Ableton Project MCP Server

Scan a directory for Ableton Live .als project files and return basic metadata. Returns: JSON with project names, sizes, modification dates, and folder locations. Use cases: - Initial discovery: "What projects do I have in this folder?" - Quick overview without deep analysis - Getting file paths for use with analyze_projects Safety limits: - Scans max 100 files (configurable) - Skips files over 50MB - Only goes 3 folders deep - Excludes heavy folders (Backup, Samples, Library) Use this FIRST to discover projects, then use analyze_projects for detailed info.

Deep analysis of specific Ableton Live projects. Extracts comprehensive metadata from .als files. Returns: JSON with BPM, track details, plugins, master chain, arrangement structure, completion indicators, and more. What it analyzes: - Basic: BPM, track counts (audio/MIDI/frozen) - Structure: Arrangement length, scenes, markers, automation lanes - Plugins: All third-party plugins, CPU-heavy plugin count - Master chain: All devices on master track - Tracks: First 10 tracks with names, types, devices, frozen status - Completion: Heuristic for whether project is likely finished - Content hashes: For duplicate detection Performance: Each project requires XML parsing (gzip decompression + parse). Use scan_projects first to get paths. Best practice: Analyze 5-10 projects at a time, not all at once.

Find the most recently modified Ableton projects in a directory, sorted by modification time. Returns: JSON with the N most recent projects, including paths, names, folders, modification dates, and sizes. Use cases: - "What have I been working on lately?" - Quick access to active projects - Finding projects modified in the last week/month Comparison with scan_projects: - scan_projects: Returns ALL projects (up to limit), unsorted - find_recent: Returns ONLY the N most recent, sorted by time This is faster than scan + sort if you only need recent projects.

Find duplicate Ableton projects based on content similarity, not just filename. Analyzes: Track structure, device chains, MIDI patterns, BPM, track counts, master chains. Returns: JSON with pairs of similar projects, similarity scores, and comparison details. Similarity factors: - Content hash (track names + device chains): 40% - Track count match: 15% - BPM match: 10% - Master chain match: 20% - MIDI pattern hash: 15% Use cases: - "Do I have multiple versions of the same project?" - Cleaning up before backup - Finding alternate versions (e.g., "Project v1", "Project v2", "Project FINAL") Performance: Analyzes ALL projects in directory (up to 100), then compares pairs. Can be slow for large collections.

Scan projects and list all third-party plugins used. Useful for checking plugin availability. Returns: JSON with all unique plugins found across projects, and which projects use each plugin. Use cases: - "What plugins do I need to open these projects?" - Checking before moving projects to a new computer - Finding projects that use a specific plugin Note: Does NOT actually verify if plugins are installed (no access to system VST folders). It lists what's in the projects.