Sonicmatch MCP Server

Sonicmatch

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.js713-lab/sonicmatch-mcp -->

Video-native MCP server for license-safe BGM. Watches the footage — not the script — and returns a shortlist, a 12–20s hook, and an ffmpeg ducking spec.

<p align="center"> <img src="docs/banner.jpg" alt="Sonicmatch — video in, license-safe BGM out. Ingest, Analyze, Match, Mix." width="100%"> </p>

Package / CLI: sonicmatch-mcp. A Model Context Protocol server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other MCP clients. Drop an Instagram Reel, YouTube Short, or TikTok-style clip. Get royalty-free / Creative Commons matches with the license printed on every row.

Video-to-BGM already exists. The wedge is not “I also match music”:

• it watches the footage, not the script
• it returns a hook window + ffmpeg ducking spec
• it is agent-native
• it prints the license instead of lying

Catalog quality will kill or save this. More tools will not.

Video or URL in
  → scene / mood / pace / speech analysis
  → license-safe BGM shortlist
  + beat/cut hints
  + optional mix preview

Do not treat this as “script in → YouTube Music search out.” That already exists (mcp-bgm-recommender). Sonicmatch watches the video.

You own	You do not own
Local file / public URL ingest	Platform music licenses
Mood, energy curve, speech vs silence, scene cuts	Meta/TikTok “trending audio” graph
CC / royalty-free catalogs + optional paid adapters	Spotify / IG official libraries
Ranked tracks, preview URLs, mix spec, ffmpeg	Auto-publish to Instagram

North star: ingest_video → analyze_video_music → recommend_bgm → preview_mix → export_mix_spec

License warning (read this)

• The code is MIT.
• Every track has its own license. It is printed on every recommendation.
• Nothing here is an official Instagram sticker, TikTok Commercial Music Library track, or YouTube Audio Library API result.
• Do not recommend commercial pop unless the adapter is explicitly a user-owned licensed library.
• CC-BY still needs attribution. CC-BY-NC is not ok for ads / shops. Non-commercial tracks are never auto-recommended.
• For ads / shops, wire a user-owned Artlist / Epidemic JSON (examples/user_library.example.json). Do not scrape those sites.
• Content ID can still hit you if you point at the wrong source. A CC label is not a waiver.

Demo

I dropped ./clip.mp4. Analyze it for an Instagram Reel and recommend 5 instrumental BGMs. Then mix the top pick with ducking and give me the ffmpeg command.

That prompt is the product. Install below, wire Claude Desktop or Cursor, paste it.

Quick start

Requires Python 3.10+ and ffmpeg / ffprobe on PATH. yt-dlp is optional and off by default (SONICMATCH_ALLOW_YTDLP=0) because platform extractors break and may violate ToS. Prefer a local file.

pip install git+https://github.com/js713-lab/sonic-match-mcp.git
sonicmatch-mcp            # or: python3 -m sonicmatch

With uv, no clone:

uvx --from git+https://github.com/js713-lab/sonic-match-mcp.git sonicmatch-mcp

From a clone (editable + tests):

git clone https://github.com/js713-lab/sonic-match-mcp.git
cd sonic-match-mcp
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
cp .env.example .env   # optional keys

# stdio (Claude Desktop / Cursor)
sonicmatch-mcp

# streamable HTTP (web editors)
sonicmatch-mcp --http --port 8765

# same clone, uv
uv venv && uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
uv run sonicmatch-mcp

v0.2 works offline-ish with a 20-track seed catalog aimed at Reel editors (cafe, product, talking-head, travel, food, fashion, event). Gemini, Jamendo, and Freesound are optional and degrade with a note in the tool response. Seed rows have no hosted audio on purpose — preview_mix synthesizes a demo bed. For real ads, point SONICMATCH_LIBRARY_PATH / EPIDEMIC_LIBRARY_PATH / ARTLIST_LIBRARY_PATH at JSON you already licensed.

pytest   # generates tiny color mp4s with ffmpeg

Not on PyPI yet. Install from git.

Features

• Watches the picture. Gemini video understanding when GEMINI_API_KEY is set; otherwise local ffmpeg / audio heuristics (optional Whisper, PySceneDetect, librosa).
• License on every row. CC / royalty-free / user-owned library. Non-commercial tracks are never auto-recommended. Generated beds stay out of auto recs.
• Editor-shaped output. 12–20s hook in/out, speech ducking, ffmpeg recipe, mix spec for CapCut / Premiere / DaVinci / your agent.
• Agent-native MCP. stdio for Claude Desktop and Cursor; streamable HTTP for web editors. Never ships raw multi-MB video through the payload — you get an asset_id.
• Works without API keys. 20-track seed catalog for Reels. Optional Jamendo, Freesound, and user-owned Artlist / Epidemic JSON.
• Cuts on the beat. suggest_cuts snaps scene cuts to a BPM grid and returns EDL-ish intro / peak / outro.
• Brand lock. Save BPM / mood / no-vocals kits and pass brand_kit=… into recommend_bgm.
• Series, not one-offs. analyze_batch (max 20) clusters mood and returns one shared mini-playlist.
• Honest about closed graphs. No fake “trending audio,” official IG stickers, or Content-ID-safe stamps. yt-dlp platform ingest is opt-in.

Tools

Tool	What it does
status	ffmpeg / keys / seed count / day-1 risk gates
ingest_video	Local path or HTTPS URL → asset_id (never video bytes). Platform URLs need SONICMATCH_ALLOW_YTDLP=1
analyze_video_music	Mood, energy curve, speech, scenes, hook window, BPM, search queries
recommend_bgm	3–7 ranked tracks + why + license + hook in/out
search_music	Free-text / BPM / mood over seed + optional catalogs
get_track	One track’s metadata, license, attribution, URLs
preview_mix	Hook trim, loop, optional ducking → preview files + ffmpeg + mix spec
export_mix_spec	Mix spec + ffmpeg + attribution (no render unless render=true)
suggest_cuts	Beat grid, snapped scene cuts, EDL, intro / peak / outro
generate_bed	Demo bed marked source=generated. Requires i_understand_not_commercially_cleared=true
save_brand_kit	Persist BPM / moods / no-vocals for recommend_bgm(brand_kit=…)
analyze_batch	Up to 20 clips → mood cluster + shared mini-playlist

Also ships a prompt template: “Score this video like an IG music sticker.”

Product rules (Instagram-like, not Instagram)

• Prefer instrumental when speech_coverage > 0.25
• Recommend a hook window, not the whole song
• Show why (cuts at 0.8s average, 112 BPM, warm gold hour)
• Always return license + attribution text
• 3–7 tracks, not 40
• User can override mood / genre / no-lyrics / platform / energy
• Never claim “cleared for Instagram official sticker” unless it actually is

Claude Desktop

claude_desktop_config.json — after a clone + pip install -e .:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sonicmatch": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/sonic-match-mcp/.venv/bin/sonicmatch-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "GEMINI_API_KEY": "",
        "JAMENDO_CLIENT_ID": "",
        "FREESOUND_API_KEY": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

After pip install git+https://github.com/js713-lab/sonic-match-mcp.git, command can be sonicmatch-mcp if that binary is on PATH.

Cursor

.cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. From git, no clone:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sonicmatch": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "git+https://github.com/js713-lab/sonic-match-mcp.git",
        "sonicmatch-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GEMINI_API_KEY": "",
        "JAMENDO_CLIENT_ID": "",
        "FREESOUND_API_KEY": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

From a clone: "command": "uv", "args": ["--directory", "/absolute/path/to/sonic-match-mcp", "run", "sonicmatch-mcp"]. After pip install, "command": "python3", "args": ["-m", "sonicmatch"] works if that interpreter has the package.

Copy-paste configs: examples/claude_desktop.mcp.json, examples/cursor.mcp.json. User-owned Epidemic/Artlist JSON shape: examples/user_library.example.json. Registry metadata: server.json.

HTTP editors can point at http://127.0.0.1:8765/mcp after sonicmatch-mcp --http.

--http has no authentication. Keep it on loopback. The Docker image binds 0.0.0.0 so the container port works — do not publish that port to the internet. See SECURITY.md.

Architecture

flowchart TB
  subgraph mcp [MCP Server - FastMCP / Python - stdio + HTTP]
    tools[ingest_video / analyze_video_music / recommend_bgm / preview_mix / export_mix_spec / suggest_cuts]
  end
  tools --> ingest
  tools --> brain
  tools --> hub
  tools --> mixer
  ingest[Ingestor<br/>yt-dlp · ffmpeg · ffprobe · URL/file]
  brain[Video Brain<br/>Gemini / local VL · librosa · PySceneDetect · Whisper]
  hub[Music Hub<br/>seed CC · Jamendo · Freesound · user library · generate]
  mixer[Mixer<br/>ffmpeg · ducking · loop/trim · EDL cuts]
  hub --> index[Track index<br/>tags + license + embeddings · SQLite · optional LanceDB]

Hard rule: never send raw multi-MB video through the MCP payload. Store locally, pass an asset_id. Loopback, file://, and private IPs are rejected (SSRF).

VideoSonic profile

Analysis returns structured JSON, not a paragraph:

{
  "duration_sec": 18.4,
  "aspect": "9:16",
  "content_type": "lifestyle",
  "has_speech": true,
  "speech_coverage": 0.62,
  "existing_music": false,
  "overall_mood": ["warm", "playful"],
  "energy_mean": 0.62,
  "energy_curve": [{"t": 0, "energy": 0.3}, {"t": 4, "energy": 0.8}],
  "pacing": "fast-cut",
  "scenes": [{"start": 0, "end": 3.2, "description": "cafe exterior", "energy": 0.4}],
  "hook_window": [9.0, 15.0],
  "suggested_bpm": [95, 118],
  "avoid": ["dark cinematic drone", "aggressive trap", "lyrics-dense"],
  "search_queries": ["warm acoustic pop instrumental cafe"],
  "platform_hint": "instagram_reel",
  "analyzer": "local"
}

• Primary: Gemini video understanding when GEMINI_API_KEY is set.
• Fallback: ffmpeg scene cuts + WAV energy / silence / ZCR heuristics. Optional faster-whisper, scenedetect, librosa if installed (pip install 'sonicmatch-mcp[local-vl]').

Music hub

Pluggable, license-first. v0 ships:

Adapter	When	License reality
Seed catalog (data/seed_tracks.json)	always	20 CC0 / CC-BY Reel beds + a vocal fixture + a CC-BY-NC fixture (NC is never auto-recommended)
Jamendo	JAMENDO_CLIENT_ID	CC, check commercial
Freesound	FREESOUND_API_KEY	CC, good for beds/loops not songs
User library JSON	SONICMATCH_LIBRARY_PATH / EPIDEMIC_LIBRARY_PATH / ARTLIST_LIBRARY_PATH	you already licensed it; we do not scrape paid sites
Generate	generate_bed	always source=generated; local sine demo unless you swap a real model

Ranking (weighted): mood/energy → instrumental if speech → duration/loop → BPM vs cut rate → license fit → tag embedding cosine → user constraints. recommend_bgm drops non-commercial and generated tracks instead of downranking them.

Tracks are indexed in SQLite (~/.cache/sonicmatch-mcp/db/tracks.sqlite) with a 24-d tag embedding. If lancedb is installed (pip install 'sonicmatch-mcp[embeddings]'), vectors are also upserted there.

Seed tracks have no remote audio files on purpose (you should host files you actually have the rights to). preview_mix synthesizes a CC0 demo bed so the mixer still runs offline. generate_bed is a catalog-miss fallback and is not cleared for ads.

Docker

docker build -t sonicmatch-mcp .
# Loopback-only publish. The process inside the container has no HTTP auth.
docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:8765:8765 -v sonic-cache:/data/cache sonicmatch-mcp

Roadmap

Catalog > new tools.

• Freesound adapter (loops / beds)
• Tag embeddings in SQLite (+ optional LanceDB extra)
• Epidemic Sound / Artlist as user-owned JSON plugins (no scrape)
• Beat-grid vs scene-cut suggestions (EDL-ish suggest_cuts)
• MCP registry listing (server.json)
• Generate tool, marked source=generated (local demo; swap a real model at your own legal risk)
• Official MCP registry listing via GitHub Release MCPB (see PUBLISH.md)
• Non-commercial licenses excluded from auto recommend_bgm
• 20 seed beds a Reel editor would actually keep, with audio you host
• User-owned Artlist / Epidemic JSON as the default path for ads
• Real CLAP audio embeddings
• PyPI release

Why this can be a good open-source project

Yes if you nail: (1) video-native analysis, (2) license honesty on every row, (3) editor-shaped output (hook in/out, ducking, mix spec), (4) a catalog someone would keep.

No if you only wrap YouTube Music search, or if the first five recs sound like leftover stock beds.

Day-1 risk gates (enforced in code, not slogans):

Risk	Gate
Content ID	Every rec/search/get_track includes content_id_warning. CC/RF is never "Content-ID-safe". content_id_risk is unknown or likely, never cleared.
yt-dlp ToS / broken extractors	Platform URL ingest is off unless SONICMATCH_ALLOW_YTDLP=1. Failures map to YTDLP_EXTRACTOR and tell you to pass a local file.
Upload size / SSRF	HTTPS-only remote ingest, no file:// / loopback / private IPs, SONICMATCH_MAX_DOWNLOAD_MB (default 200) on files, HTTP, and yt-dlp --max-filesize.
“Trending” is a closed Meta graph	Queries for trending/viral/IG audio/TikTok sound return empty + TRENDING_UNAVAILABLE. recommend_bgm always sets trending_available=false.
Generation-model commercial terms	generate_bed refuses unless i_understand_not_commercially_cleared=true. Generated tracks are excluded from auto recommend_bgm.

Use cases

IG Reel / Story · Shopee product clip · YouTube Shorts agent · CapCut/Premiere companion · campus recap · podcast clipper · travel-vlog batch · brand-kit lock (BPM + no vocals) · silent-film / accessibility · multi-agent studio.

License

MIT. Track licenses are independent of the repo license. Security reports: SECURITY.md.

From CodeCrafter.

<!-- maintainer note 2026-09-16T08:47Z --> <!-- maintainer note 2026-09-16T08:47Z -->