Source on GitHub · Node.js · No build step

Live's Session and Arrangement views, running in your browser.

Ableton Live 12 (Web) re-creates Live 12's two views on the Web Audio API. It reads your real Ableton library and Live Sets, ships 40+ devices with Live's own parameter sets, hosts VST3 plug-ins, and lets Claude drive the whole thing through an MCP server with 72 tools.

Get it on GitHub Install in five minutes Read the user guide

Server: Windows · macOS · Linux Browser: Chrome · Edge Node.js 20 or newer 40+ built-in devices MCP · 72 tools Opens .als Live Sets

Ableton Live 12 (Web) — Quick Start Song Session View · scene “Slow Rock” playing

Session View with the Quick Start Song template loaded and a scene playing

Not affiliated with Ableton AG. “Ableton” and “Live” are trademarks of Ableton AG. Ableton's Core Library, Packs and User Library content are Ableton's property and are not part of this project.

Features

Everything a Live Set needs, in one tab.

The same two views, the same keys (Tab switches views, Shift+Tab switches the Clip / Device view), and undo for everything.

Session View

Clip-slot grid with scenes, launch and stop buttons, Stop All Clips, per-scene tempo and time-signature overrides, quantized launching (global or per clip), Trigger / Gate / Toggle modes, Legato and Back to Arrangement.

Arrangement View

Beat ruler, overview, loop brace with punch in / out, locators, draggable, trimmable and splittable clips, fades, time selection (insert silence, delete / duplicate / cut / paste time), automation lanes with breakpoints and freehand drawing.

Clip editing

MIDI piano roll with draw mode, velocity lane, fold, scale highlighting, quantize, legato, reverse, invert, chance and velocity range. Audio clips with start / end / loop markers, warp (re-pitch), transpose, gain and fades.

40+ devices and VST3

EQ Eight, Compressor, Glue Compressor, Reverb, Delay, Auto Filter, Saturator, Drum Buss, Simpler, Sampler, Drum Rack, Operator, Analog, Wavetable, Drift, MIDI effects and Racks with macros. Every VST3 Live sees is rendered through a Python sidecar.

Your Ableton library

Browser with Collections, Library and Places, search, preview, favourites and drag and drop. Opens .als Live Sets made by Live 12 with tracks, arrangement and session clips, scenes, devices and mixer; loads .adv / .adg presets and racks; saves Ableton-style project folders.

Claude built in

An MCP server with 72 tools covers transport, tracks, clips, notes, devices and parameters, automation, scenes, the browser, VST3 and screenshots. Ask for “a 2-bar bass line in C minor, then launch scene 2” and watch it happen.

RecordingAudio input recording, MIDI recording with overdub, count-in, record quantize and Capture MIDI.

Export24-bit WAV of the mix, a range or single tracks; MIDI clip export; Ableton-compatible Live Set export.

TracksAudio, MIDI, group, return and Main tracks with I/O routing, activator, solo, arm, monitoring, volume, pan, sends and meters.

A tour

It looks like Live because it follows Live.

Live 12's light theme, its control bar, its browser and its detail views. Click a screenshot to open it full size.

**Arrangement View.** Beat ruler, loop brace with punch in / out, locators, a Lead track with Operator and Reverb, automation lanes and the Device View below.

**Session grid.** Scenes with their own tempo, queued and playing slots, stop buttons and Stop Clips in the Main column.

**MIDI Clip View.** Piano roll, velocity lane, fold, scale highlighting, draw mode and the note tools.

Operator in the Device View — **Device View.** Operator with Live's real parameter set; knobs drag vertically, value boxes can be typed into.

**Browser.** Library views and Places, search, sample preview, favourites, drag and drop into tracks, slots and racks.

**Track headers.** Input chooser, activator / solo / arm, volume and pan, monitoring, peak readout and output chooser.

Drum Rack pads — **Drum Rack.** Pads with a pad-range selector; drop samples or instruments on them.

Platforms

Runs wherever Node.js runs.

Pure Node.js (ES modules) with no native modules. The browser does the audio; the server does files, the library scan, VST3 and MCP.

Component	Supported	Notes
Server	Windows 10 / 11 ✓ tested · macOS · Linux	Live's library paths are auto-detected on Windows; on macOS / Linux set them in Options → Preferences. Native file / folder pickers exist on Windows only; type paths elsewhere.
Browser	Chrome / Edge ✓ tested · Firefox · Safari	Needs Web Audio, AudioWorklet and (optionally) Web MIDI. Chromium browsers give the best results; Safari has no Web MIDI.
Node.js	20 or newer (24 tested)	`fetch`, ES modules and `structuredClone` are required.
Ableton Live	12 (optional)	Only needed to auto-detect the Core Library, User Library and Packs. Without Live, install the free Live 12 Trial or use the Core Library download (see installation).
Python	3.12 + `pedalboard` (optional)	Only for VST3 hosting.
ffmpeg	optional	Only for AIFF / MP3 / FLAC / OGG files the browser cannot decode itself.

Installation

Five minutes from clone to playing.

The full guide with every option lives in the README. This is the short version.

Prerequisites

Node.js 20 or newer, Git (or the ZIP from GitHub) and a Chromium browser such as Chrome or Edge.

Get the code

git clone https://github.com/gextam/ableton-web.git
cd ableton-web
npm install

Give the app a Core Library

The app plays Live's factory content (Core Library presets, samples and templates). It finds that content in one of these ways; pick the one that fits you.

Live 12 is installed

Suite, Standard, Intro, Lite or the Trial: nothing to do. The server reads Library.cfg and finds the Core Library, your User Library and your Packs folder on its own.

Recommended

No Live yet

Install the free Live 12 Trial (90 days, the full Suite) or Live Lite. Both install the Core Library and the app detects it on its next start. Live itself never needs to be opened.

Direct download

Download core_lib.rar (about 1.8 GB) and extract it with 7-Zip or WinRAR into the app's core_lib/ folder, so that core_lib/Devices, core_lib/Samples and core_lib/Templates exist. Picked up on the next start, no settings needed.

ableton-web/ └── core_lib/ ← extract the Core Library here (git-ignored) ├── Devices/ ├── Samples/ ├── Templates/ ├── MIDI Clips/ └── Racks/ …

The Core Library is Ableton's copyrighted content and stays Ableton's. It is not part of the repository and must never be committed to one; the download is a convenience for licensed Live users who do not have it installed. Content somewhere else? Start the app once and set the paths in Options → Preferences.

Start it

npm start

Open http://127.0.0.1:8787 in Chrome or Edge. The first start scans the library (a few seconds to a minute) and writes config.json next to the app. Browsers keep audio silent until you click: the yellow banner disappears on your first click or key press.

Optional extras

VST3 plug-ins

Install Python 3.12, then py -3.12 -m pip install pedalboard numpy (Windows) or python3.12 -m pip install pedalboard numpy. The app finds plug-ins in the standard VST3 folders; add more in Preferences.

AIFF / MP3 / FLAC decoding

Install ffmpeg and put it on your PATH. On Windows winget install ffmpeg is enough.

Claude built in

Tell Claude what to play.

The server exposes an MCP endpoint and a stdio shim. Keep the browser tab open: Claude's commands are executed by the Live window, so you watch every change happen.

# Claude Code (Streamable HTTP, recommended)
claude mcp add --transport http ableton-web http://127.0.0.1:8787/mcp

# Claude Code (stdio shim)
claude mcp add ableton-web -- node /path/to/ableton-web/mcp/stdio.mjs

// Claude Desktop — claude_desktop_config.json
{ "mcpServers": { "ableton-web": {
    "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/ableton-web/mcp/stdio.mjs"] } } }

Help → Claude / MCP Setup… inside the app shows these commands with your actual paths filled in. Beats are quarter notes, bar 1 starts at beat 0, and tracks, clips, devices and scenes accept ids, numbers or names.

StateTransportSetTracksClipsSession ViewNotesDevicesAutomationBrowserViewScreenshots

Create a MIDI track with an Operator, write a 2-bar bass line in C minor at 124 BPM and add EQ Eight with a low cut at 40 Hz.
Put a 4-bar hi-hat pattern in scene 2 of the Drums track and launch the scene.
Stop all clips, go back to the arrangement and export bars 1–16.

Claude / MCP setup dialog — **Claude / MCP Setup dialog** with the commands for your installation.

Honest about the edges

Known limitations

What Live does that this does not do yet.

Session View: clip follow actions are read and written but not executed; Repeat launch mode behaves like Gate; no session mixer strip, crossfader, slot recording or key / MIDI mapping of clip buttons. Scene tempo overrides become the song tempo.
Warp modes other than Re-Pitch are not implemented: warped clips follow the tempo by re-pitching.
VST3 plug-ins are not real-time. A track with VST3 devices is rendered through them (automatically when playback starts) and the rendered audio plays back.
.als files written here contain an extra <AbletonWeb> element with the complete web model; the Ableton-compatible export omits it but has not been verified inside Live.
Consolidate renders audio tracks to a new clip and flattens MIDI tracks into one clip.
Groove pool, tunings, take lanes, MPE and Push integration are not implemented.
Live devices without a web implementation (Collision, Electric, Tension, Meld, Corpus, Roar, Max for Live devices …) load as pass-through placeholders that keep their settings for saving.
Native file / folder pickers and Show in Explorer exist on Windows only.