create_characterLABSCO SUMMARY
It makes the art and hands you back an id — everything downstream of that is still your job.
Nothing here imports sprites into Unity or Godot, wires an animation state machine, or keeps versions of what you generated. The two character tools are ordered rather than interchangeable: animate_character needs a character that create_character already produced, so a redo of the base sprite means redoing its animations. And this is a client for a commercial hosted service, not an open-source generator — the code is all rights reserved, and generation happens on PixelLab's servers behind your token.
What it is
PixelLab MCP is PixelLab's hosted Model Context Protocol server for pixel art. Connected to Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code, Zed, Cline, Gemini CLI or another MCP client, it turns a written description into game-ready assets: characters with 4 or 8 directional views, animations layered onto a character you already made, Wang tilesets for terrain that meets cleanly, and individual isometric tiles. The assistant calls it while you are writing game code, so the art arrives in the same session as the code that uses it.
What you get
- create_character turns a description into a pixel art character, with 4 or 8 directional views.
- animate_character adds movement — walk, run, idle and similar — to a character you already generated, referenced by its character_id.
- create_tileset generates Wang tilesets from a pair of terrains, an upper and a lower, so the edges tile seamlessly.
- create_isometric_tile makes a single isometric tile from a description, at a size you set.
- An interactive setup page writes ready-made configuration for 15+ AI coding tools, including Claude Desktop, Windsurf, Continue, BoltAI, LM Studio, Perplexity Desktop and Kiro.
Requirements
A PixelLab account: sign up at pixellab.ai for an API token, which goes into your client's MCP config as an Authorization bearer header. Nothing runs on your machine — the server is hosted at api.pixellab.ai and speaks HTTP transport. PixelLab's setup page will generate the config block for your editor if you would rather not hand-edit it.
Setup effort
Add the hosted endpoint plus a key — paste it into your client, then supply credentials
USE CASES
01
I need a hero sprite for the prototype I'm coding right now
Describe the character in the chat and get directional views back without opening an art tool.
02
Make the character actually move instead of sliding around
Generate the character once, then add walk, run and idle animations to that same character.
03
Fill a world map with terrain that doesn't show seams
Give it the two terrains that meet — beach against ocean, say — and get a Wang tileset that joins them cleanly.
04
Build an isometric scene a tile at a time
Generate individual isometric tiles from descriptions at the tile size your engine expects.
05
Give a whole cast of NPCs one consistent look
Run the same description pattern through character generation for each NPC, then animate each one the same way.
06
Get a game jam entry looking finished without an artist
Produce characters, their animations, terrain tilesets and isometric props from inside the editor you are already coding in.
4 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
animate_charactercreate_tilesetcreate_isometric_tileBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
4 tools named in the project's documentation.
Requires
An MCP client that can reach a remote HTTP server
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
This one is configured rather than run — your client needs the configuration block, not a command.
Server setup
Configuration file
JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"pixellab": {
"url": "https://api.pixellab.ai/mcp",
"type": "http",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"
}
}
}
}Hosted endpoint
ENDPOINT URL
https://api.pixellab.ai/mcpAdd this hosted endpoint to your MCP client using the credentials listed under Requirements.
