Cochlea: MCP server, setup and security

What Cochlea does

According to its repository: “Offline, deterministic audio engine: compose scores as data, render WAV or FLAC, report loudness, pitch, tempo and key, generate spectrograms and diff renders.”

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard plug between an AI agent and an outside service: once the server is connected, its tools show up in the agent, which decides when to call them. Cochlea is listed under Image, video and audio, a category of 67 servers in the directory, where it ranks #50 by stars.

Topics declared by the repository: agent-tools, ai-agents, audio, audio-analysis, deterministic, dsp.

Installing and connecting Cochlea

Distribution modes declared in the official MCP registry:

• MCPB bundle (one-click install in Claude Desktop)

It works with any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and most recent agents). You add one entry to the client's MCP configuration: server name, start command or URL, environment variables. Project language: Rust. Listed systems: macOS, Windows, Linux.

Security: what to check

Connecting an MCP server means installing software that talks straight to your agent: it runs with your rights and the model trusts its tool descriptions. The risk therefore depends on what it can touch and how far its code can be trusted.

None of the risk signals we track (system access, secrets, missing licence, abandonment) applies to Cochlea. That does not replace reading the code.

Good practice: grant only the rights needed (least privilege), require human approval for irreversible actions, and run the AI agent security check.

Project activity and maintenance

Created on July 3, 2026, the richer-richard/cochlea repository has 15 stars and 2 forks, with 0 open issues. It has more stars than 33% of the servers in the directory. Last change 1 month ago. Version published in the registry: 0.7.0 (August 13, 2026).

Stars measure attention, not quality: a recent, heavily promoted project can collect them fast, while a useful but niche server will have few.