AbletonMCP

AbletonMCP connects Ableton Live to Claude AI through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), giving Claude direct, two-way control over your Live session. Create full arrangements, manipulate tracks, load instruments and effects, and compose music — all through natural language prompts.

Table of Contents

• Features
• How It Works
• Installation
  • Prerequisites
  • 1. Install the MCP Server
  • 2. Install the Ableton Remote Script
  • 3. Configure Your AI Client
• Usage
• Example Prompts
• Troubleshooting
• Technical Details
• Telemetry
• Community
• Contributing

Features

How It Works

AbletonMCP has two components that work together:

1. Ableton Remote Script (AbletonMCP_Remote_Script/__init__.py) — A MIDI Remote Script installed inside Ableton Live. It opens a local TCP socket server and listens for JSON commands.
2. MCP Server (MCP_Server/) — A Python server implementing the Model Context Protocol. It connects to the Remote Script socket and exposes Ableton's capabilities as MCP tools to Claude.

Claude Desktop / Cursor
        │
        │  MCP (stdio/SSE)
        ▼
  MCP Server (Python)
        │
        │  TCP socket (localhost:9000)
        ▼
Ableton Remote Script
        │
        ▼
   Ableton Live

Installation

Prerequisites

• Ableton Live 10 or newer
• Python 3.8 or newer
• uv package manager

Install uv for your platform:

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install uv

# Windows / Linux
# See: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/

⚠️ Do not proceed without installing uv first.

1. Install the MCP Server

Option A — Smithery (recommended, one command)

npx -y @smithery/cli install @ahujasid/ableton-mcp --client claude

Option B — Manual (uvx)

No installation needed — uvx downloads and runs ableton-mcp on demand. See client configuration below.

2. Install the Ableton Remote Script

📹 Follow the video walkthrough

1. Download AbletonMCP_Remote_Script/__init__.py from this repository.
2. Create a folder named AbletonMCP inside Ableton's MIDI Remote Scripts directory and copy the file there.

Remote Scripts directory locations:

• Method 1 (App bundle): Right-click Ableton Live in Applications → Show Package Contents →Contents/App-Resources/MIDI Remote Scripts/
• Method 2 (User folder):/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live <version>/User Remote Scripts/

• Method 1: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live <version>\Preferences\User Remote Scripts
• Method 2: C:\ProgramData\Ableton\Live <version>\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\
• Method 3: C:\Program Files\Ableton\Live <version>\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\

Replace <version> with your Ableton version number (e.g. 11, 12).

• ~/.config/ableton/Live <version>/User Remote Scripts/

3. Launch Ableton Live.
4. Open Settings / Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI.
5. In Control Surface, select AbletonMCP.
6. Set Input and Output to None.

3. Configure Your AI Client

⚠️ Run only one instance of the MCP server at a time (Claude Desktop or Cursor, not both).

Open Claude → Settings → Developer → Edit Config (claude_desktop_config.json) and add:

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

Go to Cursor Settings → MCP and enter the following as the command:

uvx ableton-mcp

Add to your .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "AbletonMCP": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["ableton-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

1. Make sure the AbletonMCP Remote Script is active in Ableton Live (the Control Surface indicator should appear).
2. Open Claude Desktop or Cursor — the MCP server starts automatically.
3. Look for the 🔨 hammer icon in the chat interface — this confirms MCP tools are available.
4. Start prompting Claude to control Ableton.

Example Prompts

"Create an 80s synthwave track"
"Build a Metro Boomin style hip-hop beat"
"Create a full song with intro, buildup, drop, breakdown, and outro"
"Add a jazz chord progression to track 1"
"Load an 808 drum rack and create a 4-bar pattern"
"Add reverb and delay to the lead synth"
"Set the tempo to 128 BPM and create 8 bars of house music"
"Get information about the current session"
"Fire the clip in track 2, scene 3"

📹 Demo: 80s Synthwave track

Troubleshooting

• Confirm the AbletonMCP Control Surface is selected in Ableton's MIDI preferences.
• Make sure only one MCP server instance is running.
• Restart both Ableton Live and your AI client, then try again.

Break large tasks into smaller steps. For example, instead of "create a full track", try:

1. "Create a drum track with a basic pattern"
2. "Add a bass track with a simple riff"
3. "Add a synth lead melody"

• Verify the AbletonMCP folder (containing __init__.py) is in the correct Remote Scripts directory for your OS and Ableton version.
• Restart Ableton Live after copying the files.
• Check Ableton's Log.txt for any script errors.

1. Quit both Ableton Live and Claude Desktop / Cursor completely.
2. Restart Ableton Live and confirm the AbletonMCP Control Surface loads.
3. Restart your AI client.
4. If the issue persists, open a thread in Discord with your OS, Ableton version, and any error messages.

Technical Details

Communication Protocol

Commands flow as JSON objects over a local TCP socket (default port 9000):

// Request
{ "type": "create_midi_track", "params": { "index": -1 } }

// Response
{ "status": "success", "result": { "track_id": "track_0", "name": "1-MIDI" } }

Limitations

• Complex arrangements may need to be broken into multiple steps.
• Designed for Ableton's built-in devices and browser content; third-party plug-in automation support varies.
• Always save your project before running extensive AI-driven changes.

Telemetry

AbletonMCP collects anonymous usage data to help improve the tool:

• Which MCP tools are invoked (no content or project data)
• Session activity for active-user counts
• Aggregate error rates

No personal information, file names, audio content, or project details are ever collected.

Opt Out

Set any of these environment variables before starting the server:

export ABLETON_MCP_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true

Or in your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "AbletonMCP": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["ableton-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ABLETON_MCP_DISABLE_TELEMETRY": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Community

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! To get started:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m "feat: add my feature"
4. Push and open a Pull Request

Please open an issue first for substantial changes so we can discuss the approach.

Star History

Contributors