Ableton Live MCP

MCP Server for Ableton Live, to let AI agents control or inspect Ableton.

Quick Start

1. Install the Remote Script

Download ableton/__init__.py and place it in a new folder called AbletonLiveMCP inside Ableton's MIDI Remote Scripts directory:

• Windows: C:\ProgramData\Ableton\Live XX\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\AbletonLiveMCP\
• macOS: Right-click Ableton Live → Show Package Contents → Contents/App-Resources/MIDI Remote Scripts/AbletonLiveMCP/

Then enable it in Ableton: Settings → Link, Tempo & MIDI → Control Surface → AbletonLiveMCP (Input/Output: None).

2. Connect Claude

First, install uv (which includes uvx) if you don't already have it:

Platform	Command
macOS	brew install uv
Windows	winget install astral-sh.uv

<details><summary>Alternative install methods</summary>

# macOS/Linux — standalone installer
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Windows — PowerShell standalone installer
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

</details>

Then connect Claude:

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --scope user AbletonLiveMCP -- uvx ableton-live-mcp

Claude Desktop — edit your config file (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "AbletonLiveMCP": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": ["ableton-live-mcp"]
        }
    }
}

3. Go

Make sure Ableton is running with the AbletonLiveMCP control surface active, then start (or restart) Claude and ask it to do something in Ableton.

How It Works

Claude  →  MCP Server  →  TCP :16619  →  Remote Script (inside Ableton)
                                              ↓
                                        exec(python_code)
                                              ↓
                                     Live Object Model
                                   (song, tracks, clips, devices, browser...)

The MCP server and Remote Script communicate over TCP port 16619. The Remote Script runs inside Ableton's embedded Python interpreter — Claude sends Python code as a string, the Remote Script exec()s it with the full Live API in scope, and returns the serialized result. There are no predefined commands — anything the Live API supports is available immediately.

What Claude Can Do

# Read session state
song.tempo                                        # → 120.0
[(i, t.name) for i, t in enumerate(song.tracks)]  # → [(0, "Bass"), (1, "Drums"), ...]

# Modify session
song.tempo = 140
song.tracks[0].name = "Lead Synth"

# Create tracks and clips
song.create_midi_track(-1)
song.tracks[-1].clip_slots[0].create_clip(4.0)

# Write MIDI notes (MidiNoteSpecification is in scope, no import needed)
clip = song.tracks[0].clip_slots[0].clip
clip.add_new_notes(tuple([
    MidiNoteSpecification(pitch=60, start_time=0.0, duration=0.5, velocity=100),
    MidiNoteSpecification(pitch=64, start_time=1.0, duration=0.5, velocity=90),
]))

# Find and load instruments (find_item, find_items, find_track, load_to are in scope)
load_to(song.tracks[0], browser.instruments, "Grand Piano")
load_to(find_track("Drums"), browser.drums, "808")

# Control transport
song.start_playing()
song.stop_playing()
song.tracks[0].clip_slots[0].fire()

# Mix
find_track("Bass").mixer_device.volume.value = 0.7
song.tracks[0].mixer_device.panning.value = -0.3

MCP Tools

The server exposes three tools:

Tool	Purpose
execute(code)	Send Python code to run inside Ableton. The main tool.
api(class_name?)	Browse the Live API reference by class (Song, Track, Clip, Device, etc.).
search_api(query)	Search the API reference by keyword across all classes.

api and search_api read from a structured API reference. Claude can execute anything the Live API supports, not just what's in the reference.

Execution Scope

Every execute call gets a fresh namespace with:

Variable	What It Is
song	The Live Set — tempo, tracks, scenes, transport
app	The Live Application — browser, version info
tracks	Shortcut for song.tracks (stale after create/delete — use song.tracks or find_track)
returns	song.return_tracks
master	song.master_track
browser	app.browser — instruments, effects, drums, sounds
Live	The Live module — Live.Clip, Live.Device, etc.
MidiNoteSpecification	Live.Clip.MidiNoteSpecification — no import needed
find_item(parent, query)	Search browser tree for best match. Returns BrowserItem or None
find_items(parent, query)	Search browser tree, return ranked list of matches
find_track(name)	Look up a track by name. Returns Track or None
load_to(track, parent, query)	Find a browser item and load it onto a track
log	Write to Ableton's Log.txt
json	The json module
time	The time module

Development

Requires uv (see install instructions above).

Clone and symlink the Remote Script for live development (changes take effect on Ableton restart):

git clone https://github.com/opendining/ableton-mcp-server.git

# Windows (PowerShell, run once)
New-Item -ItemType Junction `
  -Path "C:\ProgramData\Ableton\Live 12 Intro\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\AbletonLiveMCP" `
  -Target "C:\path\to\ableton-mcp-server\ableton"

Run from source instead of PyPI:

# Claude Code
claude mcp add --scope user AbletonLiveMCP -- uv run --directory /path/to/ableton-mcp-server ableton-live-mcp

// Claude Desktop
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "AbletonLiveMCP": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/ableton-mcp-server", "ableton-live-mcp"]
        }
    }
}

Claude Code plugin — auto-starts the MCP server and loads the agent guide skill:

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/ableton-mcp-server

See DEVELOPMENT.md for the full architecture guide.

Troubleshooting

If the MCP server can't reach Ableton, check:

1. Ableton is running with AbletonLiveMCP control surface enabled
2. No other MCP server instance is already connected (only one client at a time)

Check Ableton's Log.txt for Remote Script errors:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Ableton\Live x.x.x\Preferences\Log.txt
• macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live x.x.x/Log.txt

Acknowledgments

This project was inspired by ahujasid/ableton-mcp, which pioneered the idea of connecting Ableton Live to AI agents via MCP. That project uses a fixed set of tool-per-action commands (create track, add notes, set tempo, etc.).

This fork takes a different approach inspired by Cloudflare's Code Mode: instead of predefined commands, the agent writes and executes Python directly against Ableton's runtime. A streamlined execution scope with built-in helpers (find_item, find_track, load_to, etc.) and a searchable API reference give the model everything it needs to use the full Live API without being limited to a curated command set.

Disclaimer

This project is unofficial and not affiliated with or supported by Ableton. For issues, please use the issue tracker — not Ableton's support channels.

License

MIT