Tutorials MarkupCraft help Walkthroughs
Use MarkupCraft with an AI assistant
Let your own AI assistant or script list the markups of a set and add simple ones: permissions, connecting through CadCraft Studio, and the activity log.
Written for MarkupCraft 0.4. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
What you will learn
How to let an AI assistant (or a script you wrote) work with MarkupCraft, and how to decide what it is allowed to touch.
MarkupCraft has no AI of its own and sends nothing anywhere. You bring the assistant: Claude Desktop, Claude Code or any program that speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MarkupCraft only gives it tools, and you choose which.
Turn it on
- Open Settings (the gear in the app bar, or ⌘,Ctrl+,) and go to the MarkupCraft tab.
- Under Assistants, tick Let AI assistants and scripts use MarkupCraft. It is off until you do.
- Choose what it may do: Read is ticked to start with; tick Edit, Save or Export only when you need them.
Tools outside the permissions you ticked are not offered to the assistant, and if it asks for one anyway, MarkupCraft refuses and writes it in the activity log. Turning the switch off ends every connection at once; Reset MarkupCraft settings turns it off too.
Connect your assistant
Assistants connect through CadCraft Studio on your computer: Studio runs a small server only this computer can reach, protected by a token it makes each time it starts. In Studio, choose Connect an assistant and copy the address and the token into your assistant (Studio shows the exact settings for Claude Code, Claude Desktop and other MCP clients). Never share the token.
You stay in charge
- Every change is one undo step, labelled with the assistant's name for it (for example "Assistant: add cloudrect"). ⌘ZCtrl+Z takes back the assistant's last change as a whole.
- You know when one is connected. A button in the app bar names the assistant while it is connected; click it to see what it may do, or to Disconnect it.
- Activity. Settings › MarkupCraft › Assistants › Activity lists every call: when, which tool, done or refused. Save the log keeps a copy.
What an assistant can ask for
| Tool | Permission | What it does |
|---|---|---|
app_info, sheets_list | Read | The sets open, their sheets and how many markups each has |
markups_list | Read | The markups with type, sheet, text, comment, measurement, status, author and replies, filtered by sheet, status, type or author |
markup_add | Edit | Adds a rectangle, cloud, ellipse, text box, note, line or arrow to a sheet |
A markup an assistant adds names it as the author (for example "Claude Code (assistant)") unless you set your reviewer name, and it is one undo step. Saving the marked-up PDF stays with you: use Save as usual.
Without opening MarkupCraft, the CadCraft MCP server lists the markups of a PDF in a folder you name (markups_list), and cadcraft info Set.pdf prints them on the command line.
If something doesn't work
- The assistant sees no MarkupCraft tools: check that the switch is on in this window, and that the window is open in Studio.
- "needs the edit permission": tick Edit under Assistants, then ask again.
- "401" or "token" errors: the token changed (Studio restarted, or New token). Copy the new one into the assistant's settings.