@cyanheads/pixoo-mcp-server

Render and push styled pixel art, text, dashboards, and animations to Divoom Pixoo LED displays on your local network via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.

7 Tools • 4 Resources

Tools

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

Tool	Description
`pixoo_display_text`	Render styled text (theme, gradient, shadow, outline, auto-fit) onto the display and push it. Returns the rendered frame as an image.
`pixoo_compose_scene`	Compose a full scene: layered elements (text, icons, widgets, shapes, bitmaps, images, sprites) with per-element effects and keyframes, static or animated. Returns the rendered scene as an image.
`pixoo_push_image`	Load an image (absolute local path or https URL), resize it to the LED grid, and push it. Returns the downsampled result as an image.
`pixoo_overlay_text`	Set or clear a device-native scrolling text overlay. Uses device-rendered fonts; overlays persist across channel switches until cleared.
`pixoo_control_device`	Read or change device state: brightness, screen on/off, channel, or clock face. Call with no params for a status read.
`pixoo_discover_devices`	Find Pixoo devices on the local network via Divoom's cloud discovery endpoint. Run once during setup to find device IPs.
`pixoo_design_brief`	Return craft guidance and live device context for a design topic. Covers legibility rules, palette discipline, layout zones, animation budget, and pre-filled next-tool suggestions.

`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

Type	Name	Description
Resource	`pixoo://device/status`	Live snapshot of the connected Pixoo display: reachable, channel, brightness, screen state, and display size
Resource	`pixoo://reference/themes`	Theme and palette registry with background gradients, default text palettes, accent colors, and swatch values
Resource	`pixoo://reference/icons`	Built-in icon names organized by category (weather, arrows, status, media)
Resource	`pixoo://reference/design-guide`	Long-form 64px craft guide: legibility floors, palette discipline, layout zones, animation budget, and known device behaviors

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:

config.json

{
  "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):

config.json

{
  "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:

config.json

{
  "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

Clone the repository:

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

Navigate into the directory:

cd pixoo-mcp-server

Install dependencies:

bun install

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:

Variable	Description	Default
`PIXOO_IP`	Device IP address on the local network. Required for device tools (`pixoo_display_text`, `pixoo_compose_scene`, `pixoo_push_image`, `pixoo_overlay_text`, `pixoo_control_device`). Discovery and pure-render (`push: false`) work without it.	—
`PIXOO_SIZE`	Display size in pixels: `16`, `32`, or `64`.	`64`
`PIXOO_OUTPUT_DIR`	Directory for auto-saving preview PNG and GIF files. When unset, previews are returned in-response only.	—
`PIXOO_PUSH_MIN_INTERVAL_MS`	Minimum interval between device pushes in milliseconds. Prevents device freeze from rapid-fire commands.	`1000`
`MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE`	Transport: `stdio` or `http`.	`stdio`
`MCP_HTTP_PORT`	HTTP server port.	`3010`
`MCP_SESSION_MODE`	HTTP session handling: `stateful`, `stateless`, or `auto`. Shipped as `stateless` in `.env.example` and the Dockerfile — no tool requests input mid-call.	`auto` (resolves to `stateful`)
`MCP_AUTH_MODE`	Authentication: `none`, `jwt`, or `oauth`.	`none`
`MCP_LOG_LEVEL`	Log level (`debug`, `info`, `warning`, `error`, etc.).	`info`
`LOGS_DIR`	Directory for log files (Node.js only).	`<project-root>/logs`
`STORAGE_PROVIDER_TYPE`	Storage backend: `in-memory`, `filesystem`, `supabase`, `cloudflare-kv/r2/d1`.	`in-memory`
`OTEL_ENABLED`	Enable OpenTelemetry instrumentation (spans, metrics, completion logs).	`false`

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

Terminal

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

Path	Purpose
`src/index.ts`	`createApp()` entry point — registers tools/resources and initializes the Pixoo service.
`src/config/`	Server-specific environment variable parsing and validation with Zod.
`src/mcp-server/tools/`	Tool definitions (`*.tool.ts`).
`src/mcp-server/resources/`	Resource definitions (`*.resource.ts`).
`src/services/pixoo/`	`PixooService` — wraps `@cyanheads/pixoo-toolkit`, handles pacing, result mapping, and device state.
`src/renderer/`	Pure rendering pipeline: element renderers, styled-text engine, themes, icons, effect compiler, preview encoding. No device dependency.
`tests/`	Unit and integration tests mirroring `src/`.

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.