RhymeBook

🎯 What is RhymeBook?

RhymeBook is an AI-powered music production assistant that lives inside your favorite AI tools (Claude Desktop, VS Code, and more). It combines powerful lyric writing tools, beat management, and session tracking into one seamless workflow.

Why Artists Love It

🚀 Powered by Model Context Protocol

RhymeBook uses MCP to give AI assistants direct access to your music tools. Ask Claude to find rhymes, log a take, or browse beats — it all happens instantly through natural conversation.

🤖 Claude Skill Included

RhymeBook comes with a built-in Claude skill that provides intelligent assistance:

• Smart Tool Selection - Automatically picks the right tool for your request

• Creative Partner - Proactively suggests rhymes, flow improvements, and beat matches

• Workflow Guidance - Guides you through writing, recording, and production

• Natural Language - Just ask naturally, no need to remember tool names

The skill is located in .claude/skills/SKILL.md and activates automatically when you mention music-related terms.

Related MCP server: Mureka MCP Server

✨ Features

📊 Dashboard

• Overview Stats - Total songs, sessions, takes, beats, collaborators

• Song Progress Funnel - Visual pipeline from writing to released

• Weekly Activity Chart - 8-week trend visualization

• Activity Feed - Real-time feed of all actions with filtering

• Insights - Most productive day, avg session length, completion rate

• Recent Items - Quick access to recent songs and sessions

• Quick Actions - One-click access to common tasks

• Beat Library Stats - Overview of beat collection

🎵 Lyric Lab

• Rhyme Finder - Find perfect, slant, and multi-syllable rhymes

• Syllable Counter - Live syllable counting per line

• Flow Visualizer - Visual representation of rhythm patterns

• Thesaurus - Contextual word suggestions

• Section Organizer - Manage verses, choruses, bridges, and more

• Save & Export - Export lyrics in text, markdown, JSON, or LRC formats

• Import Lyrics - Import from TXT, JSON, LRC, or SRT files

• Batch Import/Export - Process multiple files at once

🎛️ Session Tracker

• Project Dashboard - Overview of all songs in progress

• Take Manager - Log and rate recording takes (1-5 stars)

• Collaboration Tracker - Manage features, producers, engineers

• Milestone Progress - Visual progress bars (writing → recording → mixing → mastering)

• Notes & Feedback - Attach notes to sessions

• Persistent Storage - All data saved to SQLite database

🎧 Beat Explorer

• Browse & Filter - Filter by genre, mood, BPM, energy level

• Wavesurfer.js Waveform - Professional waveform visualization

• Frequency Visualizer - Live frequency bars during playback

• Audio Player - Full playback controls with seek, volume

• Audio Effects - Reverb, delay, distortion, and 3-band EQ (Tone.js)

• Scrub Bar - Interactive progress bar with drag-to-seek

• Auto BPM/Key Detection - music-metadata analyzes audio files

• Favorites & Collections - Organize beats into playlists

• Lyric-to-Beat Matcher - AI suggests beats matching your lyrics' energy

• Library Management - Set custom folder path for beat files

• Auto-Import - Scan and import beats from your library folder

• Copy to Library - Add beats from anywhere to your library

• Vocal Separation - Spleeter AI for stem extraction

⚡ Performance & Security

Performance Optimizations

• Async File Operations - All file I/O is non-blocking

• Database Indexes - Optimized queries for common operations

• Parallel Dashboard Queries - Faster dashboard loading

• Scan Caching - Beat library scans cached for 1 minute

• Real-time Vocal Removal - No playback restart needed

• Dynamic Library Loading - Tone.js and Wavesurfer.js loaded on-demand

• Optimized Bundle Size - 634KB single-file bundle (under 5MB MCP limit)

• Tree Shaking - Unused code automatically removed

• Terser Minification - Production code compressed and optimized

Security Features

• Path Traversal Protection - Validates all file paths

• Rate Limiting - 100 requests per 15 minutes

• CORS Configuration - Environment-based origin allowlist

• Input Validation - Zod schemas with length limits

• Graceful Shutdown - Proper cleanup handlers

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+

• npm or pnpm

• FFmpeg (for audio processing)

• Spleeter (for vocal separation)

Installing FFmpeg

Windows (Chocolatey):

choco install ffmpeg

Windows (Manual):

1. Download from ffmpeg.org

2. Add to PATH environment variable

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install ffmpeg

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg

Installing Spleeter

Via pip:

pip install spleeter

Via conda:

conda install -c conda-forge spleeter

Note: Spleeter requires Python 3.7+ and will download AI models on first use (~265MB).

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/rhymebook-mcp-server.git
cd rhymebook-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

Running the Server

HTTP Mode (for web-based hosts)

npm start
# Server runs on http://localhost:3001
# MCP endpoint: http://localhost:3001/mcp

Stdio Mode (for Claude Desktop)

npm run start:stdio

Development Mode

npm run dev
# Runs both server and UI in watch mode

📁 Project Structure

rhymebook-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   ├── server/
│   │   └── index.ts              # MCP server entry point
│   ├── tools/
│   │   ├── lyric-lab.ts          # Lyric Lab tools (9 tools)
│   │   ├── session-tracker.ts    # Session Tracker tools (10 tools)
│   │   ├── beat-explorer.ts      # Beat Explorer tools (14 tools)
│   │   └── dashboard.ts          # Dashboard tools (4 tools)
│   ├── db/
│   │   ├── database.ts           # SQLite database setup
│   │   ├── operations.ts         # Database CRUD operations
│   │   ├── beats-library.ts      # Beat library file management
│   │   └── lyrics-io.ts          # Lyrics import/export
│   └── ui/
│       ├── index.html            # Main HTML template
│       ├── styles.css            # UI styles (dark theme)
│       ├── main.ts               # Client-side logic
│       ├── audio-engine.ts       # Web Audio API engine
│       ├── visualizers.ts        # Waveform & frequency visualizers
│       └── beat-player.ts        # Beat player component
├── dist/
│   ├── server/                   # Compiled server code
│   └── ui/
│       └── index.html            # Bundled single-file UI
├── claude_desktop_config.example.json  # Example Claude Desktop config
├── CONFIGURATION.md              # Detailed configuration guide
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── tsconfig.server.json
└── vite.config.ts

🛠️ Available Tools

Lyric Lab Tools

Session Tracker Tools

Beat Explorer Tools

Audio Processing Tools

Library Management Tools

Dashboard Tools

🎨 UI Features

• Dark Theme - Easy on the eyes for late-night sessions

• Responsive Design - Works on desktop and tablet

• Real-time Updates - Instant feedback as you type

• Toast Notifications - Clear feedback for actions

• Modal Dialogs - Clean export interface

• Drag & Drop - Reorder song sections

• Keyboard Shortcuts - Ctrl+S (save), Ctrl+N (new), Space (play/pause), Escape (close modal)

• Auto-Save - Automatic save after 30 seconds of inactivity

• Loading States - Visual feedback during async operations

🎤 Vocal Removal

RhymeBook includes real-time vocal removal for practicing and remixing:

• Center Channel Extraction - Removes centered vocals from stereo tracks

• Real-time Adjustment - Smooth slider control with no audio glitches

• Frequency Filtering - Attenuates vocal frequency ranges (250Hz - 3.5kHz)

How to Use

1. Load a beat in the Beat Explorer

2. Use the 🎤 Vocals slider in the player controls

3. Slide right to reduce vocals (0% = original, 100% = maximum removal)

Best Results

• ✅ Stereo tracks with centered vocals

• ✅ Modern pop/hip-hop productions

• ⚠️ Older stereo mixes (moderate results)

• ❌ Mono tracks (no stereo information to extract)

💾 Database

RhymeBook uses SQLite for persistent storage. The database is automatically created at:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.rhymebook\rhymebook.db

• Mac/Linux: ~/.rhymebook/rhymebook.db

Database Schema

Database Indexes

Optimized indexes for common queries:

• Songs by status and update date

• Sessions by date and song

• Takes by session and timestamp

• Beats by favorite status, BPM, and energy

📁 Beats Library Management

Setting Your Library Path

Use the set-library-path tool to point to your beats folder:

Set library path: C:\Users\You\Music\Beats

Supported Audio Formats

• MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, OGG, M4A, WMA

Auto-Import Beats

1. Set your library path

2. Run scan-library to see all audio files

3. Run import-beats to add them to the database

Filename Parsing

RhymeBook automatically extracts info from filenames:

• Beat Name 140BPM Am.mp3 → Title: "Beat Name", BPM: 140, Key: Am

• Dark_Trap_150_Cm.wav → Title: "Dark Trap", BPM: 150, Key: Cm

⚙️ Configuration

Environment Variables

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rhymebook": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\path\\to\\rhymebook-mcp-server\\dist\\server\\index.js", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

macOS/Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rhymebook": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/yourusername/path/to/rhymebook-mcp-server/dist/server/index.js", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

With Environment Variables:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rhymebook": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/rhymebook-mcp-server/dist/server/index.js", "--stdio"],
      "env": {
        "PORT": "3001"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code Configuration

Add to your VS Code settings.json:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "rhymebook": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["${workspaceFolder}/dist/server/index.js", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

HTTP Mode (for web-based hosts)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rhymebook-http": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3001/mcp"
    }
  }
}

📖 For detailed configuration instructions, see CONFIGURATION.md

📝 Usage Examples

Finding Rhymes

User: Find rhymes for "flow"
Assistant: [Calls find-rhymes tool]
Result: Perfect: go, show, know, grow...
        Slant: soul, roll, control...
        Multi: overflow, undertow...

Matching Lyrics to Beats

User: I have aggressive lyrics about hustling, find me a beat
Assistant: [Calls match-lyrics-to-beat with lyrics]
Result: Suggested beats ranked by energy/mood match

Tracking Recording Sessions

User: Log take 4 for today's session - 5 stars, best take!
Assistant: [Calls log-take tool]
Result: Take logged, marked as best take

Getting Dashboard Overview

User: Show me my project dashboard
Assistant: [Calls get-dashboard-summary tool]
Result: Overview stats, recent activity, insights

Vocal Removal

User: Play this beat with vocals removed
Assistant: [Loads beat in player, sets vocal removal to 100%]
Result: Instrumental version plays

🗺️ Roadmap

• SoundCloud integration for beat discovery

• Spotify playlist sync

• AI-powered lyric suggestions

• Collaborative sessions with real-time sync

• Mobile companion app

• Export to DAW formats (MIDI, stems)

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository

2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)

3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')

4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)

5. Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

# Clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/rhymebook-mcp-server.git
cd rhymebook-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run tests
npm test

# Start development server
npm run dev

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

👤 Author

Anthony M Cavanaugh (he/him)

• Company: Cavanaugh Design Studio

• GitHub: @cavanaughdesign

• Email: cavanaughdesign@gmail.com

• Twitter/X: @cavanaughdesign

• Instagram: @cavanaughdesignstudio

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with Model Context Protocol

• UI powered by MCP Apps SDK

• Audio processing with Tone.js and Wavesurfer.js

• Database powered by Better-SQLite3

• Inspired by the creative process of music artists everywhere