🎛️ The Ableton Cookbook - MCP Server

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Share and discover Ableton Live production recipes - A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that bridges AI assistants with Ableton Live, enabling version control, rack analysis, and real-time control for music production workflows.

🌐 View Documentation | 📖 Contributing Guide | 🗺️ Vision & Roadmap

This project enables AI assistants to interact with Ableton Live through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), combining real-time control, offline analysis, version tracking, and rack parsing into a unified workflow intelligence system.

Vision

Think Spotify Wrapped meets Stack Overflow for music production. A platform where producers share and discover Ableton workflows through:

🎛️ Rack Analysis - Parse and share device chains as "recipes"
📚 Version Control - Track project evolution with semantic versioning
🌍 Collective Intelligence - Query anonymized data from thousands of projects
🤖 AI-Powered Insights - Get mixing advice, device recommendations, and workflow patterns

Project Structure

Mono-repo with npm workspaces:

ableton-cookbook-mcp/
├── packages/
│   ├── mcp-server/            # TypeScript MCP Server 🟢 ACTIVE
│   │   ├── src/
│   │   │   ├── index.ts       # Main MCP server (16 tools)
│   │   │   ├── archivist.ts   # Offline .als parsing
│   │   │   ├── operator.ts    # Real-time Live control
│   │   │   ├── historian.ts   # Version control bridge
│   │   │   └── analyzer.ts    # Rack/preset analysis bridge
│   │   └── dist/              # Compiled JavaScript
│   │
│   ├── python-scripts/        # Version Control System 🟢 ACTIVE
│   │   ├── ableton_version_manager.py
│   │   ├── ableton_visualizer.py
│   │   └── ableton_diff.py
│   │
│   └── php-analyzers/         # Rack/Preset Parsers 🟢 ACTIVE
│       ├── abletonRackAnalyzer/
│       ├── abletonDrumRackAnalyzer/
│       ├── abletonPresetAnalyzer/
│       └── abletonSessionAnalyzer/
│
├── .claude/                   # AI context & planning docs
│   ├── PROJECT_CONTEXT.md
│   ├── ARCHITECTURE.md
│   ├── VISION_AND_ROADMAP.md
│   └── WEEK_1_IMPLEMENTATION.md
│
├── docs/                      # GitHub Pages documentation
├── .github/
│   ├── workflows/             # CI/CD automation
│   └── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/        # Bug/feature templates
│
└── cookbook-website/          # Laravel Web Platform (symlink)
    └── → (External Laravel project)

Features

🗄️ Archivist (Offline Analysis)

Scan directories for Ableton Live Set (.als) files
Parse and inspect .als files without opening Live
Extract track, device, and scene information from project files

🎛️ Operator (Live Control)

Real-time connection to running Ableton Live instance
Query transport status (tempo, play state, song time)
List all tracks with names, colors, and IDs
Control mixer parameters (volume, etc.)

📚 Historian (Version Control)

Track version history of Ableton projects
Compare any two versions to see changes
Generate detailed change reports (track additions/removals, device changes)
Create HTML timeline visualizations
Automatic version scanning and metadata integration

🔬 Analyzer (Rack & Preset Analysis)

Parse Ableton rack files (.adg) to extract device chains and macros
Analyze drum racks with pad assignments and sample mappings
Inspect device presets (.adv) to see parameter settings
Scan User Library for all racks, presets, and workflows
Search racks by device type (find all racks using specific plugins)
Detect edition requirements (Intro/Standard/Suite)

Prerequisites

1. Node.js

Ensure you have Node.js (v18 or higher) installed.

2. Ableton Live & `ableton-js` Remote Script

This server uses the ableton-js library to communicate with Live. For this to work, you must install the official MIDI Remote Script.

Locate the node_modules/ableton-js/midi-script folder in this project (after running npm install).
Copy the AbletonJS folder to your Ableton Live "MIDI Remote Scripts" directory:

macOS: /Applications/Ableton Live 11 Suite.app/Contents/App-Resources/MIDI Remote Scripts/

Quick Start

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/teamallnighter/ableton-cookbook-mcp.git
cd ableton-cookbook-mcp

# Install and build MCP server
cd packages/mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Configure Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ableton": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/ableton-cookbook-mcp/packages/mcp-server/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop and you'll see 16 Ableton tools available! 🎉

Development

cd packages/mcp-server

# Watch mode (auto-rebuild on changes)
npm run watch

# Lint and format
npm run lint
npm run format

# Manual build
npm run build

{ "mcpServers": { "ableton-live": { "command": "node", "args": ["/Volumes/DEV/M4L-MCP/dist/index.js"] } } } ```

After adding the configuration, restart Claude Desktop.

Available Tools

Offline Analysis (Archivist)

scan_project_files - Find all .als files in a directory
inspect_als - Parse an .als file to extract structure

Live Control (Operator)

get_live_status - Get transport status and tempo
list_live_tracks - List all tracks in the current set
set_track_volume - Control track volume

Version Control (Historian)

get_version_history - Show all versions with timestamps
scan_versions - Find versioned .als files (_X.Y.Z.als pattern)
compare_versions - Diff two specific versions
get_latest_changes - View most recent change report
get_change_report - Get changes between specific versions
generate_timeline - Create HTML timeline visualization

Rack & Preset Analysis (Analyzer)

analyze_rack - Extract device chains, macros, and metadata from .adg racks
analyze_drum_rack - Parse drum rack pad assignments and samples
analyze_preset - Inspect device preset (.adv) parameter settings
scan_user_library - Index all racks, drum racks, and presets in User Library
search_racks_by_device - Find racks containing specific devices (e.g., "Serum")

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Whether you're a producer, developer, or both - your input helps make this tool better for the music production community.

Ways to contribute:

🐛 Report bugs
✨ Request features
📚 Improve documentation
🔧 Submit pull requests
💬 Join discussions

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

Documentation

📖 Full Documentation - Setup guides and examples
🏗️ Architecture - Technical design and data models
🗺️ Vision & Roadmap - Product vision and future plans
🔧 Development Guide - Setup, debugging, and testing
📋 Project Context - Complete project overview

Roadmap

[x] Phase 1: Proof of Concept - MCP server with 16 tools ✅
[ ] Phase 2: Easy Setup - Desktop installer for non-technical users
[ ] Phase 3: Community - Web platform for sharing workflow recipes
[ ] Phase 4: Discovery - Search, recommendations, and integrations

See VISION_AND_ROADMAP.md for detailed plans.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Built with:

Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
ableton-js by Leo Bernard
Love for music production 🎵

---

Made with 🎵 by Team All Nighter For producers who code at 3am

Example Usage

Once configured, you can ask Claude:

Live Control:

"What tracks are in my current Ableton set?"
"Set the volume of the Bass track to 0.5"
"What's the current tempo and play state?"

Version Control:

"Show me the version history for my project"
"What changed between version 0.1.0 and 0.1.2?"
"Generate a timeline visualization for this project"

Rack Analysis:

"Analyze this rack and show me the device chain"
"What devices are in my Bass Daddy rack?"
"Find all racks in my User Library that use Serum"
"Scan my User Library and show me all my custom racks"

Ableton Cookbook MCP