# moontide [Health: Active]

**Category:** 💻 Developer Tools  
**Repository:** https://github.com/konni-arcadia/moontide  
**GitHub Stars:** 2  
**Views:** 0  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/moontide

## Description
Claude steers live music by writing Strudel code played in a browser page

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "moontide": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","moontide-mcp"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What moontide does

The moontide MCP server links Claude with a local browser page containing a Strudel editor. You describe a mood, theme, or musical change, and Claude writes or revises Strudel code for the page to play. Updates take effect on the next cycle instead of restarting the piece.

The code remains visible and editable while it plays. Moontide keeps versions that have played, allowing earlier versions to be restored. The page also provides a timeline, track and part views, a history list or tree, a mixer that changes the code, and a jam view with a scale shown on piano or guitar.

Right-clicking an item in the page can send its context to Claude. Timeline context can include the cycle, beat, active version, notes, velocities, and MIDI instrument and channel information where applicable. Web MIDI can route the code to compatible MIDI instruments.

## How it works

Claude connects to Moontide as an MCP server over stdio. Moontide then opens or serves a local browser page and communicates with it over a localhost WebSocket. Strudel runs the generated JavaScript-based music code in that page.

The server does not open the page until you request music or explicitly start Moontide. The page normally opens at `http://localhost:5757`, using another port if that one is busy. Browser audio requires a click before sound can begin. Playback can be controlled by Claude or by the page’s Play and Stop controls.

The page can send requests back to Claude, including context from the area you selected. Its Session drawer indicates whether those requests reach Claude immediately or wait for Claude’s next action.

## Setup and configuration

Install Node.js 22 or later, npm, a supported Claude client, Chrome, and speakers or headphones. Strudel and its sounds load from the internet. Chrome or Edge is required for Web MIDI use.

For Claude Code, add the npm package with:

```bash
claude mcp add --scope user moontide -- npx -y moontide-mcp
```

Claude Desktop can use an `mcpServers` entry with `npx` as the command and `-y`, `moontide-mcp` as its arguments. Restart Claude Desktop after changing its configuration. The repository can also be built locally with `npm ci`, `npm run build`, and a configuration that runs `dist/index.js` with Node.

Set `MOONTIDE_NO_BROWSER=1` to prevent automatic tab opening; open the address reported by Claude yourself. The project documents macOS as tested for Claude Code and Claude Desktop. Linux and Windows instructions are described as untested in the provided material.

## Tools and capabilities

The moontide MCP server supports these workflows:

- Start a browser-based Strudel session from a natural-language music request.
- Change mood, tempo, instrumentation, or other musical details through follow-up requests.
- Stop playback and restore a previously played code version.
- Inspect and edit the current Strudel code in the browser.
- Query page context through right-click requests.
- Use timeline, history, mixer, and jam views while music plays.
- Send output to Web MIDI instruments, including the documented Roland MT-32 and SC-55 models.

## Limitations and notes

Moontide depends on Claude as the MCP client and on a browser page for playback. It was tried with Chrome, while Edge is identified for Web MIDI support. A browser click is needed to start sound, and internet access is needed for Strudel and its sounds.

The project is described as a personal hobby project. Claude Code was the most-tested client in the supplied documentation. Windows and Linux setup paths are explicitly marked untested, so platform-specific behavior may differ.

The browser normally opens automatically, but the `MOONTIDE_NO_BROWSER` option disables that behavior. History and settings remain in Moontide’s data folder after uninstalling unless that data is removed separately.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/moontide/readme_