PICO-8 MCP Server

An MCP server for working with PICO-8 game carts, built on top of shrinko8.

Features

Code Analysis Tools

• count_tokens - Count tokens, characters, and compressed size

• analyze_cart - List functions, globals, and code metrics

• validate_cart - Validate cart with token limits and linting

• search_code - Search for code patterns across carts

• compare_carts - Compare two cart versions with diff

Cart Manipulation

• read_cart - Read cart sections (code, gfx, map, sfx, music)

• minify_cart - Minify carts to reduce token count

• list_carts - List all carts in a directory with metadata

Documentation Resources

• add_documentation - Fetch and save PICO-8 documentation from URLs

• Resources - Saved documentation is available as MCP resources (e.g., pico8://docs/api)

Related MCP server: mcp-markdown-tools

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+

• uv package manager

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/pico8-mcp-server.git
cd pico8-mcp-server

2. Initialize the shrinko8 submodule:

git submodule update --init --recursive

3. Install dependencies:

uv sync

For Claude Code (VSCode)

Add the server using the Claude CLI:

cd /Users/ebonura/Desktop/repos/pico8-mcp-server
claude mcp add pico8 --scope project -- uv run server.py

Or manually create a .mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pico8": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "/Users/ebonura/Desktop/repos/pico8-mcp-server/server.py"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pico8": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/Users/ebonura/Desktop/repos/pico8-mcp-server", "run", "server.py"]
    }
  }
}

Usage Examples

Once configured, you can ask Claude:

• "Count the tokens in my horizon-glide cart"

• "Analyze the code structure of v0.16.p8"

• "Search for all uses of 'terrain' in my carts"

• "Compare v0.15.p8 and v0.16.p8"

• "List all carts in the horizon-glide directory"

• "Validate my cart and show any errors"

Adding Documentation

You can fetch and save PICO-8 documentation:

"Fetch the PICO-8 API reference from https://pico-8.fandom.com/wiki/APIReference
and save it as 'api'"

Once saved, Claude can automatically reference the documentation when helping with PICO-8 code.

License

MIT (inherits from shrinko8)