LiveAPI

Comprehensive reference for the Ableton Live Python API — classes, properties, methods, enums, and behavioral notes that Ableton doesn't publicly document.

Overview

Ableton does not publish documentation for the Python API embedded in Live. LiveAPI fills that gap with:

• Curated reference docs — per-class documentation with properties, methods, enums, and behavioral notes
• Typed Python stubs — use in your Control Surface or Remote Script for autocomplete and type checking

Reference Docs

The reference/ directory contains per-class documentation for the Live Object Model. Each file covers one class with summary tables, detailed member descriptions, quirks, and open questions.

Published as a searchable site via GitHub Pages (MkDocs + Material theme).

Using the Stubs

Pre-built stubs for each Live version are available in stubs/. Each version directory contains a Live/ package with typed modules you can use for autocomplete and static analysis.

To use in a Control Surface project, add the relevant stubs/<version>/ directory to your type checker's stub path (e.g., "stubPath": "stubs/12.3.6" in pyrightconfig.json). The stubs include a py.typed marker for PEP 561 compatibility.

from __future__ import annotations
from typing import TYPE_CHECKING

if TYPE_CHECKING:
    import Live
    from Live.Song import Song

def on_tempo_changed(song: Song) -> None:
    app: Live.Application.Application = Live.Application.get_application()
    print(f"Live {app.get_major_version()}: tempo is now {song.tempo}")

Project Structure

reference/     Curated per-class API docs (the primary product)
stubs/         Generated stubs per Live version (pipeline intermediates in pipeline/ subdir)
tools/         APICapture and stub generation pipeline (see tools/README.md)

Sources

The reference docs are built from three sources:

1. Generated stubs — complete class/method/property inventory from runtime introspection
2. Max for Live docs — richer descriptions and gotcha coverage, partial API coverage
3. Direct probing — runtime verification of behavior that neither source clarifies

Each reference file records its probe status (unprobed, partial, or verified) so coverage gaps are visible.

Related Projects

• LiveRelay — Remote Script that exposes the Live API over RPC
• PythonForLive — Typed Python client for LiveRelay

Credits

APICapture tooling forked from isfopo/LiveAPI_MakeDoc (itself a fork of NSUSpray/LiveAPI_MakeDoc). Stub generation based on cylab/AbletonLive-API-Stub.

Disclaimer

This is unofficial documentation for the Ableton Live API. These files are provided as-is, without any warranty. Do not contact Ableton with questions about this project.