Sidekick for Claude (switch assistant)

For Claude Desktop and Cowork. One extension covers both.

Get the InDesign plugin

From Adobe Exchange. 30 days to try, then $9.95 a month, cancel any time.
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Download the extension

Download for Claude
Open it in Claude

Double-click the downloaded file. Claude opens and asks to install it.
On Windows, or if nothing happens: open Claude, go to Settings → Extensions → Advanced Settings, click Install Extension and choose the file.
Check it

With a document open in InDesign, ask Claude, in a chat or in Cowork: how many pages does my document have?
No answer from InDesign? Ask sidekick health and send us the reply.
No installer and no password, for people who already use Node.js 20 or later.
Step 2
Check Node.js

In a terminal, this should print 20 or higher:
```
node --version
```
Step 3
Add Sidekick to Claude

Remove the Sidekick extension first, or Claude runs two copies. Then open Settings → Developer → Edit Config and add this, with the full path from which npx (Windows: where npx) as the command:
```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indesign-sidekick": {
      "command": "/full/path/to/npx",
      "args": ["-y", "indesign-sidekick", "start"]
    }
  }
}
```
Check it

Quit and reopen Claude, then with a document open in InDesign ask: how many pages does my document have?
No answer from InDesign? Ask sidekick health and send us the reply.

Other ways

Not working?

Your organization blocks extensions?: See Sidekick and organization allowlists.
Using Sidekick in more than one assistant?: Install it once for the whole computer, then add it to each assistant, and only once per assistant: two entries in one assistant start two copies. See Using multiple AI assistants.

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