ShapeWords MCP

Universal MCP server for generating word clouds with ShapeWords.

It exposes ShapeWords rendering tools through the Model Context Protocol, so any MCP-capable client can create SVG, JSON, or PNG word clouds from text, workshop notes, prompts, research snippets, or agent output. By default it uses the hosted ShapeWords Render API; with engine: "skia" it renders locally inside the MCP server with the shared layout core and CanvasKit/Skia.

Tools

All tools use stdio MCP transport.

render_word_cloud

Creates a ShapeWords render job, polls until it is finished, and returns:

• public artifact URL for hosted renders, or a local inline artifact for engine: "skia";
• job metadata;
• optional image content for MCP clients that support image results.

Use this tool for one-shot generation when the caller wants the final artifact.

create_word_cloud_job

Starts a render job and returns the job/status/artifact URLs without waiting.

Use this tool for asynchronous workflows where the client will poll later.

get_word_cloud_job

Checks a render job by ID.

Use this tool with the jobId returned by create_word_cloud_job or render_word_cloud.

Input Schema

render_word_cloud accepts all render options below. create_word_cloud_job accepts the hosted options only: engine: "skia" is local-only and is supported by render_word_cloud.

Field	Type	Default	Limits	Description
renderProfile	enum	canvas	canvas, api	Default option profile. canvas matches the main ShapeWords canvas; api keeps the older compact Render API defaults.
text	string	optional	1-100,000 chars	Source text for the word cloud. Required unless words is provided.
words	object[]	optional	1-1000 items	Explicit weighted words. Use when the caller already tokenized, lemmatized, or scored text.
locale	enum	en	en, ru, ar, es, fr, zh	Render/UI locale passed to ShapeWords.
format	enum	svg	svg, png, json	Artifact format. SVG is the fastest default. JSON returns layout data. PNG is rasterized from the same shared layout.
width	integer	800	240-4096	Canvas width in pixels.
height	integer	600	240-4096	Canvas height in pixels.
background	enum	white	transparent, white, dark	Output background.
quality	enum	hq	sq, hq	Standard or high-quality render. hq matches the main canvas export scale and is slower.
engine	enum	auto	auto, browser, browserless, skia	Renderer engine. skia uses the local MCP shared-core + CanvasKit renderer without server-side Chromium.
returnLayout	boolean	false	true/false	Include layout metadata when supported.
shapeType	string	cloud	1-80 chars	Shape id. Use a built-in id or custom with customShapeDefinition.
customShapeDefinition	object	omitted	see below	Custom SVG path shape. Required when shapeType is custom.
maxWords	integer	700	1-1000	Maximum number of words to place.
seed	integer	0	0-4294967295	Unsigned 32-bit layout seed for reproducible browserless renders. Same input, options, and seed produce the same SVG/layout.
fontFamily	string	Montserrat	1-80 chars	ShapeWords font family name, for example Inter, Roboto, Montserrat, Noto Sans.
minFontSize	integer	18	4-400	Minimum word font size.
maxFontSize	integer	96	8-700	Maximum word font size.
padding	integer	3	0-100	Pixel padding used by collision detection.
rotationPreset	enum	orthogonal	see below	Rotation preset matching the main ShapeWords canvas.
rotations	integer[]	omitted	-90 to 90, max 64 values	Explicit rotation angles. When provided, these override rotationPreset.
spiralType	enum	archimedean	archimedean, rectangular	Placement spiral algorithm.
fillMode	enum	fill	fill, frequency	Shape filling strategy.
palette	string[]	service default	up to 12 colors	Hex colors: #rgb, #rrggbb, or #rrggbbaa.
colorMode	enum	service default	sequential, random, byFrequency	How palette colors are assigned to words.
returnImage	boolean	false	render_word_cloud only	Download the finished SVG/PNG artifact and return it as MCP image content.
pollIntervalMs	integer	env/default	250-10,000	Polling interval for render_word_cloud.
pollTimeoutMs	integer	env/default	1,000-180,000	Maximum wait time for render_word_cloud.

get_word_cloud_job accepts:

Field	Type	Limits	Description
jobId	string	6-64 chars	ShapeWords render job id.

words items use this shape:

Field	Type	Default	Limits	Description
text	string	required	1-120 chars	Display word or emoji.
value	integer	1	1-100,000	Weight/frequency used for sizing.
kind	enum	word	word, emoji	Word type. Emoji are kept horizontal by the renderer.
sizeScale	number	omitted	0.1-5	Optional extra size multiplier used by the ShapeWords layout core when available.
repeat	boolean	true	true/false	Whether the layout may repeat this word to improve shape filling.

Rotation presets:

horizontal, vertical, orthogonal, crossing, crossingVoids, dancing,
positiveSlope, negativeSlope, random, custom, mixed, angled, free

renderProfile: "canvas" sends the same practical defaults as the main editor canvas: shapeType: "cloud", width: 800, height: 600, quality: "hq", maxWords: 700, seed: 0, fontFamily: "Montserrat", minFontSize: 18, maxFontSize: 96, padding: 3, rotationPreset: "orthogonal", spiralType: "archimedean", and fillMode: "fill".

Use renderProfile: "api" only when you need the older compact Render API defaults: circle shape, 1024x640, SQ quality, and 120 max words.

Text Input

The MCP server can send either raw text, explicit words, or both:

• repeated words increase frequency, for example cloud cloud cloud render render API;
• words[] preserves caller-provided weights and avoids differences in tokenization, stop words, or lemmatization;
• when both text and words[] are present, ShapeWords renders from words[] and keeps text as source context;
• paragraphs, meeting notes, workshop notes, prompts, research snippets, and keyword lists are valid;
• files such as CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets are not uploaded through this MCP server; paste or generate the text content first.

Example weighted text:

{
  "text": "MCP MCP MCP ShapeWords ShapeWords word cloud word cloud render API agents tools",
  "shapeType": "cloud",
  "format": "svg",
  "seed": 12345
}

Example explicit weighted words:

{
  "words": [
    { "text": "ShapeWords", "value": 12 },
    { "text": "MCP", "value": 9 },
    { "text": "canvas", "value": 7 },
    { "text": "layout", "value": 6 },
    { "text": "render", "value": 5 }
  ],
  "shapeType": "cloud",
  "format": "svg"
}

Shapes

Use shapeType to choose the word-cloud mask.

Stable built-in shape ids accepted by the production renderer include:

rectangle, circle, heart, star, cloud, diamond, tree, triangle, arrow,
square, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, cross, plus, moon, sun, drop,
flame, leaf, flower, mountain, apple, house, book, camera, music,
chat, location, trophy, rocket, plane, car, shield, lightning, check,
infinity, tag

Built-in brand shape ids include:

brand-product-hunt, brand-y-combinator, brand-hacker-news,
brand-indie-hackers, brand-github, brand-figma, brand-notion,
brand-stripe, brand-vercel, brand-linear, brand-supabase,
brand-railway, brand-netlify, brand-firebase, brand-cloudflare,
brand-airtable, brand-replit, brand-anthropic

The production renderer may also accept additional generated ShapeWords ids. For portable automation, prefer the stable ids above or pass a custom SVG shape.

The local engine: "skia" path currently supports rectangle, square, circle, diamond, triangle, star, heart, cloud, custom SVG shapes, and vendored Font Awesome shape ids such as fa-cat. Unsupported local shape ids are rejected instead of silently changing the requested shape.

Custom Shapes

Set shapeType to custom and provide customShapeDefinition:

Field	Type	Required	Limits	Description
path	string	yes	1-100,000 chars	SVG path data used as the mask.
viewBox	string	yes	1-120 chars	SVG viewBox, for example 0 0 100 100.
fillRule	enum	no	nonzero, evenodd	SVG fill rule. Defaults to renderer behavior when omitted.
name	string	no	1-80 chars	Optional human-readable name.
nameEn	string	no	1-80 chars	Optional English name.

Custom heart example:

{
  "text": "love love design care product community team support",
  "shapeType": "custom",
  "customShapeDefinition": {
    "name": "Heart",
    "path": "M 50 90 C 25 70, 0 50, 0 30 A 25 25 0 0 1 50 30 A 25 25 0 0 1 100 30 C 100 50, 75 70, 50 90 Z",
    "viewBox": "0 0 100 100",
    "fillRule": "nonzero"
  },
  "format": "svg"
}

Output

render_word_cloud returns:

• text content with the completed job id and artifact location;
• structuredContent.job with normalized job metadata;
• structuredContent.artifactUrl for hosted renders;
• structuredContent.localArtifact for engine: "skia";
• structuredContent.siteUrl;
• optional MCP image content when returnImage is true and format is svg or png.

For engine: "skia", render_word_cloud always returns inline MCP image content for format: "png" or format: "svg" because there is no hosted artifact URL.

create_word_cloud_job returns the same metadata immediately after job creation, without waiting for completion.

get_word_cloud_job returns the latest job status and artifact URL.

Generated artifact URLs are short-lived because the ShapeWords Render API stores render jobs in memory.

Format and Engine Notes

• svg is the recommended automation format: it is fast, compact, and works with the browserless shared-core renderer.
• json returns layout data from the same shared-core placement.
• png is rasterized from the same generated SVG/layout, so word placement matches SVG/JSON for the same input and options.
• engine: "auto" is recommended unless you need to force a specific path.
• engine: "browserless" supports svg, json, and png.
• engine: "browser" supports svg and png, not json.
• engine: "skia" is local-only and supported by render_word_cloud. It does not create pollable hosted jobs. Layout is generated by the vendored ShapeWords shared core; PNG is drawn directly with CanvasKit/Skia.
• seed is honored by browserless/shared-core renders. Use engine: "auto" or engine: "browserless" for reproducible API/MCP output.
• Non-zero seed with forced engine: "browser" is rejected by the Render API because the browser fallback does not use the deterministic shared-core seed path.

Quick Start

Run directly from GitHub:

npx -y github:kirrrr-2423/shapewords-mcp

Or clone locally:

git clone https://github.com/kirrrr-2423/shapewords-mcp.git
cd shapewords-mcp
npm install
npm start

Client Configuration

Use stdio transport in any MCP-compatible client.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shapewords": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:kirrrr-2423/shapewords-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SHAPEWORDS_API_BASE_URL": "https://shapewords.fun"
      }
    }
  }
}

For a local clone:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shapewords": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/shapewords-mcp/src/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "SHAPEWORDS_API_BASE_URL": "https://shapewords.fun"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment

Variable	Default	Description
SHAPEWORDS_API_BASE_URL	https://shapewords.fun	ShapeWords app URL.
SHAPEWORDS_RENDER_API_KEY	empty	Optional bearer token if your Render API requires one.
SHAPEWORDS_API_KEY	empty	Backward-compatible alias for SHAPEWORDS_RENDER_API_KEY.
SHAPEWORDS_POLL_INTERVAL_MS	1500	Polling interval for completed renders.
SHAPEWORDS_POLL_TIMEOUT_MS	90000	Render wait timeout.
SHAPEWORDS_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS	30000	Per-request timeout for hosted API and artifact requests.
SHAPEWORDS_MAX_IMAGE_BYTES	8388608	Max downloaded artifact size when returnImage is true.

Example Prompt

Create a fast SVG word cloud about MCP, universal tools, word cloud generation, AI agents, and ShapeWords. Use the default ShapeWords canvas profile and return the artifact URL.

Example tool input:

{
  "text": "MCP MCP MCP Model Context Protocol word cloud word cloud ShapeWords tools resources prompts stdio server client universal integration connector API render PNG SVG artifact agents automation context protocol schema",
  "locale": "en",
  "format": "svg",
  "width": 800,
  "height": 600,
  "background": "white",
  "quality": "hq",
  "engine": "auto",
  "returnLayout": false,
  "shapeType": "cloud",
  "seed": 12345,
  "palette": ["#7c3aed", "#ddd6fe", "#14b8a6", "#111827"],
  "returnImage": false
}

More Examples

Transparent PNG

{
  "text": "launch launch startup product customers retention growth metrics roadmap",
  "format": "png",
  "engine": "auto",
  "shapeType": "rocket",
  "width": 1200,
  "height": 900,
  "background": "transparent",
  "quality": "hq",
  "returnImage": true
}

Local Skia PNG

{
  "words": [
    { "text": "MCP", "value": 12 },
    { "text": "ShapeWords", "value": 10 },
    { "text": "Skia", "value": 8 },
    { "text": "CanvasKit", "value": 7 },
    { "text": "local", "value": 6 },
    { "text": "renderer", "value": 5 }
  ],
  "format": "png",
  "engine": "skia",
  "shapeType": "cloud",
  "width": 800,
  "height": 600,
  "quality": "sq",
  "seed": 12345
}

JSON Layout

{
  "text": "design system tokens components variants accessibility contrast typography layout",
  "format": "json",
  "engine": "browserless",
  "shapeType": "diamond",
  "returnLayout": true,
  "seed": 7,
  "maxWords": 80
}

Reproducible SVG

{
  "text": "MCP shared core browserless renderer reproducible seed deterministic layout",
  "format": "svg",
  "engine": "browserless",
  "shapeType": "cloud",
  "returnLayout": true,
  "seed": 12345
}

Custom Palette and Font

{
  "text": "research synthesis interview persona journey insight opportunity experiment",
  "format": "svg",
  "shapeType": "book",
  "fontFamily": "Roboto",
  "palette": ["#111827", "#2563eb", "#14b8a6", "#f59e0b"],
  "colorMode": "byFrequency",
  "maxWords": 160
}

Development

npm install
npm run smoke
npm run smoke:skia
npm run inspect

The server uses stdio and writes protocol messages to stdout. Diagnostics are written to stderr.

Notes

• Set returnImage: true in render_word_cloud when the MCP client supports image content and needs hosted-render bytes inline. Local Skia image renders are inline automatically.
• For automation-heavy use, prefer SVG or JSON layout artifacts; request PNG only when the caller needs raster pixels.
• Set seed when the caller needs repeatable SVG/JSON/PNG placement across MCP runs. engine: "skia" is deterministic by default.
• Local Skia PNG output is capped at 40,000,000 pixels after quality scaling to avoid excessive local memory use.
• Local Skia font rendering currently supports bundled Montserrat and OpenDyslexic only. Hosted renders may support more font families.
• The MCP schema currently exposes rendering and style options only. It does not expose ShapeWords UI-only workflows such as the advanced word editor, 2D/3D view switching, CSV/Excel upload, Google Sheets import, or live room controls.
• padding, rotationPreset, rotations, spiralType, and fillMode are exposed so MCP callers can match the main ShapeWords canvas more closely.

See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt for bundled Font Awesome and font asset notices.