What is Ableton Vibe

ableton-vibe is an MCP Server designed for integration with Ableton Live, allowing users to control and automate tasks within the software.

Use cases

Use cases include automating the creation of MIDI tracks, adding devices to Ableton sets programmatically, and potentially expanding functionality to include voice control and support for additional operating systems.

How to use

To use ableton-vibe, install the necessary dependencies, set up the midi-script in Ableton, clone the ableton-vibe repository, build the project, and configure it in Claude. Ensure Ableton is running and restart Claude before sending commands.

Key features

Key features include support for Ableton Live 11, the ability to create MIDI tracks programmatically, and a debugging tool for quick inspection of the server.

Where to use

ableton-vibe is primarily used in music production environments, particularly for users of Ableton Live who want to enhance their workflow through automation and scripting.

Setup

1. Install deps: yarn cause ableton-js uses it for some build scripts and pnpm.

npm install --global yarn
brew install pnpm

2. Install the midi-script in ableton:

git clone https://github.com/leolabs/ableton-js.git && cd ableton-js && yarn ableton11:start

3. Clone the ableton-vibe mcp server if you havent yet:

git clone https://github.com/androidStern/ableton-vibe.git && cd ableton-vibe && pnpm i

4. Build and watch changes:

npm run build

5. Add mcp config to claude. General instructions here

replace path-to-repo with path to wherever you cloned ableton-vibe
as for where claude’s config is: on my machine the mcp config is in ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json/

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ableton-vibe": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "<path-to-repo>/ableton-vibe/ableton-mcp.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Usage

Make sure you have Ableton running.
Restart claude before trying to use the server.
Try asking claude “Create a midi track at index 0”. thats all it can do right now lol.

Supported Ableton versions

I have tested with Ableton 11. Haven’t tried with Ableton 12.

Supported OS

I’ve only tried this on my mac. I suspect you might need to change ablton-mcp.ts line 9 to get the temp directory logic working for windows but I haven’t given it much thought yet. here’s the relevant line const userTempDir = execSync('getconf DARWIN_USER_TEMP_DIR').toString().trim()

Debugging

you can run the mcp inspector to quickly debug the server: npm run inspect then open the url in the output. Instructions for using the inspector are here

Running Test Add Device Script

test-browser.js is an example script to add a device to your ableton set programaticaly. Ableton must be running and the ableton-js midi-remote script must be installed. Refer to step # 2 of Setup at the top of this file to see how to install midi-remote script.

node test-browser.js

Contributing

Right now everything is in ablton-mcp.ts so if you’re adding tools or resources, put it there.
Don’t edit the ablton-mcp.JS file, you want the TS file.

Next Steps

• get propper build and release setup. should be able to just install everything with a single command.
• add the rest of the ableton api as mcp tools. i dont really want to do this by hand. it would be nice to discover and expose it all programatically.
• add support for ableton 12
• add tests
• add support for other os (windows)
• voice controll