mcp-drawthings

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Draw Things - enabling LLMs to generate images locally on Mac using Stable Diffusion and other AI models.

Features

• Text-to-Image Generation - Generate images from text prompts using the currently loaded model in Draw Things
• Image-to-Image Transformation - Transform existing images using text prompts
• Configuration Access - Query the current Draw Things settings and loaded model
• Local Processing - All image generation runs locally on your Mac using Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)

Prerequisites

• macOS with Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
• Draw Things app installed
• Node.js 18 or later

Setup

1. Enable Draw Things API Server

1. Open Draw Things
2. Click the gear icon (⚙️) to open Settings
3. Enable API Server / HTTP Server
4. The server runs on port 7860 by default

Verify the server is running:

curl http://localhost:7860

2. Configure Your MCP Client

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drawthings": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-drawthings"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project or global config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drawthings": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-drawthings"]
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Your MCP Client

Restart Claude Desktop or Cursor to load the new MCP server.

Available Tools

check_status

Check if the Draw Things API server is running and accessible.

get_config

Get the current Draw Things configuration including the loaded model and settings.

generate_image

Generate an image from a text prompt.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
prompt	string	Yes	Text description of the image to generate
negative_prompt	string	No	Elements to exclude from the generated image
width	number	No	Image width in pixels (default: 512)
height	number	No	Image height in pixels (default: 512)
steps	number	No	Number of inference steps (default: 20)
cfg_scale	number	No	Guidance scale (default: 7.5)
seed	number	No	Random seed for reproducibility (-1 for random)
output_path	string	No	Custom file path to save the image

Example:

Generate an image of a futuristic city at sunset with flying cars

transform_image

Transform an existing image using a text prompt (img2img).

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
prompt	string	Yes	Text description of the desired transformation
image_path	string	No*	Path to the source image file
image_base64	string	No*	Base64-encoded source image
negative_prompt	string	No	Elements to exclude
denoising_strength	number	No	Transformation strength 0.0-1.0 (default: 0.75)
steps	number	No	Number of inference steps (default: 20)
cfg_scale	number	No	Guidance scale (default: 7.5)
seed	number	No	Random seed (-1 for random)
output_path	string	No	Custom file path to save the result

*Either image_path or image_base64 must be provided.

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
DRAWTHINGS_HOST	localhost	Draw Things API host
DRAWTHINGS_PORT	7860	Draw Things API port
DRAWTHINGS_OUTPUT_DIR	~/Pictures/drawthings-mcp	Directory for generated images

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     stdio      ┌──────────────────┐     HTTP      ┌─────────────┐
│   MCP Client    │◄──────────────►│  mcp-drawthings  │◄────────────►│ Draw Things │
│ (Claude/Cursor) │   JSON-RPC     │                  │  localhost    │    App      │
└─────────────────┘                └──────────────────┘   :7860       └─────────────┘
                                           │
                                           ▼
                                   ┌──────────────┐
                                   │  File System │
                                   │   (images)   │
                                   └──────────────┘

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/james-see/mcp-drawthings
cd mcp-drawthings

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

Troubleshooting

"Cannot connect to Draw Things API"

1. Make sure Draw Things is running
2. Check that the API Server is enabled in Draw Things settings
3. Verify the server is accessible: curl http://localhost:7860
4. Check if a different port is configured in Draw Things

Images not generating

1. Make sure a model is loaded in Draw Things
2. Check Draw Things for any error messages
3. Try generating an image directly in Draw Things first

Permission errors saving images

Check that the output directory is writable. You can set a custom directory using the DRAWTHINGS_OUTPUT_DIR environment variable.

License

MIT

Related Projects

• Draw Things - The AI image generation app for Mac/iOS
• Model Context Protocol - The protocol specification
• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk - TypeScript SDK for MCP