Claude Desktop & Cowork

Connect Claude Desktop (Chat & Cowork) to ACE Studio via MCP.

Connect Claude Desktop to ACE Studio through a local MCP (Model Context Protocol) server to inspect, arrange, and edit your music projects directly from Claude.

This guide walks through configuring Chat and Cowork in Claude Desktop.

If you are using Code mode (Claude Code), it uses separate configuration settings. Head over to External Agent Access to let the agent configure itself automatically or use the claude mcp add terminal command.

Switch between modes using the mode selector in the top-left corner of Claude Desktop:

Mode selector in Claude Desktop

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Step 1: Open Settings

Open Settings in Claude Desktop:

• Click your profile name in the bottom-left corner and select Settings, or

• Use the app menu: Claude → Settings... (Cmd+, on macOS or Ctrl+, on Windows).

Profile Menu

Access Settings from the profile menu in the bottom-left

Application Menu (macOS)

Access Settings from the macOS menu bar

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Step 2: Open Configuration File

1. In the Settings window, navigate to Developer under the Desktop app section.

2. Click the Edit Config button.

Click "Edit Config" in Developer settings

Claude Desktop will open your system file manager (Finder or File Explorer) with claude_desktop_config.json selected.

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Step 3: Add ACE Studio MCP Server

1. Open claude_desktop_config.json in any text editor.

2. In ACE Studio, open Preferences → General → External Agent Access and click Copy command next to MCP Server (stdio) to copy your exact launch command.

3. Add the acestudio configuration under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "acestudio": {
      "command": "/Applications/ACE Studio.app/Contents/Helpers/ace-mcp-server"
    }
  }
}

claude_desktop_config.json with the acestudio server configured

Windows Path Escaping: If you manually write Windows paths using backslashes in JSON files, escape each backslash as a double backslash (\\), or use forward slashes (/).

1. Save the file, then restart Claude Desktop completely.

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Step 4: Verify and Start Using

1. Confirm Connection Status

Open Settings → Developer in Claude Desktop. You should now see acestudio listed under Local MCP Servers with a running status.

Local MCP Servers displaying active acestudio connection

2. Enable in Chat or Cowork

When starting a conversation in Chat or Cowork, click the + / Connectors button below the message input box and make sure acestudio is toggled ON.

Ensure the acestudio connector is active

3. Test with a Prompt

Make sure ACE Studio is open and running, then ask Claude:

Please check the current ACE Studio project information

Claude will connect to ACE Studio, inspect the open project, and return its details (tempo, key signature, tracks, and clips).