Ableton Live MCP

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

Quick Start

1. Install uv if you don't have it
2. Install Remote Script: Copy the ableton/ folder into Ableton's MIDI Remote Scripts directory as AbletonLiveMCP/ (see detailed instructions below)
3. Enable in Ableton: Settings > Link, Tempo & MIDI > Control Surface > AbletonLiveMCP
4. Connect Claude: pick one method from Setup below
5. Go: Ask Claude 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 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

Prerequisites

• Ableton Live 11+ (uses the extended MIDI note API)
• uv — handles Python and dependencies automatically

Install uv

macOS/Linux:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

You do not need to install Python separately — uv manages that for you.

Setup

1. Install the Remote Script

The Remote Script runs inside Ableton. It needs to be in Ableton's MIDI Remote Scripts directory.

Option A — Download just the Remote Script (if you're using uvx and don't need the full repo):

Download ableton/__init__.py from this repo and place it in a folder called AbletonLiveMCP inside:

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

Option B — Clone the repo and symlink (recommended for development):

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\abletonmcp\ableton"

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

2. Connect Claude

Pick one method. Using multiple at once will start duplicate servers.

Claude Desktop (no clone needed)

Edit your config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

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

Claude Code (no clone needed)

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

Claude Code plugin (clone required)

Auto-starts the MCP server and loads the agent guide skill:

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/abletonmcp

From a cloned repo

If you cloned the repo and want to run from source instead of PyPI:

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

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

3. Verify

1. Make sure Ableton is running with AbletonLiveMCP control surface active
2. Start/restart your Claude client
3. The MCP server connects to Ableton automatically on first use

Troubleshooting: 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

MCP Tools

The server exposes three tools:

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:

Architecture

See DEVELOPMENT.md for the full technical guide.

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.

License

MIT