SoundCloud MCP Server

An MCP server that gives an assistant access to the SoundCloud API — search and discovery, your library, playlist management, social actions, and messaging.

Runs locally over stdio. Public search works with app credentials alone; personal data and writes require a one-time browser login that persists and auto-refreshes its token.

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install

2. Create a SoundCloud app at https://soundcloud.com/you/apps and note the Client ID and Client Secret. Set the app's Redirect URI to match your .env (default http://localhost:8888/callback).

3. Copy the example env and fill it in:

   cp .env.example .env

4. Build:

   npm run build

Related MCP server: Spotify MCP Server

Authenticate (one time, for personal data)

npm run auth

This opens your browser, captures the OAuth callback automatically, and saves tokens to ~/.soundcloud-mcp/tokens.json (mode 600). The token auto-refreshes, so you normally only do this once. Use npm run auth -- --no-browser to print the URL instead of opening it.

You can also log in from within a client by calling the connect_soundcloud tool, and check state with auth_status.

Run

Standalone (uses the local .env):

npm start

Claude Desktop

1. npm run build first — Claude Desktop runs the compiled build/index.js.

2. Open the config file (or Settings → Developer → Edit Config):

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

3. Add the server, using absolute paths and your app credentials in env:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "soundcloud": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["/absolute/path/to/soundcloud-mcp/build/index.js"],
         "env": {
           "SOUNDCLOUD_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
           "SOUNDCLOUD_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-client-secret"
         }
       }
     }
   }

4. Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop (closing the window isn't enough).

Gotchas:

• Paths must be absolute — ~ and shell variables are not expanded.

• Claude Desktop launches from the GUI, so it may not find a version-managed node (nvm/nodenv/asdf). If the server won't start, set "command" to the absolute node path from which node (e.g. nodenv which node), such as /Users/you/.nodenv/versions/22.22.0/bin/node.

• Run npm run auth once in a terminal so personal-data tools and writes work; public search works without it. Tokens persist to ~/.soundcloud-mcp/tokens.json independent of Claude Desktop, so you don't re-auth per client.

• Only set SOUNDCLOUD_REDIRECT_URI if you changed it from the default; it must match your SoundCloud app exactly.

Other MCP clients work the same way: run node build/index.js with the two credential env vars set. The npm scripts additionally load a local .env natively via Node's --env-file-if-exists (no dotenv dependency; needs Node 22+).

Tools

• Auth: connect_soundcloud, auth_status, sign_out

• Discovery: search_tracks, search_playlists, search_users, get_track, get_user, get_playlist, get_related_tracks, get_stream_url, get_comments

• Library (login): get_profile, get_likes, get_playlists, get_recommended_tracks

• Social (login): like_track, unlike_track, follow_user, unfollow_user, add_comment

• Playlists (login): create_playlist, update_playlist, add_tracks_to_playlist, remove_track_from_playlist, delete_playlist

• Messaging (login): get_conversations, get_conversation, get_messages, send_message, start_conversation, mark_conversation_read

Environment variables

Architecture

• config.ts — env + constants

• tokenStore.ts — persists/refreshes user tokens on disk

• oauth.ts — OAuth flows (PKCE auth-code, client-credentials, refresh) + browser login

• api.ts — SoundCloud API client, fed an async token provider

• tools.ts — registerAll(server, api): all tools/prompts/resources, transport-agnostic

• index.ts — stdio entrypoint

• auth.ts — one-time login CLI

Tool registration is decoupled from the stdio transport, so a future remote (Streamable HTTP) entrypoint can reuse registerAll without changes.

MCP conventions

Built against the MCP 2025-06-18 spec: tools carry title + behavior annotations (readOnlyHint/destructiveHint/idempotentHint/openWorldHint), read tools return structuredContent alongside text, and track/playlist tools emit resource_link blocks (permalink, artwork, audio stream) so clients can render them. OAuth is handled locally per the spec's guidance that stdio servers take credentials from the environment rather than the transport-level OAuth flow (which is reserved for the future remote HTTP mode).

Notes

Unofficial integration, not affiliated with SoundCloud. Use within the SoundCloud API Terms of Use. The legacy /charts endpoint is no longer served by the public API and has been removed.