ascii-art-mcp

ascii-art-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server built with Node.js and TypeScript that exposes tools for retrieving ASCII and Unicode art from a local database.

The server communicates using stdio transport, making it compatible with MCP clients such as:

• Claude Desktop
• Cursor
• LM Studio
• Open WebUI
• Other MCP-compatible environments

https://theduodecim.github.io/ascii-art-mcp/

▶ Run this MCP

Just drop this link into any MCP-compatible AI chat:

https://github.com/theduodecim/ascii-art-mcp/tree/main

"Run this MCP"

The AI will clone the repo, build it, and run it automatically. No setup needed on your end.

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📦 Installation

The package is available on npm:

https://www.npmjs.com/package/ascii-art-mcp

Install locally:

npm install ascii-art-mcp

Or run directly:

npx ascii-art-mcp

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🌐 MCP Registry

This server is also published in the official Model Context Protocol Registry:

https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/?q=ascii-art

Server name:

io.github.theduodecim/ascii-art

This allows MCP-compatible tools to discover and install it automatically.

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⚙️ Requirements

• Node.js 20+
• npm

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🚀 Running the server manually

Development mode:

npm run dev

Build + production run:

npm run build
npm start

The server uses stdio transport and loads its data from:

db.json

located in the repository root.

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🧰 Available MCP Tools

get_ascii_art

Finds an art entry by exact nombre or by an exact value in aliases.

Input

Field	Type	Required
query	string	yes

Output

Returns the entry's art field as plain text.

---

search_ascii

Searches entries by categoria, tags, or both.

Input

Field	Type	Required
categoria	string	optional
tag	string	optional

At least one filter is required.

Output

Returns matching entries' art fields combined as text output.

---

random_ascii

Returns a random entry from the database.

Input

Field	Type	Required
tipo	ascii | unicode	required

Output

Returns the selected entry's art field as plain text.

---

list_categories

Lists all unique categories present in the database.

Input

None

Output

Category names as newline-separated text.

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🗂 Data Model

Entries in db.json follow the AsciiArtEntry TypeScript interface:

src/types/asciiArt.ts

Each entry contains metadata such as:

• name
• category
• tags
• aliases
• art content

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🧪 Testing the MCP Server

A simple integration test was used to verify MCP communication using JSON-RPC over stdio.

Example test script (test.mjs):

import { spawn } from "child_process";

const proc = spawn("node", ["dist/server.js"], {
  stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "pipe"]
});

proc.stderr.on("data", (d) => {
  console.log("LOG:", d.toString());
});

proc.stdout.on("data", (d) => {
  console.log("SERVER:", d.toString());
});

function send(msg) {
  const json = JSON.stringify(msg);
  const payload = `Content-Length: ${Buffer.byteLength(json)}\r\n\r\n${json}\r\n`;

  console.log("\nSENDING:\n", json, "\n");

  proc.stdin.write(payload);
}

setTimeout(() => {
  send({
    jsonrpc: "2.0",
    id: 1,
    method: "initialize",
    params: {
      protocolVersion: "2024-11-05",
      capabilities: {},
      clientInfo: {
        name: "tester",
        version: "1.0"
      }
    }
  });
}, 500);

setTimeout(() => {
  send({
    jsonrpc: "2.0",
    method: "initialized",
    params: {}
  });
}, 1000);

setTimeout(() => {
  send({
    jsonrpc: "2.0",
    id: 2,
    method: "tools/list"
  });
}, 1500);

setTimeout(() => {
  proc.kill();
  console.log("TEST FINISHED");
}, 4000);

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🧠 Architecture

src/
  server.ts
  tools/
  types/

dist/

db.json

• TypeScript MCP server
• JSON database (db.json)
• Zod validation for tool inputs
• stdio transport

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🎯 Purpose

This project demonstrates how to build a simple MCP tool server that:

• runs locally
• requires no API keys
• exposes structured tools
• serves static data through MCP

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📜 License

MIT