Model Context Protocol
A media toolkit your AI agent can actually drive.
Smol runs an MCP server on your Mac. Connect Claude Code, Codex or Google Antigravity in one click, and your agent can compress, convert, upscale and strip metadata from images, PDFs, video and audio. The files stay on your disk.
Local by construction
Most media MCP servers are a cloud API with a wrapper.
That distinction decides whether you can use one at all. If the server is a front end for a hosted service, your client’s assets, your unreleased product shots and anything under NDA leave the machine the moment an agent touches them. Smol’s server is the app you already have open. There is no API key, no account and no upload step, because there is nowhere for the file to go.
What an agent can call
Not one generic “compress” action. Each operation takes real parameters — format, quality target, resize behaviour, output location, metadata handling — so results are repeatable rather than a fresh guess per file.
- Compress
- Images, PDFs, video and audio. Explicit quality targets, not a single generic action.
- Neural compress
- Detail-first image compression with a target size from 4 KB to 4 MB.
- Convert
- Images, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, video, audio, tables and fonts.
- Upscale
- 2×, 3× or 4×, writing PNG, JPG or WebP.
- Strip metadata
- Remove embedded metadata, with or without recompressing.
- Neural analyze
- Inspect an image before deciding how to encode it.
- Presets
- List, create and remove reusable settings.
- Watched folders
- List, add, update and remove folders that process automatically.
- Clipboard
- Compress whatever is on the clipboard.
- Quick Action
- Check, install or remove the Finder Quick Action.
- Jobs
- Plan, run, monitor and cancel work. Every operation is cancellable mid-flight.
- Neural engine
- Check status, install, warm or stop the local model.
What it deliberately cannot do
Handing an agent a tool is a trust decision, so the surface is bounded on purpose.
Licence activation and deactivation
Excluded from the MCP surface entirely. An agent cannot touch your licence.
Installing updates
Excluded. Updates stay a human decision.
Overwriting your originals
Off by default. Smol writes alongside rather than over.
Relative paths
Rejected. Every path must be absolute, which removes an entire class of wrong-directory accidents.
Connected in about two minutes
- STEP 01
Open Smol for AI
Launch Smol and select “Smol for AI” in the sidebar. The panel is titled “Connect AI tools to Smol”.
- STEP 02
Pick your client
Press Connect next to Claude Code, Codex or Google Antigravity. Smol writes itself into that client’s own MCP settings, keeps every other server you have configured, and will not overwrite a config file it cannot safely read.
- STEP 03
Copy the AI guide
Use “Copy full AI guide” and paste it into your agent so it knows every tool, format and setting that is available.
- STEP 04
Give it a media task
Ask the agent to compress, convert, upscale or strip metadata. The job runs on your Mac and returns structured results it can check.
When you don’t need this
If you compress a file every few weeks, open Smol and drag it in. The MCP layer earns its keep when the work is repetitive, scripted, or already happening inside an editor session.
If your pipeline runs on Linux CI, this is the wrong tool. Smol is a macOS app, and the server runs where the app runs. A container-friendly encoder belongs in your build; Smol belongs on the machine where the work starts.
And if you are happy driving ffmpeg and sharp by hand, you already have most of this. What you gain is consistency across formats and results the agent can verify rather than assume.
Questions
What is MCP?
MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that lets AI assistants call external tools. Smol implements an MCP server, so an AI client can invoke Smol’s media operations directly instead of shelling out to whatever encoder happens to be installed.
Which AI tools can connect to Smol?
Claude Code, Codex and Google Antigravity, each with a one-click Connect button in the Smol for AI panel. Google Antigravity support arrived in Smol 1.0.35. Because Smol implements the open protocol, other MCP-compatible clients can connect using the same mechanism.
Do my files get uploaded when an AI agent processes them?
No. The MCP server runs inside the Smol app on your Mac. Your AI client connects to that local server, and files are read and written on your own disk for the whole job. Nothing is sent to a processing service.
Can the AI agent change my licence or install updates?
No. Licence activation, licence deactivation and updater installation are deliberately excluded from the MCP surface. An agent can process media and manage jobs, presets and watched folders, and nothing else.
Will connecting Smol break my other MCP servers?
No. Smol adds itself to the client’s existing MCP configuration and preserves every other server already defined. If it cannot safely read a configuration file, it will not overwrite it.
Does Smol overwrite my original files?
Not by default. Smol does not overwrite originals unless you ask it to, and every path an agent supplies must be absolute, which removes a whole class of accidents caused by a wrong working directory.
One purchase, both halves.
The MCP server is included. Smol is a $29 one-time purchase with future updates — no subscription, no per-seat AI add-on, and no metering on agent calls.
Read the announcements: Antigravity support in 1.0.35 · how MCP support started. Last updated September 2026.