PuzzleTide MCP Server

Word search, crossword, and sudoku generators, printable PDF worksheets, and verifiable LLM evals.

Local serverstdioTypeScript

What is the PuzzleTide MCP server?

Word search, crossword, and sudoku generators, printable PDF worksheets, and verifiable LLM evals. That is what the puzzletide mcp server brings to an AI assistant: the same capability, reachable through the Model Context Protocol rather than a separate app or dashboard.

The short version

Word search generator, crossword generator, and sudoku generator + solver in one local-first puzzle generator CLI — with printable PDF worksheets, starter word banks, verifiable LLM evals, and bundled agent skills. From the makers of puzzletide.com.

  • Every word search word is placed and verifiable — placement coordinates are
  • Every generated sudoku is checked to have exactly one solution
  • Every crossword is validated against its own clues before it's returned
  • Same --seed in, same puzzle out, on any machine

The tools it exposes

The server publishes 14 tools. What each one is for:

  • puzzle_wordsearch_generate — Generate a word search grid from custom words, files, or themed word banks — every placement verifiable, printable via PDF/SVG
  • puzzle_crossword_generate — Generate an interlocking crossword with standard numbering and validated clues
  • puzzle_sudoku_generate — Generate easy, medium, hard, or expert sudoku with a guaranteed unique solution
  • puzzle_sudoku_solve — Solve a sudoku from its 81-character string and report whether the solution is unique
  • puzzle_sudoku_validate — Validate a sudoku grid — conflicts, solvability, and solution uniqueness
  • words_categories — List word bank categories
  • words_themes — List or search the bundled themed word lists
  • words_list — List the words in a theme, filtered by length or count
  • words_match — Find words matching a crossword-style pattern (c_r_l)
  • words_anagram — Find anagrams of the given letters in the word bank
  • words_random — Pick a random word, optionally from one theme
  • words_stats — Word bank statistics

Getting it running

puzzletide on npm is all you need. Most clients run it directly, so configuration is a few lines and a restart.

How it compares

This sits in the AI and media services group, where several servers overlap in what they claim to do but differ sharply once you actually set them up. PuzzleTide's toolset — puzzle_wordsearch_generate, puzzle_crossword_generate, puzzle_sudoku_generate and 11 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by catorch; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

We check each listing at SyncDev against the project's documentation before it goes live — if something here drifts out of date, it is a bug worth reporting.

Things to watch

  • It runs with your machine's permissions. That is convenient and also the reason to think about what you point it at before you approve a tool call.
  • With 14 tools registered it takes up a noticeable share of the context window; turn it off in projects that never touch PuzzleTide.
  • Keep per-call confirmation enabled while you learn its behaviour; it is the cheapest safeguard you have.

Available tools

ToolWhat it does
puzzle_wordsearch_generateGenerate a word search grid from custom words, files, or themed word banks — every placement verifiable, printable via PDF/SVG.
puzzle_crossword_generateGenerate an interlocking crossword with standard numbering and validated clues.
puzzle_sudoku_generateGenerate easy, medium, hard, or expert sudoku with a guaranteed unique solution.
puzzle_sudoku_solveSolve a sudoku from its 81-character string and report whether the solution is unique.
puzzle_sudoku_validateValidate a sudoku grid — conflicts, solvability, and solution uniqueness.
words_categoriesList word bank categories.
words_themesList or search the bundled themed word lists.
words_listList the words in a theme, filtered by length or count.
words_matchFind words matching a crossword-style pattern (c_r_l).
words_anagramFind anagrams of the given letters in the word bank.
words_randomPick a random word, optionally from one theme.
words_statsWord bank statistics.
eval_generateGenerate reproducible, objectively gradable puzzle tasks for benchmarking LLMs and agents.
eval_checkGrade answers to generated eval tasks by construction — no answer key trusted.

How to install the PuzzleTide MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "puzzletide": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "puzzletide-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.

Example prompts to try

  • Use PuzzleTide to puzzle wordsearch generate.
  • Use PuzzleTide to puzzle crossword generate.
  • Use PuzzleTide to puzzle sudoku generate.

Frequently asked questions

It connects PuzzleTide to MCP-compatible AI assistants such as Claude and Cursor, exposing 14 tools (puzzle_wordsearch_generate, puzzle_crossword_generate, puzzle_sudoku_generate, and more) that the assistant can call on your behalf. Instead of copying data back and forth by hand, the assistant works with PuzzleTide directly.