Producer Pal

AI music production assistant for Ableton Live via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Quick Start

Run the Producer Pal MCP bridge to connect any MCP client to Ableton Live:

npx producer-pal@latest

This starts a stdio-to-HTTP bridge that enables MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, VS Code with Cline, LM Studio, etc.) to communicate with the Producer Pal Max for Live device running in Ableton Live.

Prerequisites

• Ableton Live 12.3+ with Max for Live (e.g., Ableton Live Suite)
• Producer Pal Max for Live device - Download Producer_Pal.amxd and add it to a MIDI track in Ableton Live
• Node.js 20+

Version Note: The npm package version is independent of the Max for Live device version. Always use the latest of both.

Configuration

Add Producer Pal to your MCP client's server configuration. The command is npx producer-pal@latest with optional argument -y (for auto-install). Keep the @latest — without it, npx runs any older global or project-local producer-pal it finds instead of fetching the current one.

Configuration examples:

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "producer-pal@latest"]
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add producer-pal npx producer-pal@latest

Edit ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "producer-pal@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Edit ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.producer-pal]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "producer-pal@latest"]

Edit Settings → Program → Integrations → mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "producer-pal@latest", "--small-model-mode"]
    }
  }
}

The --small-model-mode flag enables small model mode. See the LM Studio guide for details.

Edit cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "producer-pal@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Use the command npx producer-pal@latest with optional argument -y for auto-install. Consult your client's documentation for MCP server configuration syntax.

CLI Flags

Full reference: https://producer-pal.org/guide/npx-cli

• --tools <list> - Keep only these tools in this client, dropping the rest. Takes tool names (read-clip or ppal-read-clip) and group names (core, clip, read-only, …), comma or space separated. Withholding a tool also drops the part of the skills that teaches it, so a narrow toolset makes every conversation cheaper. Per client — the chat UI and your other MCP clients keep the full toolset.
• --disable-tools <list> - The inverse: drop the tools you list, keep the rest.
• --list-tools - Print the group names and the tools available right now, then exit. Combine with the flags above to see what a session would really get.
• -s / --small-model-mode - Enable small model mode, which simplifies the tool interface for smaller LLMs.
• -n / --notation <barbeat|midi-json|stark> - Set the MIDI note notation the tools use (default: barbeat). When using a coding agent to script or build against Producer Pal (generating/parsing MIDI programmatically), pair --notation midi-json (notes as a JSON array) with --format json. For a normal music-making conversation, keep the default.
• -f / --format <json|compact> - Set the tool response format (default: compact, a token-optimized literal). --format json returns standard JSON that coding agents can parse with JSON tooling; keep the default compact for normal conversations to save tokens.
• -l / --live-api - Enable the opt-in Direct Live API tool (ppal-live-api), a low-level escape hatch for scripting and debugging directly against the Live Object Model. Not recommended as a default — the specialized tools are tuned for reliable results. The flag only ever enables the tool.

Every setting rides along as a request header, so it applies to this bridge alone: the chat UI and your other MCP clients keep their own settings.

Environment Variables

Optional environment variables can be configured through your MCP client:

• MCP_SERVER_ORIGIN - URL for the Max for Live device (default: http://localhost:3350)
• TOOLS / DISABLE_TOOLS - Env forms of the --tools / --disable-tools flags.
• SMALL_MODEL_MODE - Enable small model mode. Env form of the --small-model-mode flag.
• NOTATION - MIDI note notation (barbeat, midi-json, or stark). Env form of the --notation flag.
• FORMAT - Tool response format (json or compact). Env form of the --format flag.
• JSON_OUTPUT - Boolean alias for FORMAT (true = json).
• LIVE_API - Enable the Direct Live API tool. Env form of the --live-api flag.

Unlike the flags, the boolean variables are three-state: SMALL_MODEL_MODE=false actively turns the setting off for this bridge, where the flag can only turn it on. Leave one unset (or blank) to follow the device's setting.

• ENABLE_LOGGING - Enable file logging (default: false)
• VERBOSE_LOGGING - Detailed debug logs (default: false)

Example with environment variables:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "producer-pal@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_SERVER_ORIGIN": "http://localhost:3350",
        "ENABLE_LOGGING": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note for Claude Desktop users: The .mcpb extension bundle provides an easier setup alternative to npx producer-pal.

Documentation

For complete documentation, setup guides, and usage examples, visit:

https://producer-pal.org

Source code and development:

https://github.com/adamjmurray/producer-pal

Support

• Discussions
• Issues

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later) - see LICENSE.

Upstream notices for the third-party code bundled into this package ship in its licenses/ folder.