Set up MotionUI

MotionUI connects After Effects, Figma and your AI assistant. The MotionUI app sets everything up and keeps it current. This guide walks through it one step at a time, on Mac and Windows.

If you use an AI assistant to help you, paste the setup prompt from the MotionUI app (Settings | Copy setup prompt). It tells the assistant what is already done on your computer.

1. Install the MotionUI app

1. Download MotionUI from motionui.net.

2. Mac: open the downloaded file and drag MotionUI into Applications. Open it from Applications. MotionUI lives in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

3. Windows: run the installer. MotionUI starts by itself and lives in the system tray at the bottom right. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, choose More info, then Run anyway.

4. Open the MotionUI window from the menu bar or tray icon. Each tab shows a short checklist. Steps tick themselves once they are done.

2. After Effects

1. In the After Effects tab, choose Install panel.

2. Open After Effects. If it was already open, quit and open it again.

3. In After Effects, open Window, then Extensions, then MotionUI.

4. The MotionUI app shows After Effects as linked. The checklist disappears.

Good to know:

1. Older MotionUI panels from the ZXP installer are replaced automatically. If one sits in a folder that needs admin rights, the app shows where it is. Delete that folder once.

2. Panel updates arrive with app updates. They install on their own whenever After Effects is closed.

3. Figma

MotionUI Agent is a Figma development plugin. Figma does not list plugins that let an assistant work inside a file, so it is installed from files on your computer. It takes about two minutes and only once.

1. In the Figma tab, choose Prepare files. The app copies the path of the plugin to your clipboard.

2. Open the Figma desktop app (the browser version cannot run development plugins).

3. In Figma, open the main menu, then Plugins, then Development, then Import plugin from manifest.

4. In the file dialog, press Cmd+Shift+G on Mac and paste the path. On Windows, paste the path into the file name field. Pick manifest.json.

5. Open any file and run Plugins, then Development, then MotionUI Agent.

6. The MotionUI app shows Figma as linked. Keep the MotionUI app open while you work, the plugin talks to it.

4. Connect your AI

MotionUI adds its After Effects and Figma tools to Claude Code (in the Claude app) and to Codex.

1. Install the Claude app from claude.ai/download and sign in. Open the Code tab once, that installs Claude Code. Or install Codex.

2. In the AI tab of the MotionUI app, choose Connect next to Claude Code or Codex. MotionUI brings its own runtime for the tools, nothing else to install.

3. Start a new chat in Claude Code or Codex and ask for something, for example “Animate the title in my open comp”. The checklist ticks the last step once the first request arrives.

Using the regular Claude chat instead of Claude Code? In the AI tab, choose Open Claude installer and confirm in Claude.

AI tools need MotionUI Pro. Add your license key in Settings.

5. If something does not work

Still stuck? Write to info@hiver.agency with the text from Settings | Copy setup prompt.

Notes for AI assistants

You are helping someone set up MotionUI. Follow these rules:

1. Go one step at a time. Wait for the person to confirm before the next step.

2. Start from the setup state in the prompt they pasted. Skip steps that are done.

3. Ask for a screenshot when a message is unclear.

4. Never ask for the license key or any password.

5. If you can run commands on their computer (Claude Code, Codex), you may check these places, read only:

   1. Mac app: /Applications/MotionUI.app (version in Contents/Info.plist).

   2. After Effects panel: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/com.aw.MotionUI.panel (Mac), %APPDATA%\Adobe\CEP\extensions\com.aw.MotionUI.panel (Windows). Version in CSXS/manifest.xml.

   3. MotionUI app data: ~/Library/Application Support/MotionUI (Mac), %APPDATA%\MotionUI (Windows). Do not open license.json.

   4. AI connection: the “motionui” entry in ~/.claude.json or ~/.codex/config.toml.

6. Change nothing without asking first. Installing the panel, the plugin and the AI connection is done in the MotionUI app, not by hand.