artscii
artscii is an MCP server for ASCII art generation, search, and manipulation. Here's what you can do:
Search & Browse: Search ASCII art and kaomoji by keyword, type (
art,kaomoji,all), or category; list all available arts with metadata; or browse available categoriesGet Art: Retrieve a specific ASCII art piece by ID, or get a random one
Kaomoji: Fetch Japanese text emoticons by emotion, keyword, or category (e.g. happy, sad, animals, table-flip), or get a random one
Banners: Render text as large ASCII art banners using FIGlet fonts (Standard, Small, Slant, Big, Mini)
Image Conversion: Convert images (via URL or base64) to ASCII art with options for size, invert, contrast, and gamma correction; optionally save the result as a new art entry
Submit Custom Art: Add new user-defined ASCII art to the store with name, category, tags, content, size tier, and description
Delete Art: Remove previously submitted (user-created) ASCII art by ID (built-in arts are protected)
artscii
LLMs can't draw. This MCP can.
ASCII art, kaomoji, animations, diagrams, charts, image conversion & procedural characters — 11 focused tools for AI agents.
81 curated arts × 12 motions = 972 terminal animations. 153,600 unique procedural characters from a single seed. Plus 100 kaomoji, 11 diagram types, FIGlet banners, and image-to-ASCII with braille mode.
.::-::. .:-::. --- apple (16w) ---
.=#%@@@@@%#=: .=*%@@@@@%#+: +:
-%@@@@@@@@@@@%*+%@@@@@@@@@@@%+ :--:#*.--:
.%@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@- -#@@@@#%@@@@%=
-@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@* :@@@%****+#%@@@:
.%@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@= -@%%%+*@@+*@%%@-
=@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@* *@@%+*+#=#%@@#
-#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@%= +%@@@#@@@@%+
=%@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@%*. .-+**=*+=.
=#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@%+.
=#@@@@@@@@@@@@%+. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ (◕‿◕) (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
-#@@@@@@@@%+.
-#@@@@%=.
-*#=Install
Claude Code — one command:
claude mcp add artscii -- npx -y artsciiClaude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:
{ "mcpServers": { "artscii": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "artscii"] } } }Cursor — add to .cursor/mcp.json:
{ "mcpServers": { "artscii": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "artscii"] } } }VS Code — search @mcp artscii in Extensions panel, or add to settings.json:
{ "mcp": { "servers": { "artscii": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "artscii"] } } } }Related MCP server: ASCII Art & Unicode Diagrams MCP Server
MCP Tools
Tool | Parameters | Description |
|
| Search art + kaomoji. Omit query to list all |
|
| Get art by ID |
|
| Get kaomoji by emotion. Omit for random |
|
| Render large ASCII text (FIGlet, 5 fonts) |
|
| Draw box/frame around text (5 styles) |
|
| Data visualization: progress, sparkline, heatmap |
|
| Compose art + motion → terminal animation |
|
| Generate unique ASCII character from seed |
|
| Combine text blocks side-by-side or stacked |
|
| Image → ASCII (ascii or braille mode) |
|
| Generate ASCII diagrams (11 types) |
Box Frames
Draw borders around any text with 5 styles:
┌───────┐ ╔═══════╗ ╭───────╮ ┏━━━━━━━┓ +-------+
│ hello │ ║ hello ║ │ hello │ ┃ hello ┃ | hello |
└───────┘ ╚═══════╝ ╰───────╯ ┗━━━━━━━┛ +-------+
single double rounded bold asciiOptions: padding, align (left/center/right), title in top border.
Charts
Unified chart tool with 3 types: progress, sparkline, heatmap.
Progress: ███████████████░░░░░ 75%
Sparkline: ▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█▇▅▃▁
Heatmap: A B C
X ░▒█
Y ▓░▒Animations
Compose any art (noun) with a motion (verb) to create terminal animations. 81 arts × 12 motions = 972 combinations. Custom text works too.
animate("apple", "bounce") → bouncing apple
animate("trophy", "progress") → trophy rides a progress bar 0→100%
animate("lock", "reveal") → line-by-line reveal
animate("GAME OVER", "blink") → blinking custom textMotions: bounce, shake, blink, slide, reveal, fade, pulse, rain, progress, wave, jump, talk
Output: script (bash for terminal playback) or frames (raw data)
Character
Procedural ASCII character generator. One seed → one unique character. 153,600 standard combinations (16 species × 10 eyes × 8 mouths × 10 hats × 12 accessories).
character("alice") character("bob", mood: "happy")
____ /\_/\
]==== ) ( ^ ^ )
_____ ( u )
/ * * \ \_^_/
| u |
\_____/
|||||
~~o=o~~Species: blob, cat, bear, robot, bird, bunny, ghost, alien, fox, frog, penguin, octopus, dragon, mushroom, cactus, skull
Mood presets: happy, sad, angry, surprised, sleepy, cool, love, silly — sets eyes+mouth in one param. Explicit eyes/mouth still override.
Mini mode: 2-line inline characters for chat and status lines.
mini blob: (^ ^) mini cat: /^ ^\ mini robot: [^ ^]
(u) >u< [u]Same seed always produces the same character. Output works directly with the animate tool — try wave, jump, or talk motions.
Compose
Combine multiple text blocks horizontally (side-by-side) or vertically (stacked):
┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐
│ A │ │ B │ │ A │
└───┘ └───┘ └───┘
horizontal ---
┌───┐
│ B │
└───┘
verticalOptions: gap, align (top/middle/bottom), separator (vertical mode).
Image Conversion
Convert images (URL or base64) to ASCII art. Two render modes:
ascii— character ramp (.:-=+*#%@), classic lookbraille— Unicode braille dots (⠿), 8x resolution per character
Options: size (16/32/64), invert, contrast, gamma, threshold (braille).
Diagrams
11 diagram types with unicode, rounded, and ascii border styles.
Type | Required fields | Output |
|
| Vertical flow with |
|
| Title + separator + body |
|
|
|
|
| Column-aligned grid |
|
| Actor lifelines with arrows |
|
| Vertical |
|
| Horizontal |
|
| UML class with properties/methods |
|
| Entity-relationship diagram |
|
| Horizontal mind map tree |
|
| Gantt chart with timelines |
┌─────────┐ ╭──────────╮ ┌──────┬───────┐ src
│ Start │ │ Status │ │ Name │ Score │ ├── index.ts
└────┬────┘ ├──────────┤ ├──────┼───────┤ └── diagram.ts
│ │ Line 1 │ │ A │ 95 │
▼ │ Line 2 │ │ B │ 87 │
┌─────────┐ ╰──────────╯ └──────┴───────┘
│ End │
└─────────┘
flowchart box table treeClass Diagram
{ "type": "class", "classes": [
{ "name": "Animal", "properties": ["+ name: string"], "methods": ["+ speak(): void"] },
{ "name": "Dog", "properties": ["+ breed: string"], "methods": ["+ bark(): void"] }
]}┌──────────────────┐
│ Animal │
├──────────────────┤
│ + name: string │
├──────────────────┤
│ + speak(): void │
└──────────────────┘
▲
│
┌──────────────────┐
│ Dog │
├──────────────────┤
│ + breed: string │
├──────────────────┤
│ + bark(): void │
└──────────────────┘Gantt Chart
{ "type": "gantt", "tasks": [
{ "label": "Design", "start": 0, "duration": 3 },
{ "label": "Develop", "start": 2, "duration": 5 },
{ "label": "Test", "start": 5, "duration": 3 }
], "unitLabel": "weeks" } 0 2 4 6 8 weeks
┼────────────────────
Design ████████
Develop █████████████████
Test ████████████Banner
Render text as large ASCII art using FIGlet fonts: Standard, Small, Slant, Big, Mini.
Size Tiers
Each art is stored at its minimum identifiable size.
Tier | Dimensions | For |
16w | 16 x 8 | Icons, symbols, simple shapes |
32w | 32 x 16 | Animal silhouettes, emoji |
64w | 64 x 32 | Detailed scenes (rare) |
Kaomoji
100 curated entries across 26 categories. Source: kao.moji (MIT).
Category | Examples |
happy |
|
sad |
|
angry |
|
love |
|
confused |
|
animals |
|
table-flip |
|
+ 19 more | excited, greeting, celebrate, hug, surprised, sleepy, nervous, wink, magic, laughing, determined, eating, dancing, hopeful, jealous, ... |
License
MIT. Art icons from game-icons.net (CC BY 3.0, Lorc & Delapouite).
Maintenance
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- Flicense-qualityDmaintenanceEnables creation of text-based visual elements including bordered boxes with shading, formatted tables, and diagrams using Unicode box drawing characters and ASCII art palettes for terminal output, documentation, and chat interfaces.Last updated2
- Flicense-qualityCmaintenanceExposes ASCIIFlow drawing primitives as tools to enable AI assistants to generate ASCII wireframes and diagrams from natural language descriptions. It provides commands for creating canvases and drawing boxes, lines, arrows, and text using a character-grid coordinate system.Last updated1
- AlicenseBqualityBmaintenanceEnables AI assistants to create, animate, and export ASCII art using natural language, with live browser sync.Last updated96438MIT
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