FL Studio MCP Mac MCP server

FL Studio MCP Mac

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.purahmanian/flstudio-mcp-mac -->

macOS-first MCP bridge for FL Studio. It exposes FL Studio transport, mixer, channel, MIDI export, and Piano Roll note-apply workflows to MCP clients such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, and other MCP-capable tools.

This is an alpha MVP. It is intentionally scoped around FL Studio's documented Python MIDI scripting and Piano Roll scripting APIs. It does not promise full headless FL Studio automation.

Why This Exists

Most FL Studio MCP work today is Windows-oriented. macOS has a cleaner CoreMIDI path for virtual ports, and FL Studio supports Python-based MIDI scripts on macOS. This project turns that into a small local MCP server plus companion FL Studio scripts.

What Works

• Live bridge over macOS virtual MIDI ports.
• FL Studio status and health checks.
• Transport: play, stop, record toggle, rewind, song/pattern mode, metronome toggle.
• Tempo changes.
• Mixer track reads and explicit track mutations.
• Channel Rack reads and explicit channel mutations.
• Standard MIDI file generation for import into FL Studio.
• Piano Roll queue file plus an included .pyscript to insert persistent notes.

Known Limits

• FL Studio's MIDI scripting API is not a complete DAW API.
• Loading plugins, loading arbitrary audio files, and rendering/exporting are not implemented here.
• Persistent note writing goes through the included Piano Roll script. The MCP server queues notes; you run Scripts > FL Studio MCP Apply in the target Piano Roll.
• Live bridge setup requires FL Studio's MIDI settings to map the request/response ports. The MCP server starts a singleton local MIDI daemon so Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and terminal tests share the same CoreMIDI endpoints.

Install

From this repo:

python3 -m pip install .
flstudio-mcp-mac-install

The installer copies:

• device_FLStudioMCP.py to ~/Documents/Image-Line/FL Studio/Settings/Hardware/FLStudioMCP/
• FL Studio MCP Apply.pyscript to ~/Documents/Image-Line/FL Studio/Settings/Piano roll scripts/

Configure FL Studio on macOS

1. Start the MCP server once so it starts the local MIDI daemon and creates the virtual CoreMIDI ports:

flstudio-mcp-mac

You can stop this foreground MCP process after the ports appear. The background daemon keeps the FLStudioMCP Request and FLStudioMCP Response ports available for all MCP clients.

1. Open FL Studio and go to Options > MIDI Settings.
2. In the input list, choose FLStudioMCP Request.
3. Set Controller type to FL Studio MCP Mac.
4. Set the controller output to FLStudioMCP Response.
5. Restart the MCP client if needed. If duplicate FLStudioMCP ports appear, quit old MCP server processes and start the v0.1.1+ daemon again.

MCP Client Config

For detailed setup across Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, PyPI, and the MCP Registry, see docs/publishing.md.

Example Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "flstudio-mcp-mac": {
      "command": "flstudio-mcp-mac"
    }
  }
}

For source installs where the command is not on PATH:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "flstudio-mcp-mac": {
      "command": "python3",
      "args": ["-m", "flstudio_mcp_mac"]
    }
  }
}

MIDI Note Workflow

Use flcreatemidi_file when you want a normal .mid file to import.

Use flqueuepianorollnotes when you want to apply notes into the currently open Piano Roll:

1. Ask the MCP client to queue notes.
2. In FL Studio, open the target channel's Piano Roll.
3. Run Scripts > FL Studio MCP Apply.

Note shape:

[
  { "pitch": 60, "start": 0, "duration": 1, "velocity": 100 },
  { "pitch": 64, "start": 1, "duration": 1, "velocity": 96 },
  { "pitch": 67, "start": 2, "duration": 2, "velocity": 96 }
]

Times are in beats. MIDI pitch uses the standard 0-127 scale.

Development

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.