ableton-mcp

MCP server for controlling Ableton Live — enabling AI assistants to interact with Live sessions via the Model Context Protocol.

Prerequisites

• Ableton Live 10+

Setup

1. Install the Control Surface

A control surface script must be installed into Ableton Live. It runs inside Live and exposes a TCP socket for the MCP server to connect to.

macOS:

mkdir -p ~/Music/Ableton/User\ Library/Remote\ Scripts/AbletonMCP && curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amamparo/ableton-mcp/main/control_surface/AbletonMCP/__init__.py -o ~/Music/Ableton/User\ Library/Remote\ Scripts/AbletonMCP/__init__.py

Windows (PowerShell):

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\Ableton\User Library\Remote Scripts\AbletonMCP" | Out-Null; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amamparo/ableton-mcp/main/control_surface/AbletonMCP/__init__.py" -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\Ableton\User Library\Remote Scripts\AbletonMCP\__init__.py"

2. Enable in Ableton Live

1. Open (or restart) Ableton Live
2. Go to Preferences > Link, Tempo & MIDI
3. Under Control Surface, select AbletonMCP from the dropdown
4. You should see "AbletonMCP: Listening on port 9877" in Ableton's log

3. Configure the MCP Client

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ableton-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/amamparo/ableton-mcp", "ableton-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

To pin to a specific version:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ableton-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/amamparo/ableton-mcp@v0.1.0", "ableton-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add ableton-mcp -- uvx --from "git+https://github.com/amamparo/ableton-mcp" ableton-mcp

Available Tools

Tool	Description
get_session_info	Get tempo, time signature, track counts
get_track_info	Get track details (name, volume, pan, clips, devices)
create_midi_track	Create a new MIDI track
create_audio_track	Create a new audio track
delete_track	Delete a track
delete_all_tracks	Delete all tracks (clear session)
set_track_name	Rename a track
set_track_volume	Set track volume (0.0–1.0)
set_track_pan	Set track pan (-1.0–1.0)
set_track_mute	Mute/unmute a track
set_track_solo	Solo/unsolo a track
create_clip	Create an empty MIDI clip
add_notes_to_clip	Add MIDI notes to a clip
set_clip_name	Rename a clip
fire_clip	Start playing a clip
stop_clip	Stop a clip
get_clip_notes	Read MIDI notes from a session clip
get_clip_info	Get clip details (name, length, loop points)
duplicate_clip_to_scene	Duplicate a session clip to another scene
delete_clip	Delete a clip from a session clip slot
create_scene	Create a new scene
delete_scene	Delete a scene
set_scene_name	Rename a scene
fire_scene	Fire all clips in a scene
start_playback	Start session playback
stop_playback	Stop session playback
set_tempo	Set tempo in BPM
set_time_signature	Set time signature (e.g. 5/4, 7/8)
undo	Trigger Ableton's undo
get_browser_tree	Browse instruments/effects categories
get_browser_items_at_path	List items at a browser path
load_instrument_or_effect	Load a device onto a track
create_midi_track_with_instrument	Create a MIDI track and load an instrument in one step
load_drum_kit	Load a drum rack and kit
get_device_parameters	List all parameters of a device
set_device_parameter	Set a device parameter value
get_arrangement_clips	List clips on the arrangement timeline
create_arrangement_clip	Create a MIDI clip on the arrangement timeline
delete_arrangement_clip	Delete an arrangement clip
duplicate_arrangement_clip	Duplicate an arrangement clip to a new position
get_arrangement_clip_notes	Read MIDI notes from an arrangement clip
set_arrangement_clip_notes	Set MIDI notes on an arrangement clip
set_song_time	Set the playback cursor position
get_arrangement_loop	Get the arrangement loop brace
set_arrangement_loop	Set the arrangement loop brace
back_to_arranger	Switch from session to arrangement playback
duplicate_session_to_arrangement	Copy a session clip to the arrangement
session_to_arrangement	Lay out scenes sequentially on the arrangement

Note: Automation breakpoints are not available via the control surface API. Arrangement view features require Ableton Live 11+.

Development

just install                  # Install dependencies
just check                    # Run lint + tests
just fmt                      # Auto-format code
just install-control-surface  # Install control surface to Ableton