Connect your AI tools to Songen

Connect Cursor or Claude to Songen to arrange sections, write automation, shape the mix, and hear the proof—on the project you already have open, with validate/apply and bar-range audio checks.

What Songen's MCP is for

An AI agent talks to your open song on your Mac: read structure, propose patches, apply them (with undo), and render/analyze audio to check the result. It's arrangement, mix, and sound design—not a replacement for playing the app by hand.

Build and reshape arrangements

  • Turn a loop into a form: Duplicate sections, place saved loops.
  • Extend or shorten: Add/remove columns, change lengths.
  • Copy and reuse: Move phrases, duplicate harmony patterns.

Typical tools: get_project_state, validate_project_patch,apply_project_patch

Automation and movement

  • Filter sweeps & EQ rides: Automate track/master parameters.
  • Volume & Pan: Fade sections, duck bass, widen chorus.
  • Boundary behavior: Restore baselines at section edges.

Typical tools: get_controls, analyze_spectrum

Sound, mix, and balance

  • Contrast: Compare intro vs chorus and patch levels/EQ for lift.
  • Dynamics: Check transients after compression on master/buses.
  • Stereo: Check width/phase after widening heavy bass.

Typical tools: analyze_mix_balance, render_variant

Verification workflows (Pro use)

  • Validate → apply: Always validate first; reuse patchId safely.
  • Bar-range checks: Attach verification ranges (up to ~120s of renders).
  • Full-mix honesty: Follow songVerification.nextCall to ensure coverage.

Example Prompts for Claude / Cursor

"Read my project state and schema. I have one 8-bar loop on the timeline. Propose a 64-bar arrangement: intro 8, verse 16, chorus 8, verse 16, chorus 8, outro 8. Validate then apply; render bars 1–8 and 25–32 to confirm."
"Find master EQ low-pass cutoff control. Automate 1400 Hz on all verse columns and full bandwidth on choruses with restore at boundaries. Validate with spectrum on verse vs chorus."
"Analyze mix balance on the chorus. Bring bass up 2 dB and reduce lead 1 dB if stems are unbalanced; verify with analyze_mix_balance after apply."
"Compare bars 1–4 vs 17–20 loudness and brightness. Suggest one patch for more chorus lift; use render_variant before apply."

Where to start

You can manage your AI connections from two places inside the Mac app:

  • Go to Preferences (⌘,) and select "MCP connections…"
  • Or, open the Create with AI side panel and click "Connect an AI tool"

Both options open the exact same connection settings menu.

Setup in 3 Steps

Allow access

Turn on the toggle that says "Let AI apps edit Songen". This acts as the master switch. It securely opens a private connection strictly on this Mac (127.0.0.1) and generates a local access key. If this is turned off, external AI apps cannot communicate with Songen.

Choose your AI app

Select the app you want to use from the menu (Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, or Other). Songen will automatically pre-select the first supported app it detects installed on your Mac.

Add Songen to your AI app

Songen doesn't alter your other apps' settings automatically, so you'll need to pass the connection details over:

  • For Cursor: Click the "Connect Cursor" button. This opens a direct link to Cursor where you confirm the installation and enable Songen in Cursor's MCP settings.
  • For Claude, Codex & Others: Click "Copy configuration" or "Copy setup command". Songen will copy the exact setup code you need. Paste the JSON into Claude Desktop's config file, the TOML block into your ~/.codex/config.toml file, or run the command in your Terminal for Claude Code.

How to know you're connected

Songen's connection status doesn't change just because you copied the setup code. It only changes when the AI app successfully talks to Songen.

"Not connected"

The master AI toggle is currently turned off.

"Waiting for your AI app"

Songen is ready, but your external AI app hasn't sent any requests yet.

"Connected"

Success! The external AI app has communicated with Songen within the last 5 minutes.

Note: You must keep the Songen app open with a project loaded for the AI to make edits.

Managing Access

If you ever want to reset your permissions, click "Revoke connections". This stops the connection entirely, deletes your local security key, and starts completely fresh the next time you enable it.

You can also find options to copy diagnostic information in this menu if you ever need to troubleshoot the connection.