Sidekick for InDesign
Lets your AI assistant talk to InDesign. Not about it. Actually control it.
Documentation
Claude meetsInDesign*
A little AI sidekick to help you get stuff done — laying out pages, chasing typography, and grinding through the production work you would rather not do by hand.
Trial
30 days, free
Then
$9.95 / month
Used by
1,500+ designers
Runs on
macOS & Windows
*Sidekick speaks the Model Context Protocol, so it works with Claude — or any other MCP-capable assistant, Cursor and Windsurf included.
Fig. 1 — the panel, connected
01 — Setup
Two pieces. One on each side.
Sidekick is a plugin that goes into InDesign and an extension that goes into your assistant. Install both, in either order, and they find each other.
Your AI assistant
RUNNING
Claude Desktop
or Cursor, Windsurf, Continue…
+ Sidekick extension INSTALLED HERE
One download from this site. Double-click and it installs itself. You will need Claude Desktop (free) or another MCP-capable assistant.
Instructions →
← Snapshots
Adobe InDesign
RUNNING
InDesign 2024+
macOS or Windows
+ Sidekick plugin INSTALLED HERE
From Adobe Exchange. Adds a small panel to InDesign. Free for 30 days, then $9.95 a month, cancel any time.
Then
Open both, and ask.
“Fix the spacing on page 3, then make every heading match the running head.”
Nothing is uploaded. The two halves speak over your own machine, and your documents never leave it.
02 — Capability
If you can do it in InDesign, you can ask for it.
Sidekick exposes the document itself — frames, styles, tables, colours, master pages. Not a fixed menu of tricks.
A
Build the layout
Text frames, image boxes, threaded stories, baseline grids, master pages — described once and built to spec.
“Set this up on Tschichold's golden canon, thread every frame, and add running heads.”
B
Chase the typography
Paragraph and character styles, optical margins, rivers, widows, bad breaks. It reads real font metrics, so the numbers are true.
“Find every line ending in a hyphen across the chapter and fix the ones that stack.”
C
Grind the production
Batch edits, data-driven pages, pricing tables rebuilt from a spreadsheet, alt text audited across a whole document.
“Update the price table from this Excel file — new rows, same branding.”
D
Check its own work
It renders the page back and looks at it — a whole spread, or one frame under a loupe — before telling you it is done.
“Show me page 4 and tell me whether the caption clears the image.”
Examples are real prompts. The panel shows you what it is doing, step by step.
03 — Evidence
Written by people who paid for it.
[
“I'm appalled more people don't know about this plugin. I use it every single day and it has made my tasks and process so much faster and better. Anyone that works with InDesign, especially in editorial design (my case), will have a blast with this.”
Bruna Leão
August 20, 2026 · This is the best plugin I ever used
](https://exchange.adobe.com/apps/cc/8ebe7f95/sidekick-for-indesign)
[
“I used Sidekick to rebuild a complete five-panel print flyer (DL format, zigzag fold, bilingual) from scratch — style system, swatches, pill labels, cards, covers, spine bars, QR codes, export. Working with exact millimeter values instead of by eye worked remarkably well; the result matches the design. When a technical issue came up along the way, support was fast, honest and solution-oriented. For structured, repeatable layout tasks, this is a genuine time-saver.”
Christian Berger
July 20, 2026 · Precise layout work in InDesign — and excellent support
](https://exchange.adobe.com/apps/cc/8ebe7f95/sidekick-for-indesign)[
“As an engineer, I like using InDesign for construction specifications booklets, final reports, proposals, etc. Between Claude handling the tedious repetitive items and the quality control reviews, it's like having an expert on my shoulder every step of the way and making the updates/changes for me. It's not perfect, but it makes mistakes about as often as I do… it's a great tool!”
Mark McGuire
May 30, 2026 · Fantastic
](https://exchange.adobe.com/apps/cc/8ebe7f95/sidekick-for-indesign)
04 — Questions
Anything else, write to us. A person answers.
Does this only work with Claude?
Sidekick works with any app that supports MCP (Model Context Protocol). This includes Claude Desktop, Cursor, Continue, and many others. Learn more about MCP.
Is my data sent to the cloud?
Sidekick runs entirely on your machine. Your documents never leave your computer—the plugin just lets Claude see and edit what's in InDesign.
Which versions of InDesign are supported?
Sidekick requires InDesign 2024 or later, as it uses Adobe's UXP plugin architecture.
How much does it cost?
Sidekick costs $9.95/month after a 1-month free trial, available on Adobe Exchange. You'll also need a Claude subscription (or access to another MCP-compatible AI). Learn more about billing. Need to cancel? Here's how.
Thirty days,on the house.
$9.95 / month after that · cancel any time
From the blog
28 AUGUST 2026
Sheet Music in InDesign, as if It Were Always There
InDesign has no idea what a score is. Claude engraves a four-page Schubert song with LilyPond, places it page by page, and makes it look like it was typeset with the rest of the book—margins, running heads, and the same font as the body text.