🎛️ The Ableton Cookbook - MCP Server

   

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.

1. Locate the node_modules/ableton-js/midi-script folder in this project (after running npm install).
2. 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"