qa-ableton-mcp

Drive Ableton Live from AI coding agents via the Model Context Protocol and the Ableton Extensions SDK. Two packages in one repo:

Package	Path	Role
@quantumaudio/ableton-mcp	packages/server	MCP stdio server (tools, skills, schemas)
@quantumaudio/ableton-mcp-kernel	packages/kernel	In-Live extension + WebSocket (:17890)

License: Apache-2.0.

Status: v0.1 prototype — APIs and skills evolve quickly.

Why this exists

Unlike fixed-tool Ableton MCPs, this stack exposes ableton_run_code: agents execute TypeScript against the Extensions SDK inside Live, so new operations do not require server releases. Perception uses typed scan/read tools with optional @quantumaudio/music-ir text representations.

Quick start

Prerequisites: Ableton Live 12.4+ beta with Developer Mode, Node ≥ 24, Ableton Extensions SDK tgz (see packages/kernel/SDK.md).

git clone https://github.com/QaAudio/qa-ableton-mcp.git
cd qa-ableton-mcp
npm install
# Install @ableton-extensions/sdk + cli into packages/kernel (see SDK.md)
npm run build

Terminal 1 — kernel in Live:

npm run start -w @quantumaudio/ableton-mcp-kernel

Terminal 2 — MCP (or configure your agent):

node packages/server/dist/index.js

Cursor — add to .cursor/mcp.json:

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

Optional: node packages/server/scripts/register-cursor.mjs from repo root (writes project MCP config + skill links when run inside QuantumAudio monorepo).

Documentation

• User guide & tool reference: packages/server/README.md
• Kernel / extension dev: packages/kernel/README.md
• Agent conventions: AGENTS.md

Ecosystem

Repo	npm	Purpose
qa-ableton-mcp-schemas	@quantumaudio/ableton-mcp-schemas	Zod wire schemas
qa-music-ir	@quantumaudio/music-ir	Notation / drum grid / structure IR
qa-knowledge	@quantumaudio/qa-knowledge	SDK + skills corpus
qa-knowledge-mcp	@quantumaudio/knowledge-mcp	Semantic doc search MCP

Pair qa-ableton-mcp + qa-knowledge-mcp in your agent: Live control + SDK lookup (search_knowledge).

Workspace commands

From repo root:

npm run typecheck    # both packages
npm run build        # both packages
npm run test         # server unit tests (kernel tests via tsx in monorepo)

Contributing

PRs welcome on QaAudio/qa-ableton-mcp. Coordinate schema changes with qa-ableton-mcp-schemas. See AGENTS.md and .cursor/skills/security-guidelines/.