hackshop-mcp

An AI agent that knows what hardware is hackable, repurposable, or protocol-native. Tell it your project idea; it returns 3-5 candidates from a hand-vetted catalog with brick-risk, firmware links, and live eBay searches.

GitHub npmMITv0.0.2

Try it live

Real API call to a real catalog. Submit a project idea below and the agent picks 3-5 candidates with reasoning. The same logic ships in the npm package; this page is the proof.

Need inspiration? Browse 25 verified project templates → (old phone as a clock, e-paper calendar, Roomba as a robot, etc.)

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Install in 30 seconds

Add this to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP-aware host):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hackshop": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "hackshop-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

The ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is optional but recommended. The server prefers MCP sampling/createMessagefor reasoning; if your host doesn't support it, the server falls back to a direct Anthropic call when this key is set.

The story

I had an Electric Objects EO1 picture frame. The company shut down. The frame bricked. It took six hours of forum-diving and Claude assistance to revive it. The hack was fun. Finding what hardware is even hackable was the time-sink.

hackshop-mcp closes that gap. Two MCP tools. 27 hand-vetted devices. A strict safety rule for hardware classes where bricks are unrecoverable. Built so an agent can do the part you don't know how to do.

What's in the box

Hand-vetted devices

Each entry has explicit brick-risk provenance: founder-verified, community-reported, or LLM-inferred.

MCP tools

propose_hardware for idea-to-device mapping. assess_hackability for direct lookups.

Safety rule

For handhelds and SBCs with LLM-inferred risk, the server refuses to surface a fabricated brick-risk score. Tested as a release gate.

Design choices worth noting

Compose, don't vendor.hackshop-mcp doesn't bundle eBay integration. Every proposal returns an eBay search URL the host can hand to ebay-mcp for live listings. Two MCP servers, one workflow.
Sampling first, API fallback.The server prefers MCP's sampling/createMessageso users don't ship a key. When the host doesn't support sampling, an env-gated Anthropic API fallback kicks in.
Closed-set tag vocabulary. 24 tags in tags.md; boot validation refuses to start if catalog drifts. No 70-tag mess in three months.
JSON catalog, not SQLite. 27 devices fit in a diffable file. Community contributions are a PR.

Contributing devices

The catalog is the moat. PRs welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. New entries default to community-reported provenance; founder-verifiedrequires the maintainer's signature. Adding a tag means editing tags.md in the same PR.

Status

V0.0.2 is the demand experiment. If installs and issue traffic clear a stretch threshold, V0.1 expands the catalog and adds a third tool. If not, the package keeps existing as a personal tool — that's the deal with N=1 builder mode.