# Claude Ableton

> Plugin to allow Claude to control Ableton

- **Type:** MCP server
- **Install:** `agentstack add mcp-rohailaltaf-claude-ableton`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [rohailaltaf](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/rohailaltaf)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Integrations](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/integrations)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [rohailaltaf](https://github.com/rohailaltaf)
- **Source:** https://github.com/rohailaltaf/claude-ableton

## Install

```sh
agentstack add mcp-rohailaltaf-claude-ableton
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# claude-ableton

Make music in **Ableton Live 12** by talking to Claude. **claude-ableton** is a
Claude plugin that lets you create tracks, load instruments / drum kits /
samples, write MIDI clips and chord progressions, mix, route sidechains,
automate parameters, build arrangements, and master — all by chatting.

```
"Make a lo-fi beat at 82 BPM: Boom Bap drums, a warm Rhodes on
 Cmaj7 → Am7 → Dm7 → G7 with smooth voicing, a sub bass sidechained
 to the kick, and a tape-wobble auto-filter on the keys."
```

Everything materializes in your open Live set. 139 tools.

*A real session, sped way up — Claude building a track hands-free.*

---

## Requirements

- **macOS** — Windows support is planned.
- **Ableton Live 12** — Suite recommended; Intro/Standard ship fewer built-in
  instruments.
- **Claude Code** or **Claude Desktop** for the one-step plugin install — or any
  other MCP client (Cursor, Codex, …) via the manual config below.
- **Node 18+** *only* if you install via the `npx` path below. Claude Code and
  Claude Desktop bundle their own Node, so the plugin install needs nothing
  extra.

---

## Install

### Claude Code

Add the marketplace, then install:

```
/plugin marketplace add rohailaltaf/claude-ableton
/plugin install claude-ableton@claude-ableton
```

### Claude Desktop

Use Claude Desktop's **Add marketplace** feature (in its plugin settings), add
`rohailaltaf/claude-ableton`, then install the **claude-ableton** plugin.

### Cursor, Codex, or any other MCP client

Add this to your client's MCP config:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ableton": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:rohailaltaf/claude-ableton"]
    }
  }
}
```

---

## One-time Ableton setup

The first time it runs, the plugin installs the bundled AbletonOSC Remote Script
into your Live User Library automatically. You then enable it once:

1. Start (or restart) **Ableton Live**.
2. Open **Settings/Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI**.
3. Under **Control Surface**, select **AbletonOSC**. (Leave Input/Output set to
   None.)

That's it. The plugin checks the Remote Script version on every launch and
re-installs it if it changed, so you stay in sync.

---

## How it works

```
Claude (Code / Desktop / Cursor / …)
   │  MCP (stdio)
   ▼
claude-ableton  ──OSC──▶  127.0.0.1:11000  AbletonOSC Remote Script  ──▶  Live's LOM
                ◀──OSC──   127.0.0.1:11001
```

The bridge is **localhost-only** — there is no network listener and nothing is
reachable off your machine.

---

## What it can do (139 tools)

- **Tracks & instruments** — create/duplicate/delete MIDI tracks; load any
  built-in Live 12 instrument (synths, samplers, racks, Drum Synths) or a named
  preset by browser path.
- **Clips & notes** — create MIDI clips, read/add/remove notes, rename, loop,
  color, quantize, duplicate.
- **Chord progressions** — parse chord symbols and write block chords with
  **smooth voice-leading** (common tones held) or literal root position.
- **Drums & samples** — load full drum kits, inspect Drum Rack pads, drop
  samples onto pads, load a sample onto a track (Simpler-wrapped), or drop an
  audio file straight onto the Session grid as a real audio clip.
- **Browser** — list instruments, drums, audio/MIDI effects, samples, packs,
  plugins, sounds, clips, Max for Live, user library, current project — and load
  from them (presets, sounds, samples, plugins/VSTs, saved racks, pack content,
  M4L devices).
- **Mixing** — volume, pan, mute, solo; device parameters; return tracks &
  sends; sidechain source/channel routing.
- **Mastering** — load effects on the Main track (Glue Compressor → Limiter),
  read/set master device params and output level.
- **Automation** — step envelopes for device and mixer parameters (volume / pan
  / sends); smooth ramps via many small steps.
- **Scenes & arrangement** — list/create/duplicate/rename/delete scenes; stamp
  Session clips onto the Arrangement timeline to build a finite track.
- **Transport & state** — play/stop/continue, fire scenes/clips, set/read
  tempo, time signature, playback position.

See [DESIGN.md](DESIGN.md) for conventions (pitch numbering, beat units, the
instrument allowlist) and design decisions.

## Bundled skills

The plugin also ships [Agent Skills](skills/) — workflow recipes that trigger
automatically on matching requests:

- **mastering-chain** — say "master the track" or "make it louder" and Claude
  builds a Glue Compressor → Limiter chain on the Main track with
  conservative, streaming-safe settings (and won't stack a second limiter on
  a chain you already have).

---

## Limitations

- **Session-view authoring.** Notes and clips are written into the Session grid;
  to build a fixed track, stamp clips onto the Arrangement timeline with
  `duplicate_clip_to_arrangement` (the only LOM path to a linear arrangement).
- **Step automation only.** Smooth curves are approximated with many small
  steps — Live's API doesn't expose breakpoint curves.
- **Live API ceilings** (not exposed by Live's scripting API, so not buildable):
  grouping tracks, saving/loading/exporting the Set, loading browser clips
  (`.alc` from Live's indexed Clips browser) into a Session slot — Live's
  `app.browser.load_item` is device-only, no LOM path for clip-type items —
  freezing/flattening, and clip follow actions (removed from the Clip API in
  Live 12). (Loading raw audio files **does** work — `load_audio_clip` lands
  any `.wav`/`.aif`/`.mp3`/`.flac`/`.ogg` directly on the Session grid.)

---

## Security

This plugin grants Claude write access to your **active Ableton Live session**.
The OSC bridge is localhost-only (no network port), but treat it like any local
automation tool: review what Claude proposes before running it if you have
unsaved work. Use Live's Undo (Cmd+Z) freely.

---

## Development

```bash
git clone https://github.com/rohailaltaf/claude-ableton.git
cd claude-ableton
npm install
npm run package      # vendor the Remote Script + typecheck + bundle dist/index.js
```

- `npm run build` — bundle `src/` into a single `dist/index.js` (esbuild).
- `npm run typecheck` — `tsc --noEmit`.
- `npm run vendor` — re-vendor the pinned AbletonOSC fork into `vendor/`.
- `node scripts/integration-test.mjs` — drive all 139 tools against a running
  Live (needs OSC port 11001 free and a scratch set open).

The plugin's server is bundled into one self-contained file with no runtime
dependencies, so the committed `dist/index.js` and `vendor/AbletonOSC` run
directly when the plugin loads.

---

## License & credits

[MIT](LICENSE) © Rohail Altaf.

Built on [**AbletonOSC**](https://github.com/ideoforms/AbletonOSC) by Daniel
Jones / ideoforms (MIT) — an extended fork is bundled here; its license and
attribution are preserved in `vendor/AbletonOSC/LICENSE.md`.

## Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [rohailaltaf](https://github.com/rohailaltaf)
- **Source:** [rohailaltaf/claude-ableton](https://github.com/rohailaltaf/claude-ableton)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/mcp-rohailaltaf-claude-ableton
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/rohailaltaf
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

---
Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.