xDarkzx/Reaper-MCP

AI-powered music production in REAPER through the Model Context Protocol
Quick Start •
Why ReaperMCP? •
Features •
Tools Reference •
Architecture •
Changelog •
Contributing •
Troubleshooting
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ReaperMCP connects any MCP-compatible AI assistant to REAPER, giving it full control over music production. Talk to your AI assistant and it composes, mixes, masters, and *measures* your music in real-time — the AI chooses every note, rhythm, and CC itself.
**181 tools across 26 modules** cover the full workflow: MIDI composition and patterns, a vocal-chop pipeline, FX and automatic genre-tuned mixing/mastering (35 style profiles), sends and routing, and post-production QC — batch editing, ReaScript automation, silence/click detection.
**No cloud. Nothing leaves your machine.** ReaperMCP runs entirely locally through a file-based Lua IPC bridge inside REAPER — your project, audio, and MIDI stay on your computer. Bring whatever AI client you already use (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, any MCP client) — ReaperMCP handles REAPER.
**If this is useful to you, a star helps other people find it** — that's the whole marketing budget for this project. Want to help keep it maintained? Click the **Sponsor** badge up top.
Demo
Works With
ReaperMCP works with any AI client that supports the Model Context Protocol:
- Claude Desktop — Anthropic's desktop app
- Claude Code — CLI agent
- Cursor — AI code editor with MCP support
- LM Studio — run local models with MCP tool access
- Any other MCP-compatible client
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Why ReaperMCP?
- **Deep control, not just playback.** Most AI-audio integrations expose basic transport — play, stop, record. ReaperMCP exposes REAPER's actual production surface: genre-aware automatic mixing/mastering across 35 style profiles, a vocal-chop pipeline, drum-pattern and chord-progression shorthand, and post-production QC. The AI can produce a track end-to-end, not just push buttons on one you already made.
- **100% local.** No cloud calls, no API keys, nothing leaves your machine — REAPER and the AI talk over a file-based bridge on disk, not a server you don't control.
- **Actively maintained.** CI runs the full test suite across 3 OS × 4 Python versions on every change. Issues get read, discussed, and shipped — not just filed and forgotten.
- **Composable with companion tools.** Pairs with SongForge-MCP (local AI music/vocal generation) and Audacity-MCP (audio cleanup, mastering, and local transcription) — generate, produce, and clean up without leaving the same AI conversation.
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Quick Start
1. Get ReaperMCP
**Option A:** Click the green **Code** button above → **Download ZIP** → extract to a folder — works with nothing pre-installed, easiest on a brand new machine.
**Option B:** Clone with git (lets you git pull for updates later):
A fresh Windows install doesn't ship with git — check first:
If that says "not recognized", install it, then close and reopen your terminal:
(winget itself ships with Windows 11 and up-to-date Windows 10. If winget isn't found either, grab the installer directly from git-scm.com.)
macOS/Linux almost always have git already — git --version to check, or brew install git / sudo apt install git if not.
**Option C:** Already have Python? Install the published package straight from PyPI:
This gives you the reaper-mcp command directly — but you'll still need
reaper_scripts/reaper_mcp_server.lua for Step 3 below, since that one
file isn't bundled into the PyPI package (grab it from the repo, or
download it directly).
2. Run the installer
**Windows:** either double-click install.bat in File Explorer, or — if you're already in a terminal from the git clone step above — just keep going in the same PowerShell/Command Prompt window:
**macOS / Linux:**
> The installer installs reaper-mcp locally and optionally **configures Claude Desktop** — no manual JSON editing needed.
Manual install / other MCP clients (Cursor, Claude Code, etc.)
Install manually with pip install -e . from the repo folder (or pip install xdarkzx-reaper-mcp from PyPI) and add to your client's MCP config:
Check your client's MCP documentation for the config file location.
3. Load the Lua script in REAPER
**Used the one-click installer?** Already done — it sets up REAPER to auto-load the script on every launch. Just open (or restart) REAPER.