Gemini CLI

Use Producer Pal with Google's command line coding assistant.

Free Tier Limitations

Gemini CLI works best with a Google AI Pro subscription. Without a subscription, the free tier has strict rate limits and you'll hit quotas quickly. Consider Claude Code for an alternative CLI experience.

If you feel comfortable with the command line, this is an option for using Producer Pal. Also consider using Gemini with Producer Pal's built-in chat UI (but probably via OpenRouter as noted on that page).

Requirements

Download Max for Live DeviceProducer_Pal.amxd — add it to a MIDI track in Ableton Live

• Ableton Live 12.3+ with Max for Live. Live 12.4 or later is recommended — some features don't work on older versions of Live. Use the version of Max bundled with Live, or make sure your standalone Max is up to date.

• Node.js 20+

• Gemini CLI (requires Google account)

Installation Steps

1. Install the Max for Live Device

Download Producer_Pal.amxd, the Producer Pal Max for Live device, and add it to a MIDI track in Ableton Live:

It should display "Producer Pal Running" or something isn't working.

2. Configure Gemini CLI

Add Producer Pal to Gemini's settings in ~/.gemini/settings.json:

Option A: With npx (recommended) - Allows flexible startup order and auto-reconnection:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "producer-pal"]
    }
  }
}

Scripting or building against Producer Pal?

If you'll have the agent write code that generates or parses Producer Pal data — building MIDI programmatically, or piping tool output through JSON tooling — add --format json and --notation midi-json to the args:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "producer-pal",
        "--format",
        "json",
        "--notation",
        "midi-json"
      ]
    }
  }
}

--format json returns standard JSON instead of the token-optimized compact form, and midi-json represents notes as a JSON array the agent can generate and read directly.

For a normal music-making conversation, keep the defaults (compact output, bar|beat notation) — they use fewer tokens and the agent reads them fine.

Both are global device settings, so they also change what the chat UI and any other connected clients see.

Option B: Direct HTTP - Requires Ableton running first, no auto-reconnection:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "producer-pal": {
      "httpUrl": "http://localhost:3350/mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. Start Gemini CLI

Run gemini in an empty folder (so it can focus on Producer Pal instead of coding)

4. Verify Tools

Run /mcp list in the Gemini CLI to confirm the Producer Pal tools are available:

5. Start Using Producer Pal

1. Start a conversation with "connect to ableton"
2. Allow Producer Pal tools to be used when Gemini tries to use them:

Troubleshooting

If it doesn't work, see the Troubleshooting Guide.