pixel-art

Generating and repairing pixel art with Retro Diffusion

Retro Diffusion produces real, grid-aligned, palette-controlled pixel art — not "pixel-art style" images. The MCP server exposes tools to browse styles, estimate costs (free), generate, and recover the native grid of enlarged or softened art.

Setup (only if tools are unavailable or auth fails)

1. The user needs an API key: free account at https://retrodiffusion.ai, then create a key at https://retrodiffusion.ai/app/devtools (keys start with rdpk-).
2. This plugin reads the key from the RD_API_KEY environment variable. Have the user set it (e.g. in their shell profile) and restart Claude Code, or use the authenticate tool with the key directly.
3. New accounts include free starter credits. Balance is prepaid; check it with get_balance.

Core workflow — always in this order

1. Pick a style: call list_available_styles (filterable by model or tab). Each style declares its own size limits, batch limits, and whether it needs an input image or supports reference images. Never guess limits. Prefer RD Pro styles (rd_pro__*) for the highest quality.
2. Estimate first: call estimate_inference_cost — it is free and returns the exact price. Tell the user the cost before generating anything expensive (RD Pro is $0.18/image; animations up to $0.25).
3. Generate with create_inference for stills. It returns hosted output_urls plus a recovery request_id. If URLs are missing or expired after a successful call, call get_inference_result(request_id) — never repeat the paid generation automatically. For animations or batches use start_inference_job and poll get_inference_job every 2–5 seconds — they are long-running. If the response of start_inference_job is lost (timeout/disconnect) before you get a task_id, call list_inference_jobs to find the accepted job and resume polling it — never blindly re-submit, since the lost job was already accepted and charged.
4. Repair the pixel grid when needed with fix_pixel_art before other edits. Use it for enlarged, softened, AI-rendered, or compressed pixel art. Choose the standard engine for native Rust grid detection or the neural engine for neural reconstruction with optional target width and height.
5. Post-process with run_edit_tool: background_remover and color_style_transfer cost $0.01; color_reducer, palette_converter, pixel_correction, k_centroid_downscale, and rotate are free; image_edit, inpainting, outpainting, and seam_tiling are premium ($0.18). estimate_edit_tool_cost is always free.