kenshape-mcp

An MCP server that lets AI assistants such as Claude create low-poly 3D art for Kenney Shape. The assistant draws on Kenney Shape's tile canvas, looks at rendered previews of the extruded model, and saves .kenshape projects or exports GLB, OBJ, SVG and PNG files.

A rocket built with a single draw call. The preview shows the flat drawing, a 3D view, a side view and a top view.

Not affiliated with Kenney. This is an unofficial companion tool. It needs your own purchased copy of Kenney Shape: the tile shapes are read from your install when the server starts, and nothing from the program is included in this repository.

Features

• Draws like a person would. Rectangles, lines, ellipses, flood fill, mirroring, and an ASCII grid op that places detailed pixel art in one call.

• Covers every tile property. All 22 tile shapes and 4 rotations, per-tile depth (thickness), back-face color and back depth.

• Shows its work. It renders a PNG preview sheet (drawing, 3D, side and top views) so the assistant can check the model and fix it.

• Exports models. GLB (glTF 2.0) and OBJ+MTL with one material per palette color, plus SVG like Kenney Shape's vector export.

• Produces real Kenney Shape projects. It saves .kenshape files the program opens, and can launch Kenney Shape with a project for its other exporters (FBX, Collada, VOX, Minecraft, GIF).

• Builds models the way Kenney Shape does. Each tile is 1×1 unit and is extruded depth units around the center plane, scaled by the project's depth multiplier.

Related MCP server: Meshy MCP Server

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer

• Kenney Shape (Windows build tested), bought from kenney.nl

• An MCP client: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or any other client that supports stdio servers

Installation

git clone https://github.com/CuteTechGuy/kenshape-mcp.git

cd kenshape-mcp

npm install

Then point the server at your copy of the program with KENSHAPE_EXE. If you clone this repository into the Kenney Shape folder, next to Kenney Shape.exe, the server finds the program without it.

Claude Code

Add a .mcp.json to your project, or put the same block in your user settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kenshape": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/path/to/kenshape-mcp/src/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "KENSHAPE_EXE": "C:/path/to/Kenney Shape/Kenney Shape.exe",
        "KENSHAPE_DIR": "C:/path/to/output"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add the same kenshape entry under mcpServers in claude_desktop_config.json, then restart the app.

Usage

Ask your assistant for a model, for example:

Make a 16×16 treasure chest in Kenney Shape: dark wood, gold trim, a thick lid. Show me a preview, then export a GLB.

A typical session:

1. new_project: start a 16, 24, 32 or 64 tile canvas.

2. list_shapes: optional; learn the tile shapes and their rotations.

3. draw: lay out the art, usually with one grid op, then round_corners or mirror.

4. render_preview: look at the result and fix anything wrong.

5. export_model or save_project: write .glb, .obj, .svg, .png or .kenshape.

Tools

Drawing operations

Coordinates are tile positions: x points right, y points down, and (0, 0) is the top-left tile.

Each op can also take brush fields: color (a palette index or #RRGGBB; -1 erases), shape (a name or index), angle (0–3), depth (0–8), colorBack, depthBack and erase. A brush without color only changes tiles that are already filled, which is how you paint depth or shapes onto existing art.

{
  "op": "grid",
  "rows": [
    "..RR..",
    ".RWWR.",
    ".RWWR."
  ],
  "legend": {
    "R": { "color": 9, "depth": 4 },
    "W": { "color": 15, "depth": 5, "shape": "cornerRounded", "angle": 0 }
  }
}

The tool reference covers every option, and the file format notes describe .kenshape files. examples/rocket.mjs builds the rocket shown above.

How it works

• src/assets.js reads the shape definitions (names, mirror partners and outline paths) from your Kenney Shape install's Unity asset files when the server starts.

• src/geometry.js turns each tile's outline into a polygon, triangulates it and extrudes it into a flat-shaded mesh. It skips walls hidden between neighboring tiles.

• src/render.js is a small software rasterizer that writes PNGs with no native dependencies.

• src/export.js writes GLB, OBJ+MTL and SVG files.

Exported models are centered on the origin, with +Y up and the front facing +Z, and one unit per tile.

Development

npm test

The smoke test starts the server over stdio, draws a model, exports every format and reloads the saved project. It needs a Kenney Shape install. See CHANGELOG.md for release notes.

License

MIT © İbrahim Alkan. Kenney Shape is © Kenney and has its own license; this project does not include or redistribute any part of it.