claw-daw 0.2.1

Offline, deterministic, terminal-first MIDI DAW for agents

claw-daw

Offline, deterministic, terminal-first MIDI DAW.

Think “DAW for agents”: you (or an agent) write a small headless script (patterns + clips), render, listen, tweak, rerender — and keep everything diffable in Git.

• Homepage: https://www.clawdaw.com/
• Docs: https://sdiaoune.github.io/claw-daw/
• GitHub: https://github.com/sdiaoune/claw-daw

What you can do

• Headless scripting: build songs with new_project / add_track / new_pattern / add_note_pat / place_pattern / export_*
• Deterministic output: same script + same seed + same version + same SoundFont → same render
• Exports: WAV / MP3 / M4A / MIDI + project JSON
• Sound engineering (mix spec, opt-in): deterministic per-track EQ/dynamics, sidechain, sends/returns, and audio metering
• Quality workflow: claw-daw quality ... runs mix prep + preview/full gates + stem/bus checks
• Agent ergonomics:
  • bar:beat timecodes (2:0, 1:3:120)
  • note expressions (chance, accent, mute, glide_ticks)
  • select/apply edits (select_notes, apply_selected)
  • validate/diff/analyze helpers
• Sampler (offline): built-in drums + 808
  • Drum Kits v1 (role-based): list_drum_kits, set_drum_kit <track> <kit>, and add_note_pat ... <pitch|role> ...
  • 808 presets: set_808 <track> <preset> + set_glide for portamento
• Genre Packs v1 (from-scratch, deterministic): claw-daw pack <trap|house|boom_bap> ...
• Stylepacks v1 (opt-in / explicit request) (scored iteration + reports): claw-daw stylepack <trap_2020s|boom_bap|house> ...
• Prompt → script helper (offline): style-aware scaffolding with novelty control (--max-similarity)
  • Supported styles: hiphop | lofi | house | techno | ambient | trap | boom_bap
• MIDI out: play to hardware/virtual MIDI ports (claw-daw play)

Install

Linux (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://www.clawdaw.com/install.sh -o /tmp/clawdaw-install.sh
bash /tmp/clawdaw-install.sh

macOS

curl -fsSL https://www.clawdaw.com/install_mac.sh -o /tmp/clawdaw-install.sh
bash /tmp/clawdaw-install.sh

Windows (PowerShell)

iwr https://www.clawdaw.com/install_win.ps1 -UseBasicParsing -OutFile $env:TEMP\clawdaw-install.ps1
& $env:TEMP\clawdaw-install.ps1

Run in Administrator PowerShell to install system deps (Chocolatey).

Manual (Ubuntu):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y fluidsynth ffmpeg fluid-soundfont-gm pipx
pipx install claw-daw

If claw-daw is not found after install, run pipx ensurepath and restart your terminal.

Verify install

claw-daw --version
claw-daw doctor

Quickstart

1) Health check + SoundFont

claw-daw doctor
claw-daw paths --soundfont

2) Render a headless script (recommended workflow)

claw-daw --headless \
  --soundfont /usr/share/sounds/sf2/default-GM.sf2 \
  --script tools/my_song.txt

3) Prompt → script helper (optional)

This is a scaffolding tool. Best results come from iterating like a producer.

SF2=$(claw-daw paths --soundfont | head -n 1)
claw-daw --soundfont "$SF2" prompt \
  --out my_prompt_song \
  --prompt "modern trap, 140bpm, E minor, spacey" \
  --iters 8 --max-similarity 0.85 \
  --render --quality-preset edm_streaming --section-gain

# outputs:
# tools/my_prompt_song.txt
# out/my_prompt_song.mp3
# out/my_prompt_song.mid
# out/my_prompt_song.json
# out/my_prompt_song.meter.json
# out/my_prompt_song_stems/*.wav
# out/my_prompt_song_busses/*.wav

Omit --seed on prompt, pack, or stylepack to auto-pick a fresh seed for that run. Pass --seed N to replay the same result exactly.

Minimal script example (from scratch)

new_project minimal_demo 140
set_swing 16

add_track Drums 0
set_drum_kit 0 trap_hard

add_track 808 0
set_808 1 dist
set_glide 1 0:0:90

new_pattern 0 d1 2:0
add_note_pat 0 d1 kick 0:0 0:0:180 112
add_note_pat 0 d1 snare 0:2 0:0:180 108
place_pattern 0 d1 0:0 16

# (optional) a single bar bass pickup
new_pattern 1 b1 1:0
add_note_pat 1 b1 33 0:2 0:1:0 112
place_pattern 1 b1 0:0 16

save_project out/minimal_demo.json
export_midi out/minimal_demo.mid
export_mp3 out/minimal_demo.mp3 preset=clean
# macOS only: create a FL Studio project + sibling assets folder
# export_flp out/minimal_demo

MIDI out (hardware / virtual ports)

claw-daw midi-ports
claw-daw play out/minimal_demo.json --midi-out "YOUR PORT NAME"

Docs

• docs/USER_GUIDE.md
• docs/AGENT_COOKBOOK.md
• docs/AGENT_PLAYBOOK.md
• docs/ARCH_STYLEPACK_PIPELINE.md (prompt → BeatSpec → compile → render → score → iterate)

Notes / guarantees

• 100% offline core (no network APIs).
• Reproducibility depends on pinning: claw-daw version + SoundFont + seed/script.
• Project format is JSON (current schema v7; migrations included).
• FL Studio export writes a real .flp via the local FL Studio app on macOS and requires Accessibility access for osascript.

License

MIT