Number counter in After Effects with AI
Yes, you can make a number counter in After Effects with AI: ask ChatGPT, Claude or any MCP client connected to Prism, and a text layer lands in your open comp, driven by slider keyframes and formatted by one expression.
Every counter tutorial ends in the same place: a Slider Control, a Source Text expression, and a forum thread re-solving the comma. This is that idiom, written for you from one sentence.
What you say, and what lands
| You type | What appears in your comp |
|---|---|
| "Add a counter that counts from 0 to 1,250,000 over 2 seconds with thousands separators, easing out at the end." | One text layer, a slider keyed 0 to 1,250,000 across two seconds with an ease out, an expression that inserts the commas |
| "Make this text layer count 0% to 87% and stop." | The selected layer's slider keyed 0 to 87, the expression appends the percent sign and holds on 87 |
| "Count up to $4.2M with one decimal place." | A slider keyed 0 to 4.2, the expression fixes one decimal and wraps it in the $ and the M |
Slider keyframes drive it; the formatting is one expression. Drag the keyframes to retime the count.
Test it on your own project. A Free account is enough to start: Sign up, then connect your AI and ask for this.
How to do it
Formats
| Format | You say | What the expression does |
|---|---|---|
| Count-up | "count 0 to 500" | rounds the slider to a whole number |
| Thousands separators | "with commas" | inserts a separator every three digits |
| Percent | "0% to 87%" | appends the percent sign |
| Currency | "with a dollar sign, two decimals" | prefixes the symbol and fixes the decimals |
| Decimals | "one decimal place" | fixes the decimal count so 4.2 never flickers to 4.20 |
| Count-down | "10 down to 0, one number per second" | keys the slider high to low on hold keyframes |
What it needs
| After Effects | 2024, 2025 or 2026, macOS or Windows |
| AI client | any MCP client: ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and others |
| Plan | a Free account is enough; counters use MCP actions, not Prism AI credits |
What it does not do
It does not read the value from a spreadsheet or a live feed, and it does not use the Numbers effect. A different number is a different sentence; the counter is rekeyed, not linked to a file.
Common questions
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