A MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server for Max
Hi!
We've created a Model Context Protocol server to let LLMs directly understand and generate Max patches.
Check out the Github repo for installation: https://github.com/tiianhk/MaxMSP-MCP-Server
Check out the demo videos:
Shuoyang & Haokun
Great work! Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic. thank you :)
This is amazing! It is time for some Max code vibing!
Hi Haokun Tian!
This looks amazing!
Please can you tell me if it's possible to use this MCP with Chat GPT's new Custom Connectors? If so, could you do an installation video of how to do that?
Thanks so much!
I just signed up to say thank you so much for this, I've been struggling for so long to get into max, not sure if I've been missing something but as so as you build anything complex it becomes almost impossible to debug, this will absolutely change EVERYTHING... so yeah, THANK YOU!!!
Oh thank the Gods ! I've been using Apple Code Intelligence in Xcode as well as OpenAI Codex with GitHub so have been looking for something for Max.
Does MaxMSP-MCP Server also understand Max for Live development ?
What about the actual training of the AI on Max ? Last time I tried AI's with Max was before the release of ChatGPT 5 which is has a much improved code generation, or have you found other AI's such as Claude to perform better ?
Hi Graham,
Sorry for a late reply. I am on the free plan for ChatGPT so I don't have the access to test the new connector feature. However I found another tool called MCP superassistant (https://mcpsuperassistant.ai) that might help you use Max MCP with ChatGPT.
The Max MCP understands and has the ability to generate the live.* objects as it enables the LLM to check the documentation of those objects. The current setup we have on Github is using the standalone Max environment, not the Max4Live environment. I will try the Max4Live environment next.
As for which model performs the best for Max programming: I don't think there's a good evaluation out there. I used Claude Desktop (which is using sonnet 4 right now) as it has good supports for using local MCP servers.
OK thanks haokun tian !
That's great to hear that you are planning to add the Max4Live environment.
I went with Claude as ChatGPT seems quite limited with MCP connectors at the moment. I documented the whole process as it was not easy to work how to do it. I have forked your Github repository and will add documentation to the readme and put in a pull request. Cheers 🍻😃
OK this project appears to have gone dead. I already updated a new MCP tool to access the Max console error messages. I just noticed the MCP cannot directly edit object attributes so I need to add that. Anyone interested in helping with this ?
What kind of help? I'm novice but would like to get this working better!
Hi Joe,
Well I did make some improvements to the MCP like stopping it crashing and trying to develop more tools. However after struggling a lot wit it I don't think its appropriate technology in this context. AI LLM's just don't do very well with anything visual. Max is a visual programming language. AI LLM's are Large Language Models. They do well with language not visual Max objects !
This is why I was very interested to find a project by Prof. Mark Santolucito at Barnard College, Columbia University.
MaxPy is aimed at translating a Max project into Python so the coding AI can work on it in that format. I just had it convert a large patch into Python then back again to a working maxpatch.
It's a bit tricky to install. See one of the GitHub issues. But Claude Code can always help with that.
I tried it on a patch that every AI has fallen over on until now. Now Claude Code is actively analysing the maxpatch and suggesting changes just like it does with any other code base.
The MaxPy project just needs more people actively using it. I highly recommend taking a look !