Retro Diffusion Pixel Art

Real pixel art in your AI assistant: sprites, animations, tilesets, and editing tools via the Retro Diffusion API.

Generatereal pixel art— sprites, characters, animations, and tilesets — from any MCP-capable AI assistant.
Grid-aligned pixels, controlled palettes, transparent backgrounds. Not "pixel-art style" images. The real thing.

Website·API Docs·API Examples·Discord

Endpoint: https://mcp.retrodiffusion.ai/mcp (Streamable HTTP) Auth: Authorization: Bearer <your API key> (keys start with rdpk-)

- Create a free account atretrodiffusion.ai— new accounts include free starter credits.
- OpenDeveloper Toolsand clickCreate API Key.

claude mcp add --transport http retro-diffusion https://mcp.retrodiffusion.ai/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer rdpk-YOUR-KEY"

/plugin marketplace add Retro-Diffusion/retro-diffusion-mcp /plugin install pixel-art@retro-diffusion

{ "mcpServers": { "retro-diffusion": { "url": "https://mcp.retrodiffusion.ai/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer rdpk-YOUR-KEY" } } } }

{ "servers": { "retro-diffusion": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.retrodiffusion.ai/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer rdpk-YOUR-KEY" } } } }

{ "mcpServers": { "retro-diffusion": { "serverUrl": "https://mcp.retrodiffusion.ai/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer rdpk-YOUR-KEY" } } } }

Usemcp-remoteinclaude_desktop_config.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "retro-diffusion": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.retrodiffusion.ai/mcp", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer rdpk-YOUR-KEY" ] } } }

Any MCP client that speaks Streamable HTTP works: URLhttps://mcp.retrodiffusion.ai/mcp, headerAuthorization: Bearer rdpk-YOUR-KEY.

Generation is non-idempotent and may charge before a client timeout or delivery problem is visible. Ifcreate_inferencesucceeds but itsoutput_urlsare missing or expired, callget_inference_result(request_id). Never repeat the generation automatically. The MCP omits raw generation base64 to keep Cursor and other tool contexts compact, and uses short-lived hosted URLs for delivery instead.

fix_pixel_artaccepts PNG or JPEG as raw base64 or a data URL. Images must be at least 16×16 and no more than 4 megapixels. Standard and neural share a 10 requests/minute limit per API key; request JSON is capped at 900,000 bytes and successful response JSON at 850,000 bytes. Use the standard engine for native Rust grid detection or the neural engine with optional target width and height values.

- Sprites & characters— 90+ styles: portraits, game assets, isometric, top-down, platformer, 1-bit, Minecraft items/textures, UI elements, item sheets, character turnarounds
- Animations— walk/idle/jump/crouch/attack cycles from a start frame, four-angle walk cycles, 8-direction rotations, VFX, battle sprites; GIF or sprite-sheet output
- Tilesets— Wang/blob tilesets, tile variations, single tiles, scene objects
- Consistent characters— generate once with RD Pro, then pass the output as a reference image in follow-up generations (up to 9 references)
- Edits— img2img, seamless tiling, transparent backgrounds, palette-constrained output
- Pixel repair— reconstruct enlarged or softened pixel art at its detected native resolution

"List the available pixel art styles for animations, then estimate what a 64×64 walking animation would cost."

"Generate a 128×128 pixel art knight resting by a campfire, RD Pro default style, transparent background."

"Create a 16×16 Wang tileset: grey stone path tiles blending into lush grass."

"Fix this enlarged sprite back to its native pixel grid using the standard Pixel Fixer."

- Describe the subject only— never write "pixel art" in the prompt; the style handles the rendering.
- Sizes run 16×16 to 384×384 depending on style;list_available_stylesgives exact per-style limits.
- Costs range from ~$0.015 (RD Fast) to $0.18/image (RD Pro); animations $0.07–$0.25; tilesets $0.10.estimate_inference_costis always free — use it first.
- Reuse a seed to iterate on the same composition while changing only the prompt.

Retro Diffusion is built byAstropulse— a pixel artist with seven years of freelance experience before building the tool — and is used in production by studios and platforms including Replicate, Poe (Quora), and Scenario. It's designed by artists and held to artist-grade quality standards.

- Discord community— fastest answers, the founder is active daily
- Full API referenceandrunnable examples
- Service status(no auth required)

The contents of this repository (documentation and manifests) areMIT licensed. The Retro Diffusion service itself is governed by itsTerms of Service.

MCP bridge between an AI agent and a live Aseprite session, same machine or agent-in-a-VM