@pipeworx/igdb

IGDB (Internet Game Database, Twitch/Amazon) — the reference catalogue for ~300,000 video games: release dates per platform, genres, ratings, developers, publishers, franchises and cover art.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1679+ live data sources.

Tools

• igdb_search_games(query) — search games by title, optionally scoped to a platform or a release window.

• igdb_game(id | slug) — one game in full, with per-platform release dates, DLC, expansions and similar titles.

• igdb_companies(query) — developers and publishers, with what they shipped.

• igdb_platforms(query) — the ~200 platforms, whose ids scope a game search.

Related MCP server: Video Games MCP Server

Auth

Platform key (PLATFORM_TWITCH_KEY) with BYO override via _apiKey.

The credential is the same Twitch app the twitch pack uses — IGDB is gated by Twitch OAuth, so _apiKey is "CLIENT_ID:CLIENT_SECRET" and the pack exchanges it for an app access token per call. No new gateway binding was added for this pack; it declares the existing PLATFORM_TWITCH_KEY.

Callers who want their own rate budget get credentials free at https://dev.twitch.tv/console.

Data sources

• https://id.twitch.tv/oauth2/token — client-credentials grant.

• https://api.igdb.com/v4/games, /companies, /platforms — POST, Apicalypse body.

Notes the next person would otherwise rediscover:

• The API is POST-only and the body is a DSL, not JSON. fields name,summary; search "zelda"; limit 10; — every clause ends in a semicolon.

• fields is mandatory and omitting it returns empty objects, not an error. That is the silent-zero trap here; this pack always sends an explicit list.

• search and sort cannot appear in the same query. search "x" is relevance-ranked; where name ~ *"x"* is a sortable substring filter. The game and company tools use the first, igdb_platforms the second.

• first_release_date and start_date are unix seconds, not strings. Every date is also returned as an ISO day.

• Cover/logo image_id values become URLs as https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/<size>/<image_id>.jpg.

• IGDB game ids and Twitch game ids are the same id space, which is what makes this pack pair with twitch.

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "igdb": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/igdb/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/igdb/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1679+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/igdb_search_games \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query":"Breath of the Wild","limit":5}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/igdb_search_games. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Standalone (no gateway account)

This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "igdb": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-igdb"]
    }
  }
}

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-igdb

It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Igdb data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

• Docs and guides

• pipeworx.io

License

MIT