strudel

Strudel MCP Server exposes a suite of AI-powered music generation and live-coding tools that integrate with the Strudel.cc ecosystem. It provides 65 MCP tools organized into core controls, pattern generation, music theory, effects, session management, and pattern history, enabling Claude to initialize Strudel in a browser, generate patterns across multiple genres, analyze audio, and manage pattern edits and playback inside an MCP-driven workflow. You can interact with the server by adding it to Claude as an MCP provider and invoking commands such as init, generate_pattern, play, stop, get_pattern, analyze, save, and undo. The tools are designed for guiding both live-coding sessions and automated pattern generation, with genre options like techno, house, dnb, ambient, trip_hop, and boom_bap, among others, and with capabilities for scaling, transposition, timing adjustments, and pattern variations.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18.x or 20.x (LTS recommended)
• npm 9+ (comes with Node.js)
• Chromium (required for browser automation via Playwright)
• Optional: Docker if you prefer containerized deployment

From npm (recommended):

npm install -g @williamzujkowski/strudel-mcp-server

# Install browser (required once for Playwright automation)
npx playwright install chromium

From Source:

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/williamzujkowski/strudel-mcp-server.git
cd strudel-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Install Chromium for browser automation
npx playwright install chromium

# Build the project (if applicable)
npm run build

To run locally after installation, start the server (see mcp_config for how Claude will connect):

node dist/index.js

Tip: If you’re deploying in production or via a container, consider using the provided npm package in combination with a process manager (e.g., pm2) or a Docker container for reliability and easier updates.

Notes and tips:

• This is an experimental MCP server; expect breaking changes as features evolve.
• The server relies on Playwright for browser automation to control Strudel.cc, so Chromium must be available.
• The 65 available tools cover core control, pattern generation, music theory, effects, session management, and pattern history. Familiarize yourself with commands like init, generate_pattern, play, stop, get_pattern, analyze, save, and undo to maximize productivity.
• When integrating with Claude, you typically add the MCP under a name like strudel and point Claude at node /path/to/strudel-mcp-server/dist/index.js (as shown in Quick Start).
• If you modify the source, ensure you rebuild and restart the MCP server so Claude sees the latest capabilities.
• Check the repository issues for known limitations and ongoing development notes, since this is actively developed software.