mcp-music-studio

# MCP Music Studio

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Two-mode creative music studio for AI: **scored composition** (ABC notation with sheet music) and **live performance** (Strudel live coding with TidalCycles). Interactive UI renders inline in Claude Desktop, claude.ai, and other MCP clients.

## Quick Start — No Install Required

Paste this URL into any MCP client that supports remote servers:

```
https://mcp-music-studio.linxule.workers.dev/mcp
```

**Claude Desktop / claude.ai:**
Settings → Connectors → Add Connector → paste the URL above → done.

**Claude Code:**
```bash
claude mcp add --transport http music-studio https://mcp-music-studio.linxule.workers.dev/mcp
```

That's it — ask Claude to play a song or create a beat.

---

## What You Get

### Scored Composition (ABC Notation)
Write sheet music → see it rendered → hear it played with multi-instrument audio.

- **8 style presets** — rock, jazz, bossa, waltz, march, reggae, folk, classical — one parameter adds drums + bass + chord accompaniment
- **All 128 General MIDI instruments** — named and fuzzy-matched (`"sax"` → Soprano Sax); the result text says what it actually resolved to when that isn't what you asked for
- **Visual sheet music** — notes highlight as they play
- **Streaming render** — sheet music appears as the AI types
- **Edit in place** — open the ABC source pane in the widget, fix a bar, re-render without another tool call
- **Real transposition** — `transpose` rewrites the notation *and* the key signature, so the printed score matches what plays
- **Swing and count-in** — `swing` is the share of the beat given to its first half (50 = straight, 66 = triplet, 75 = max; ≤50 is no swing), `drumIntro` adds up to 8 bars of count-in from the style's drum kit
- **Selectable sound banks** — FluidR3 (default), MusyngKite (fuller), or a lightweight dry bank, switched live from the toolbar
- **WAV download** — export audio as WAV files directly from the UI
- **MIDI download** — export a standard MIDI file straight from the score, no playback needed first. It is the *score*: abcjs applies swing during playback only, so the exported file has none
- **`get-music-guide`** — 7 reference topics (instruments, drums, ABC syntax, arrangements, genres, styles, MIDI directives)

### Live Performance (Strudel)
Write code → hear it play → edit in a live REPL.

- **TidalCycles mini-notation** in JavaScript
- **71 drum machine banks** + **128 GM instruments** + 128 VCSL orchestral/world/percussion samples + built-in synths
- **Full effects chain** — filters, reverb, delay, FM synthesis
- **Editable REPL** — users can tweak the code and hear changes instantly
- **Live visuals** — add `.pianoroll()` / `.punchcard()` / `.scope()` / `.spectrum()` to animate behind the code (native strudel.cc overlay)
- **Hydra shader backgrounds** — `await initHydra()` + Hydra code for fully custom, music-synced WebGL visuals. `H(pattern)` locks a shader parameter to the sequence, `feedStrudel` post-processes the piano roll
- **Audio-reactive shaders** — `a.fft[0]`, `a0()`, `a.setBins(6)` and the rest of Hydra's audio API work verbatim, driven by **Strudel's own output** rather than the microphone (no permission prompt, no room noise)
- **`visuals` preset** — one enum value (`pianoroll`, `punchcard`, `scope`, `spectrum`, `hydra-kaleid`, `hydra-pulse`, `hydra-wash`, `hydra-feed`) gives a bare pattern something to paint. Never overrides code that already visualises itself
- **`theme`** — 39 CodeMirror colour schemes; the visuals stage and its readability scrim are derived from the active theme, so light themes stay readable
- **Stage mode** — hide the code and let the visuals fill the frame (composes with the host's fullscreen)
- **Honest runtime feedback** — evaluation errors, unknown sound names, and stops the user triggered are reported back to the model as they happen, so it never answers about a silent widget as if the music were still playing
- **Server-side validation** — the local server evaluates every Strudel pattern headlessly before answering: the tool result reports layers, events per cycle, tempo, and which sound names are registered (or a syntax error with line:column), so terminal clients get real diagnostics too. (The hosted worker can't — Cloudflare forbids dynamic code generation — and says so.)
- **Record & download** — capture live audio and export as WAV
- **`get-strudel-guide`** — 8 reference topics (mini-notation, sounds, effects, patterns, genres, tips, visuals, advanced)

### Shared
- **`analyze-harmony`** — chord detection, key detection, progressions, chord scales; answers in both ABC chord symbols and Strudel `chord()`/`note()` form
- **`convert-abc-to-strudel`** — take a scored melody into the live REPL: bars become mini-notation groups, durations become `@` weights, chord symbols become a `chord().voicing()` line
- **`search-music-docs`** — semantic search over strudel.cc and ABCJS documentation
- **Click-to-play links** — in clients that can't render the inline widget (terminals, CLIs), both play tools return a hosted URL that actually plays. Short pieces travel in the link itself; longer ones are stored for 30 days

---

## Local Install (Optional)

The remote URL above works without any local setup. If you prefer running locally (offline use, lower latency), install via npm:

### CLI One-Liners

```bash
# Claude Code
claude mcp add music-studio -- npx -y mcp-music-studio --stdio

# Codex CLI
codex mcp add -- npx -y mcp-music-studio --stdio

# Gemini CLI
gemini mcp add -- npx -y mcp-music-studio --stdio

# OpenCode
opencode mcp add music-studio -- npx -y mcp-music-studio --stdio
```

### JSON Config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.)

<details>
<summary>Claude Desktop — edit config file</summary>

| OS | Path |
|----|------|
| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` |
| Windows | `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json` |
| Linux | `~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` |

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "music-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-music-studio", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}
```
</details>

<details>
<summary>VS Code / Trae / PearAI</summary>

Add to `.vscode/mcp.json` — note: uses `"servers"` not `"mcpServers"`:

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "music-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-music-studio", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}
```
</details>

<details>
<summary>Cursor</summary>

Add to `~/.cursor/mcp.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "music-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-music-studio", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}
```
</details>

<details>
<summary>Windsurf</summary>

Add to `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "music-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-music-studio", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}
```
</details>

<details>
<summary>Windows</summary>

On Windows, `npx` is a `.cmd` file and requires a shell wrapper:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "music-studio": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "mcp-music-studio", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}
```
</details>

<details>
<summary>Render modes (for non-ext-apps clients)</summary>

Clients that support ext-apps render the interactive UI inline automatically (`auto` mode). For clients that don't (Cherry Studio, CLI environments), use `--render-mode`:

| Mode | Behavior |
|------|----------|
| `auto` (default) | Inline UI for Claude Desktop, VS Code |
| `browser` | Saves HTML and opens in system browser |
| `html` | Returns HTML as embedded resource |

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "music-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-music-studio", "--stdio", "--render-mode", "browser"]
    }
  }
}
```

Clients without a widget also get a **click-to-play link** in the tool result, served by the hosted worker — no local render mode needed.
</details>

<details>
<summary>HTTP mode (<code>--host</code>, <code>--allow-origin</code>)</summary>

Without `--stdio` the server listens over Streamable HTTP. That endpoint is **unauthenticated**, so it binds `127.0.0.1:3001` by default and only accepts browser requests from loopback origins.

| Flag | Default | Purpose |
|------|---------|---------|
| `--host ADDR` | `127.0.0.1` | Bind address. A non-loopback value prints a warning and turns off the SDK's DNS-rebinding protection — put a proxy that authenticates in front of it |
| `--allow-origin ORIGIN` | loopback pages only | Extra CORS origins (comma-separated, repeatable; `*` opts back into a wildcard) |
| `PORT` (env) | `3001` | Listen port |

</details>

---

## Tools

| Tool | Description | Parameters |
|------|-------------|------------|
| `play-sheet-music` | ABC notation → visual sheet music + multi-instrument audio | `abcNotation`, `title?`, `instrument?`, `style?`, `tempo?` (40–240), `swing?` (0–75), `drumIntro?` (0–8), `transpose?` (−12–12) |
| `play-live-pattern` | Strudel code → live-coded patterns with synthesis + effects | `code`, `title?`, `bpm?` (40–300), `autoplay?`, `visuals?`, `theme?` |
| `get-music-guide` | ABC reference (7 topics: instruments, drums, syntax, genres...) | `topic` |
| `get-strudel-guide` | Strudel reference (8 topics: sounds, effects, visuals, genres...) | `topic` |
| `search-music-docs` | Semantic search over strudel.cc and ABCJS docs | `query`, `library` (`strudel` \| `abcjs`) |
| `analyze-harmony` | Name a chord, guess the key, get a progression or chord scale — in ABC and Strudel spellings | `task`, `notes?`, `chords?`, `key?`, `romanNumerals?` |
| `convert-abc-to-strudel` | Turn a scored ABC melody into a Strudel mini-notation pattern | `abcNotation`, `voice?`, `sound?` |

**`visuals`** — `none`, `pianoroll`, `punchcard`, `scope`, `spectrum`, `hydra-kaleid`, `hydra-pulse`, `hydra-wash`, `hydra-feed`.
**`theme`** — any of the 39 schemes the Strudel REPL ships (`