Teams still reliant on CEP should migrate to UXP to take advantage of the streamlined debugging and packaging workflows offered by the UXP Developer Tool.
Gone are the days of complex XML manifests. UDT uses a simple manifest.json structure. The command line tool allows you to:
Adobe’s Unified Extensibility Platform (UXP) has fundamentally changed how developers build plugins for Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator. Moving away from the older Common Extensibility Platform (CEP), UXP delivers native-performance user interfaces by executing JavaScript directly within the application environment. adobe uxp developer tool hot
Getting your environment up and running takes less than five minutes:
Adobe UXP is an open platform that enables developers to build extensions, plugins, and integrations for Adobe Creative Cloud applications. It provides a unified framework for developers to create custom experiences that can be easily integrated into Adobe's suite of creative applications, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Teams still reliant on CEP should migrate to
Locate the toggle action (often symbolized by an eye or a loop icon depending on the UDT version). Click Watch to turn it on.
Force an immediate update of your plugin within the host application using Actions > Reload or keyboard shortcuts ( Watch Mode: The command line tool allows you to: Adobe’s
Maya's latest client brief had landed on her lap two nights ago: a plugin for a creative agency that needed to streamline a messy assets pipeline inside Adobe Photoshop. They wanted speed, a slick UI, and seamless integration with the apps their artists used. Her tool of choice this week: Adobe UXP. It had been "hot" in the forums for months—modern JavaScript APIs, native-feeling panels, promises that simplified asynchronous work. Tonight, she’d make it sing.
Use the Debug button to open the DevTools window. Here, you can use the require('photoshop') or require('indesign') modules directly in the console to test commands before adding them to your code.
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To start using the UXP Developer Tool effectively in 2026, follow these steps: