Pixel art with Pixling and Claude Code

Recipe — Pixling is a third-party tool (MIT). theprototype does not bundle or run it; your agent does, on your own machine.

Pixling (MIT) makes game sprites from a JSON spec, on your machine, deterministically: the same spec renders the same bytes. With the bridge connected (Build with an AI agent), ask Claude Code for a character and it runs:

uv tool install pixling          # or: pip install pixling
pixling new hero knight          # copies an example spec to specs/knight.json — edit it
pixling build specs/knight.json --clips walk --dirs S,E,N,W
# -> out/knight/knight_walk.png: 16 frames x 4 directions of 64x48 px (rows S, E, N, W)
pixling review out/knight        # a zoomed review grid — look at it before importing

Then one tool call brings the sheet AND its spec into the session:

{ "name": "import_file", "arguments": {
    "path": "out/knight/knight_walk.png", "spec_path": "specs/knight.json",
    "frame": { "w": 64, "h": 48, "col": 0, "row": 0 }, "facing": "camera-y",
    "source": "pixling 0.3.1 build specs/knight.json --clips walk --dirs S,E,N,W", "licence": "own work" } }

Everyone sees Explorer ▸ Generated ▸ knight_walk.png + knight_walk.pixling.json and a crisp knight standing at the origin, turning to face each viewer. To change it, edit the spec, build again and import again (a new file; undo removes the old card). pixling guide and pixling pipelines explain the styles and the spec format to your agent.

How the file arrives (type checks, sizes, the card's options, undo, who may import): Talk to your agent ▸ Models and files from the agent's machine.