The API lets a program act inside your project, so it is built to be off until you ask for it, reachable only from your own computer, and reversible. This page explains the layers and the one permission you may want to grant.
What protects you
| Layer | How |
|---|---|
| Off by default | The API does not listen until you switch on Enable OmniDAW API in Settings, AI Create, or start Omni with --api or OMNI_API=1 for one run |
| Local only | The server listens on 127.0.0.1 and drops any connection that does not come from the loopback interface. It is not reachable from your network |
| A secret token | Every run writes a new random token (about 244 bits) to api/endpoint.json in Omni's settings folder. A connection must present it in api.hello before anything else works, and it is compared in constant time |
| A private file | The token file is created readable only by your user (permissions 0600 on macOS and Linux; the per-user settings folder on Windows) and removed when Omni exits |
| Limits | At most 8 connections at once, lines up to 8 MiB, and a call that waits more than 10 seconds for the application gets busy |
| Strict input | Every method has a closed schema. An unknown field, a wrong type or an out-of-range value is rejected before anything changes |
| Nothing on the audio thread | Calls run on the user-interface thread, through the same code as a click. The real-time audio thread is never touched by a client |
Who can connect, then? Programs running as you, on your machine, that can read your settings folder. That includes software you run yourself, such as an AI assistant's tool process. It does not include other users of the computer or anything on the network. Treat the token like a password: do not log it, paste it into a chat, or send it anywhere.
Every edit can be undone
Each method that changes the project declares its effect (edit or destructive), and each call is one step in Omni's Undo History, labelled API: <what it did>. The person at the keyboard can undo what an assistant did with Ctrl+Z and see the steps listed in the history window. A well-behaved client asks for confirmation before destructive calls and tells the user about edit_undo.
Methods with the effect control (play, stop, launch, capture, export) change live state, not the project, and are not part of the history.
File access is a separate permission
Reading audio files from your disk is off by default, even when the API is on. It is needed by:
| Method | Reads |
|---|---|
audio.import | An audio file you name, into a clip |
audio.transcribe with path | An audio file you name |
audio.split_stems | A WAV file you name |
instruments.load_preset | A preset (.fxp) from outside the plugin's own install folder. Presets installed with the plugin never need the permission |
To allow it, switch on Let clients read audio files in Settings, AI Create (or start Omni with OMNI_API_FILES=1). Without it these calls answer unauthorized with a message saying where to turn it on, and api.hello does not list the files capability, so a client can tell before it tries. Transcribing audio that is already in a clip needs no file access.
analysis.file only decodes an audio file you name and returns measurements (levels, loudness, spectrum), never the contents.
What a client can write
| Method | Writes |
|---|---|
export.render | One .wav at an absolute path, in an existing folder |
export.stems | .wav files named NN track.wav in an existing folder |
audio.split_stems | Four .wav files into a folder inside an existing folder |
session.save | The project file (.omni) and its audio folder |
None of them overwrites an existing file unless the call passes overwrite (or, for session.save, asks for it). There is no method to read, list or delete arbitrary files, to run programs or to change settings.
Plugins
instruments.list and devices.types show only plugins that you have scanned in Omni. A client cannot point Omni at an arbitrary plugin file. When you open a project that uses a plugin Omni does not know, Omni holds it back until you agree to load it, whether or not the API is on.
Using it with an AI assistant
- Review what an assistant is allowed to do in your MCP client's settings. The tools carry annotations (
readOnlyHint,destructiveHint) that good clients use to ask before risky calls. - Prefer working on a copy of a project you care about, and save before a long session.
- Treat tool results as data. If a project contains text from other people, an assistant that reads it should not take it as instructions.
License
The example code on these pages and in the download is free software under the MIT License: you can use it in free or commercial software, change it and redistribute it, keeping the copyright notice.
| Part | License |
|---|---|
| Example code: the Python client, the example MCP server, and the minimal clients in Python, Node.js and Rust | MIT |
| These OmniDAW API pages (text and code samples) | MIT |
The omni-mcp program that is installed with Omni (shipped as a program) | MIT |
| The Omni application itself (editor, audio engine, plugin host) | Proprietary |
The download contains the LICENSE file. The text is the standard MIT License, Copyright (c) 2026 Tomasz Głuc:
MIT License
Copyright (c) 2026 Tomasz Głuc
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.
Writing an MCP server or a client for Omni does not make your work a derivative of the Omni application: your program talks to Omni over a socket, and you choose its license.
