REAPER MCP server

The REAPER MCP Server is a powerful tool that enables AI agents to create fully mixed and mastered tracks in REAPER, handling both MIDI and audio operations through the Model Context Protocol. It provides comprehensive control over project management, track operations, MIDI editing, and audio processing.

Requirements

• REAPER DAW installed
• Python 3.8+
• OSC support enabled in REAPER (for OSC mode)
• ReaScript API enabled in REAPER (for ReaScript mode)

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/itsuzef/reaper-mcp.git
cd reaper-mcp

# Create and activate a virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install the package
pip install -e .

Usage

Quick Start

The easiest way to get started is to use the provided startup script:

# Start REAPER first
open /Applications/REAPER.app  # On macOS
# or start REAPER manually on other platforms

# Then start the MCP server
./scripts/start_reaper_mcp_server.sh  # On Unix/Mac

Windows Users

For Windows users, use one of the provided Windows scripts:

# Using Command Prompt (CMD)
scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.bat

# Using PowerShell
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.ps1

Configuration

By default, the server will use OSC mode, which is more reliable and doesn't require the ReaScript API to be working correctly. You can configure the server using command-line arguments:

# Start in OSC mode (default)
./scripts/start_reaper_mcp_server.sh --mode=osc  # Unix/Mac
scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.bat --mode=osc   # Windows CMD
powershell -File scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.ps1 -mode osc  # Windows PowerShell

# Start in ReaScript mode
./scripts/start_reaper_mcp_server.sh --mode=reapy  # Unix/Mac
scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.bat --mode=reapy   # Windows CMD
powershell -File scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.ps1 -mode reapy  # Windows PowerShell

# Configure OSC settings (Unix/Mac)
./scripts/start_reaper_mcp_server.sh --host=192.168.1.110 --send-port=8000 --receive-port=9000

# Configure OSC settings (Windows CMD)
scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.bat --host=192.168.1.110 --send-port=8000 --receive-port=9000

# Configure OSC settings (Windows PowerShell)
powershell -File scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.ps1 -host "192.168.1.110" -sendPort 8000 -receivePort 9000

# Enable debug logging
./scripts/start_reaper_mcp_server.sh --debug  # Unix/Mac
scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.bat --debug   # Windows CMD
powershell -File scripts\start_reaper_mcp_server.ps1 -debug  # Windows PowerShell

Setting Up REAPER

Setting up REAPER for OSC

1. Open REAPER
2. Go to Preferences > Control/OSC/web
3. Click "Add" and select "OSC (Open Sound Control)"
4. Configure the following settings:
   • Device name: ReaperMCP
   • Mode: Local port
   • Local listen port: 8000
   • Local IP: 127.0.0.1 (or your computer's IP address)
   • Allow binding messages to REAPER actions and FX learn: Checked (optional)
   • Outgoing max packet size: 1024
   • Wait between packets: 10ms

Setting up REAPER for ReaScript

1. Open REAPER
2. Go to Preferences > Plug-ins > ReaScript
3. Make sure "Enable Python for ReaScript" is checked
4. Set the Python DLL/dylib path to your Python installation
   • On macOS: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/[email protected]/3.x.x/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.x/Python
   • On Windows: C:\Path\to\Python\python3x.dll
5. Run the setup script:

   python scripts/setup_reaper_python.py
   

Available MCP Tools

The server provides the following MCP tools:

• create_project: Creates a new REAPER project
• create_track: Creates a new track in the current project
• list_tracks: Lists all tracks in the current project
• add_midi_note: Adds a MIDI note to a track
• get_project_info: Gets information about the current project

Troubleshooting

ReaScript API Issues

If you're experiencing issues with the ReaScript API, try using the OSC mode instead:

./scripts/start_reaper_mcp_server.sh --mode=osc

OSC Communication Issues

Make sure REAPER is configured correctly for OSC:

1. Check that the OSC settings in REAPER match the server settings
2. Verify that no firewall is blocking the communication
3. Try using the local IP address (127.0.0.1) instead of a network IP

Windows-Specific Troubleshooting

If you're having issues running the MCP server on Windows:

1. Script Execution Issues:

   • For PowerShell scripts, you may need to adjust the execution policy: Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
   • Alternatively, use the -ExecutionPolicy Bypass flag as shown in the examples

2. Path Issues:

   • Ensure the REAPER path in the scripts matches your installation location
   • Default is C:\Program Files\REAPER\reaper.exe, modify if needed

3. Virtual Environment:

   • If you created the venv with a different method, the activation script might be in a different location
   • Try activating manually before running: venv\Scripts\activate

4. Firewall Blocking:

   • Windows Firewall may block OSC communication
   • Add exceptions for Python and REAPER in Windows Firewall settings

5. Administrator Rights:

   • Try running the Command Prompt or PowerShell as Administrator if you encounter permission issues

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "reaper" '{"command":"python","args":["-m","reaper_mcp","--mode=osc"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "reaper": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "-m",
                "reaper_mcp",
                "--mode=osc"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "reaper": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "-m",
                "reaper_mcp",
                "--mode=osc"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect