your client reads a JSON config file instead, merge the block below into it, keeping any servers already listed. Match the shape of the file you find: the wrapper key is mcpServers in most clients, but a few name it differently, and the command and args pair is the part that matters.

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

Confirm it registered

codesign should appear in the list. If it does not, work out why and fix it yourself: a wrong Node version and a typo in the command cover most cases. Show the user the output only if you cannot resolve it.

claude mcp list

codex mcp list

In any other client, run its own equivalent, the counterpart of whatever you registered with. If it has no list command, read the config file back and check that the entry is valid JSON and sits in the file the client actually loads. One more check that works anywhere: run npx -y @imgly/codesign-mcp@latest stdio in a terminal and confirm the process starts and waits for input rather than exiting with an error. That proves the command is good even when you cannot yet see it listed.

Hand back to the user, the only manual step

CoDesign is not available in this session yet, so do not try to call its tools. This last part is the one thing you cannot do for the user. Tell them to restart the client they are in, then to send the message below. It starts 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.

start the CoDesign onboarding