pixoo-mcp-server

Tools

Seven tools covering the full display pipeline — from quick styled text to full layered scene composition, device control, and initial setup:

`pixoo_display_text`

The primary tool for text-only display. Covers the 80% case — styled text with quality defaults.

• Named scene themes set background gradient and text palette in one parameter (`midnight`, `ember`, `claude`, `ice`, `neon`, `forest`, `mono`)
• Style block: gradient palette ramps (`ember`, `ice`, `neon`, `fire`, `lavender`, `claude`, `mono`), drop shadow, 1px outline for legibility, integer scale multiplier for block-letter weight
• Semantic positioning: `x: "center"`, `y: "bottom"` — no manual pixel math
• Auto-fit overflow: tries 5×7 → 3×5 → scroll; every fit decision reported in `layout[]`
• Returns the rendered frame as an image content block so you see it immediately
• Optional brightness convenience parameter applied before push

`pixoo_compose_scene`

Full scene composition with the complete element vocabulary.

• Layered elements rendered back-to-front: `text`, `icon`, `rect`, `circle`, `line`, `progress`, `sparkline`, `bitmap`, `pixels`, `image`, `sprite`
• Named icons from the built-in registry (weather, arrows, status, media) or custom SVG path
• Dashboard widgets: `progress` bar with gradient fill and optional label; `sparkline` mini chart (line or bar, auto-scaled)
• Animation: named effect presets (`float`, `scroll-left`, `scroll-right`, `pulse`, `blink`, `twinkle`, `drift`, `fade-in`, `fade-out`) or raw keyframe arrays — 1–40 frames, configurable speed
• Per-element opacity and `visible` flag; images at https URLs fetched server-side to a temp file
• Returns a preview image (static: PNG; animated: labeled contact-sheet PNG + GIF saved to disk)

`pixoo_push_image`

Push any image to the display with control over the downsampling.

• Accepts absolute local paths and https URLs
• Three fit modes: `contain` (letterbox), `cover` (crop to fill), `fill` (stretch)
• Three resize kernels: `nearest` for pixel art, `lanczos3` for photos, `mitchell` for a balance
• Returns the exact 64×64 result as an image block — you see what the display received

`pixoo_overlay_text`

Device-native scrolling text overlay — persists across channel switches.

• 115 device-rendered font IDs (0–114)
• Up to 20 independent overlay slots (IDs 0–19)
• Configurable scroll direction, speed, and alignment
• Clears with `mode: "clear"` — overlays survive channel changes until explicitly removed
• Not previewable (device-rendered); for styled previewable text use `pixoo_display_text`

`pixoo_design_brief`

The orientation tool. Run before authoring any scene to get grounded in 64px craft constraints.

• Six topics: `text`, `scene`, `dashboard`, `animation`, `pixel-art`, `troubleshooting`
• Returns legibility floors, palette discipline, layout zones, animation budgets, and common pitfalls
• Merges live device state (reachable, channel, brightness, screen) into the response
• Pre-filled `nextToolSuggestions` with ready-to-use arguments based on current device state

Resources

All resource data is also reachable via tools. `pixoo_design_brief` surfaces the design guide content per topic; `pixoo_control_device` returns live device state equivalent to `pixoo://device/status`.

Features

Built on `@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core`:

• Declarative tool and resource definitions — single file per primitive, framework handles registration and validation
• Unified error handling — handlers throw, framework catches, classifies, and formats
• Pluggable auth: `none`, `jwt`, `oauth`
• Swappable storage backends: `in-memory`, `filesystem`, `Supabase`, `Cloudflare KV/R2/D1`
• Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing
• STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports, serving MCP protocol revision 2026-07-28 alongside the 2025 revisions

Pixoo-specific:

• Requires a Divoom Pixoo LED matrix display on the local network; primary target is the Pixoo-64 (16 and 32 also supported)
• All composition happens in an RGBA canvas pipeline on the host (`@cyanheads/pixoo-toolkit`) — the device receives final RGB frames, never raw drawing commands
• Styled text engine: gradient palette ramps, drop shadows, outlines, integer scale, semantic alignment — no manual pixel math or bitmap letterforms required
• Push pacing: device commands serialized with a configurable minimum inter-push interval (default 1000ms) to prevent device freezes
• Every `PixooResult` checked — `pushed: true` means the device acknowledged with `error_code: 0`, never "I tried"
• Animation capped at 40 frames (device instability beyond this); contact-sheet PNG preview for animations (GIF inconsistent across MCP clients)
• Local transports only — `sharp` image processing doesn't run on Cloudflare Workers

Agent-friendly output:

• Preview-as-content: render tools return the upscaled (8×, 512px) output as an image content block — the calling model sees exactly what was drawn, before and after push
• Layout transparency: every silent renderer decision (font fallback, truncation, scroll engaged, element clipped) reported in `layout[]` so agents can inspect and refine
• Device truth: `pushed` reflects the device ACK; `deviceState` post-push flags visibility issues (screen off, brightness ≤ 10, wrong channel) as enrichment notices rather than failures
• Graceful degradation: render succeeds and returns the preview even when the device is unreachable — the agent keeps its work

Getting started

Requirements: A Divoom Pixoo display (Pixoo-64, Pixoo-32, or Pixoo-16) on the same local network as the server. Run `pixoo_discover_devices` to find its IP, then set `PIXOO_IP` in your server configuration.

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pixoo-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/pixoo-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "PIXOO_IP": "192.168.1.50"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with npx (no Bun required):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pixoo-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/pixoo-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "PIXOO_IP": "192.168.1.50"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with Docker:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pixoo-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio",
        "-e", "PIXOO_IP=192.168.1.50",
        "ghcr.io/cyanheads/pixoo-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 PIXOO_IP=192.168.1.50 bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp

Prerequisites

• Bun v1.3.2 or higher (or Node.js v24+).
• A Divoom Pixoo LED matrix display on the local network (Pixoo-64, Pixoo-32, or Pixoo-16). Discovery tools and pure-render tools (`push: false`) work without a configured device.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/pixoo-mcp-server.git

2. Navigate into the directory:

cd pixoo-mcp-server

3. Install dependencies:

bun install

4. Configure environment:

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and set PIXOO_IP

Configuration

All configuration is validated at startup via Zod schemas in `src/config/server-config.ts`. Key environment variables:

See `.env.example` for the full list of optional overrides.

Running the server

Local development

• Build and run:

# One-time build
  bun run rebuild

  # Run the built server
  bun run start:stdio
  # or
  bun run start:http

• Run checks and tests:

bun run devcheck   # Lint, format, typecheck, security
  bun run test       # Vitest test suite
  bun run lint:mcp   # Validate MCP definitions against spec

Docker

docker build -t pixoo-mcp-server .
docker run --rm -e PIXOO_IP=192.168.1.50 -p 3010:3010 pixoo-mcp-server

The Dockerfile defaults to HTTP transport, stateless session mode, and logs to `/var/log/pixoo-mcp-server`. OpenTelemetry peer dependencies are installed by default — build with `--build-arg OTEL_ENABLED=false` to omit them.

Project structure

Development guide

See `CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md` for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:

• Handlers throw, framework catches — no `try/catch` in tool logic
• Use `ctx.log` for request-scoped logging, `ctx.state` for tenant-scoped storage
• The renderer (`src/renderer/`) is pure — no device dependency, testable without hardware
• All device calls go through `PixooService`; every `PixooResult` is checked

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:

bun run devcheck
bun run test

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE for details.