Archie is an AI that builds things in my Minecraft server. Ask for “a mossy watchtower on that hill” or “a castle on top of the mountain” and Archie walks over, studies the land, plans a design, sketches a few ideas, picks the best one and builds it block by block.
I wrote it as a plugin for my own self-hosted Minecraft server, and the dashboard below is a live window into its head. You can watch it think, see the ideas it is choosing between, and see the building take shape on the real terrain, all in real time. If it says Archie is resting, nobody has asked for anything lately: the page keeps showing the last build until the next request comes in.
What you’re looking at
Stages
Planning, sketching ideas, drafting, reviewing, building and done. The highlighted one is what Archie is doing right now, along with who asked for it.
Thinking
The model’s reasoning streams in as it works out where things should go, what the terrain allows and which style suits the request. Some models don’t stream their thinking, so the page shows what they say instead.
Ideas and reviews
Before it builds, Archie sketches three different ideas and a critic looks at each one from several angles. Click any picture to take a closer look.
The draft on the real land
While someone has the page open, the design is redrawn every 20 seconds or so on top of the actual terrain, so you can see it grow before a single block is placed.
Steps, plan and finished builds
Every step is written out in plain words, along with the written plan. When a build is done you get a picture of the result, plus a list of recent builds.
How it works
The AI doesn’t place blocks directly. Language models are bad at 3D geometry, so the model decides what to build, where and in what style, and drafting tools turn that into blocks: walls from a floor plan, stairs, roofs, doors, and a checker that walks through the finished building like a player to make sure every room can be reached. Archie also surveys the site first, levels it, and blends the edges back into the land so builds don’t sit in a bulldozed square. Every build can be undone.
It all runs on my own server, the same way the map and the radio on this site do, and the AI model behind it can be a local one on my home server or a cloud model.
Try it yourself
Join my Minecraft server (the address and key are on the interactive map page) and say “Archie, build …” in chat. Then come back here and watch it work.
