VICE emulator with an embedded MCP server for AI agents and automation
概览
_** is a Walker Heavy Industries project._ , giving AI agents and modern tools full programmatic control over the world's most iconic 8-bit computer. Load a disk image. Set breakpoints. Inspect sprites. Read SID registers. Type on the keyboard. Take screenshots. Step through 6502 code. All through a clean JSON-RPC API that any MCP client can speak. This is VICE — the legendary Commodore emulator — with a Model Context Protocol server built into its core. Not bolted on. Not a wrapper. Point any MCP-compatible client - Claude Desktop, Cursor, your own agent - at http://127.0.0.1:6510/mcp and you have a fully controllable Commodore 64.
README
以下为原文 README 节选，完整内容请查看原文。
VICE MCP - AI Meets the Commodore 64
VICE MCP is a Walker Heavy Industries project.
An MCP server embedded directly inside VICE, giving AI agents and modern tools full programmatic control over the world’s most iconic 8-bit computer.
Load a disk image. Set breakpoints. Inspect sprites. Read SID registers. Type on the keyboard. Take screenshots. Step through 6502 code. All through a clean JSON-RPC API that any MCP client can speak.
This is VICE — the legendary Commodore emulator — with a Model Context Protocol server built into its core. Not bolted on. Not a wrapper. ~17,000 lines of C woven into the emulator itself.
What Can You Do With This?
For AI Agents
Point any MCP-compatible client - Claude Desktop, Cursor, your own agent - at
http://127.0.0.1:6510/mcp and you have a fully controllable Commodore 64.
Your agent can:
- Load and run software — autostart PRGs and disk images
- Debug 6502 code — breakpoints, watchpoints, conditional breaks, single-stepping
- Inspect everything — CPU registers, memory banks, VIC-II graphics, SID audio, CIA timers
- See what’s on screen — take screenshots, read sprite bitmaps as ASCII art
- Interact like a human — type text, press keys, move joysticks
- Measure performance — cycle-accurate stopwatch, execution tracing, interrupt logging
- Save and restore state — full snapshot management with metadata
For C64 Developers
If you write code for the Commodore 64, this gives you a modern debugging workflow without leaving your editor:
- Set breakpoints from your IDE while your program runs
- Load KickAssembler or VICE symbol files and debug by label name
- Search memory for byte patterns with wildcard support
- Compare memory regions against saved snapshots to find what changed
- Trace execution with PC-range filtering to focus on your code
- Log interrupts to understand IRQ/NMI timing
- Group breakpoints and toggle them as a set
For Researchers & Educators
- Automate ROM analysis and reverse engineering
- Build interactive tutorials that control a live C64
- Capture screen states for documentation
- Replay and analyze historical software
61 Tools Across 13 Categories
Every tool follows MCP conventions with full JSON Schema validation, meaningful errors, and consistent parameter naming.
| Category | Tools | What They Do |
|---|---|---|
| Execution | vice.execution.run vice.execution.pause vice.execution.step vice.frame.advance vice.run_until |
Control the CPU — resume, halt, single-step, advance whole frames, run to address or cycle count |
| Registers | vice.registers.get vice.registers.set |
Read/write all 6502 registers (A, X, Y, SP, PC, status flags) |
安装
This server does not publish a one-line install command.
Open the repository installation guide 新手？先看 mcpskill.org 教程 →配置
{
"mcpServers": {
"vice": {
"url": "http://127.0.0.1:6510/mcp"
}
}
}