I just asked Claude to set it up for me ;) Basically Claude built VirtualT locally, and then built an MCP server that is basically an API on top of the existing socket server.
I explained to him how to navigate the Menu using keypresses. He (please bear with my anthropomorphizing of the LLM), found out that somehow it was causing the GUI to crash. I honestly don’t exactly know what he did, but he modified the code so that he was able to safely push keys at the same time as a user in the GUI, without the app crashing. I ran out of Tokens (they refresh in 20 minutes), but I’m going to ask him to extend the MCP to include loading a file from the hard drive. At this point, the MCP will support: - Loading a file - reading the screen - running a basic program - reset - cold start - inputting any keystroke Based on that alone, I think any LLM coding agent should be able to run and debug a program on VirtualT, make changes, iterate, etc. -George On Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM Scott McDonnell <[email protected]> wrote: > You did not need to set up the MCP server extensions? > > I went through that exercise a while back to allow Claude to interact with > webpages so I could expose it to Interactive Fiction. It was entertaining > watching it play some games. > > I taught it to generate the text file based KiCad formats as well. But > sadly it is not capable of retaining that training to be used across > sessions. > On 12/23/2025 4:19 PM, George M. Rimakis wrote: > > Like magic - Codex/Claude can not only use the socket interface, it > manages to correctly update the GUI to reflect whatever it's doing over the > socket. > > I just observed it enter BASIC, and type a test program > > """ > 10 PRINT "HELLO FROM MCP" > 20 FOR I = 1 TO 3 > 30 PRINT I > 40 NEXT I > 50 END > """ > > In not too long - I think this will be working flawlessly. > > On Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM Kenneth Pettit <[email protected]> wrote: > >> You have to first use the GUI to enable the socket interface and then >> quit so that option is saved. >> >> Ken >> >> On 12/23/25 9:27 AM, B 9 wrote: >> >> On Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 9:57 PM Kenneth Pettit <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> If you want to try it, it *might* work on Windows as is (I don't know, >>> haven't used Windows for 15 years or so). >>> >> >> Not an issue for me. These days, my OS of choice is Debian GNU/Linux. >> >> I was able to checkout and build the code easily enough and apply the >> patch. However, the TCP port doesn't open for me when I use `virtualt >> -nogui`. Am I using the wrong repository? This is what I'm doing: >> >> ```console >> $ git clone https://git.code.sf.net/p/virtualt/code virtualt >> $ sudo apt install libjpeg-dev libxft-dev libxinerama-dev libfltk1.4-dev >> $ cd virtualt >> $ make >> $ telnet localhost 2023 >> Connection failed: Connection refused >> ``` >> >> On Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 11:11 PM Joshua O'Keefe <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> A big thank you, Ken, for the snippet. I've committed it to my repo just >>> to keep things up to date. >> >> >> How does your repository differ from the one at sf.net/p/virtualt? >> Asking Google for "Virtual-T, Joshua O'Keefe" gave me an AI response about >> the human response to mazes and a suggestion that perhaps I was looking to >> Build a Better World through Irish Folk Music. >> >> —b9 >> >> >> >> >> >>
