REAPER MCP Server provides a clean API interface to access REAPER DAW functionality through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It uses a hybrid Lua-Python architecture to bridge between your MCP client applications and REAPER's powerful audio production capabilities.
Before installation, ensure you have:
The simplest way to install on macOS is using the provided script:
./scripts/install.sh
This script automatically:
For more control or if the quick install doesn't work for your environment, follow these steps:
# Create and activate a virtual environment
python3.10 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
# Install the package
pip install -e .
The file-based bridge is recommended as it requires no additional dependencies:
# Copy the bridge script to REAPER
cp lua/mcp_bridge_file_v2.lua ~/Library/Application\ Support/REAPER/Scripts/
mcp_bridge_file_v2.lua
With REAPER running and the bridge loaded, start the MCP server:
# Make sure your virtual environment is activated
source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
# Start the server
python -m server.app
The server should display "Server ready. Waiting for connections..."
To ensure everything is working:
~/Library/Application Support/REAPER/Scripts/mcp_bridge_data/
You can run the test suite to verify functionality:
# Make sure both REAPER and the server are running
pytest tests/ -v
# For just the integration tests
pytest tests/test_integration.py -v
The REAPER MCP Server implements over 750 tools across 40+ categories including:
The server uses a file-based communication system:
To remove the MCP server:
./scripts/uninstall.sh
To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:
claude mcp add-json "reaper" '{"command":"python","args":["-m","server.app_file_bridge_full"]}'
See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.
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.
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",
"server.app_file_bridge_full"
]
}
}
}
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.
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.
To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:
1. Find your configuration file:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
2. Add this to your configuration file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"reaper": {
"command": "python",
"args": [
"-m",
"server.app_file_bridge_full"
]
}
}
}
3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect