# signal:// ASCII

> Convert images and video into ASCII / ANSI art. The browser studio streams
> video and webcam in real time; the HTTP API renders single images for agents
> and automations. Version 1.0.0.

## What it does
- Live video-to-ASCII studio (runs entirely client-side in the browser).
- Server API to convert any image to text, ANSI (24-bit color), HTML, JSON, or SVG.
- MCP server so agents can render ASCII as a tool call.

## Math under the hood
- Linear-light perceptual luminance (sRGB -> linear -> Rec.709 -> re-encode).
- High-quality pyramid downscaling for clean, alias-free source sampling.
- Unsharp-mask detail enhancement that restores fine texture lost when the
  frame is shrunk to the character grid.
- Floyd-Steinberg error-diffusion dithering for gradient fidelity.
- Adaptive recursive Bayesian temporal filter (Kalman-style gain) that denoises
  static regions while staying crisp on motion — the key to a stable stream.

## Endpoints
- GET  https://platphorm-v2a-57qwg7h22-platphormnews.vercel.app/api/health — liveness + capabilities
- POST https://platphorm-v2a-57qwg7h22-platphormnews.vercel.app/api/v1/render — image -> ascii (multipart image, or JSON { imageUrl | imageBase64 })
- POST https://platphorm-v2a-57qwg7h22-platphormnews.vercel.app/api/mcp — Model Context Protocol (JSON-RPC 2.0), tool: render_ascii
- GET  https://platphorm-v2a-57qwg7h22-platphormnews.vercel.app/api/openapi.json — OpenAPI 3.1 spec

## Render parameters
- columns (integer 8–400, default 120): Output width in characters.
- charset (enum, default detailed): One of: standard, detailed, blocks, binary, dots, minimal.
- format (enum, default text): text | ansi | html | json | svg.
- color (boolean, default false): Per-cell 24-bit color (ignored by plain text).
- invert (boolean, default false): Invert luminance mapping.
- contrast (float 0.2–4, default 1.15): Tonal contrast multiplier.
- brightness (float -150–150, default 0): Luminance offset.
- saturation (float 0–4, default 1.4): Color-mode saturation boost.
- gamma (float 0.2–3, default 1): Perceptual midtone response.
- edges (boolean, default false): Sobel edge-detection line-art mode.
- edgeStrength (float 0.1–5, default 1.8): Edge magnitude multiplier.
- dither (boolean, default false): Floyd–Steinberg error diffusion.
- sharpen (float 0–1, default 0.35): Unsharp-mask detail enhancement.
- autoLevels (float 0–1, default 0.9): Automatic percentile histogram stretch.
- structure (float 0–1, default 0.55): Contour-aware directional glyph substitution ( - / | \ ).
- monoColor (hex, default #e5e5e5): Color for mono/ansi/svg/html output.

## Quick start
curl -F "image=@photo.jpg" "https://platphorm-v2a-57qwg7h22-platphormnews.vercel.app/api/v1/render?columns=120&format=ansi&color=true"

curl -X POST https://platphorm-v2a-57qwg7h22-platphormnews.vercel.app/api/v1/render \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"imageUrl":"https://example.com/cat.jpg","columns":160,"format":"html","color":true}'

## MCP
POST https://platphorm-v2a-57qwg7h22-platphormnews.vercel.app/api/mcp with a JSON-RPC body:
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"render_ascii","arguments":{"imageUrl":"https://example.com/cat.jpg","columns":100,"color":true}}}