ASCII Banner Server

A classical Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that generates ASCII art banners from any string using pyfiglet.

Features

• get_fonts — List all available pyfiglet font names (via FigletFont.getFonts()).
• generate_banner — Render a string as ASCII art with a chosen font (via figlet_format(text, font=...)).

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.10
• mcp, pyfiglet

Installation

From the project root:

pip install -e .

For development (tests):

pip install -e ".[dev]"

Usage

Run the server (stdio)

MCP clients typically run the server as a subprocess and talk over stdio:

python -m ascii_banner_mcp.server

Or after install:

ascii-banner-mcp

Config example

Copy and adjust one of the examples in config/:

• stdio (local): config/mcp-config.example.json — command + args for Cursor, Claude Desktop, etc.
• streamable-http (e.g. Docker): config/mcp-config-streamable-http.example.json — url: "http://localhost:8000/mcp" when the server runs over HTTP.

Configure your MCP client

Add the server to your MCP client config (e.g. Cursor, Claude Desktop). Example (stdio):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ascii-banner": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "ascii_banner_mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}

If you use a virtualenv, use the full path to that Python:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ascii-banner": {
      "command": "/path/to/venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["-m", "ascii_banner_mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

Tool	Description
get_fonts	Returns a list of available font names. Use this to discover fonts for generate_banner.
generate_banner	Renders text as ASCII art. Parameters: text (required), font (optional, default "standard"). Use fonts from get_fonts() (e.g. "slant", "block", "big").

Example (equivalent to your snippet):

from pyfiglet import figlet_format
print(figlet_format("Hello", font="slant"))

Via this MCP server: call generate_banner with text="Hello" and font="slant".

MCP Inspector

Use MCP Inspector to test and debug the server.

Option 1 — stdio (local process)

1. Run the Inspector: npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
2. In the UI, add a server with Stdio transport.
3. Set Command to python (or full path to your Python/venv).
4. Set Args to -m, ascii_banner_mcp.server.
5. Ensure the project is installed (pip install -e .) or set cwd to the project root and use python -m ascii_banner_mcp.server.

Option 2 — streamable-http (Docker or local)

1. Start the server over HTTP:
   • Docker: docker compose -f .docker/docker-compose.yml up --build (see Docker below).
   • Local: MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http python -m ascii_banner_mcp.server (serves at http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp).
2. Run the Inspector: npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
3. Add a server with Streamable HTTP (or URL) and set the URL to http://localhost:8000/mcp.

Custom ports (Inspector): CLIENT_PORT=8080 SERVER_PORT=9000 npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Docker

Run the MCP server in a container. Use the .docker/ setup:

stdio (default) — client runs the container and talks via stdin/stdout:

docker build -f .docker/Dockerfile -t ascii-banner-mcp .
docker run -i --rm ascii-banner-mcp

streamable-http (for Inspector or URL-based clients):

docker compose -f .docker/docker-compose.yml up --build

Server is at http://localhost:8000/mcp. Use config/mcp-config-streamable-http.example.json or point MCP Inspector at that URL.

Development

• Tests: pytest
• Lint: ruff check src tests
• Format: black src tests
• Pre-commit: Black, Ruff, and conventional-commit message checks (e.g. feat:, fix:). Install: pip install -e ".[dev]" then pre-commit install and pre-commit install --hook-type commit-msg. Run manually: pre-commit run --all-files.

License

MIT