King Crimson Discography MCP Server

An MCP server that surfaces King Crimson record and live-performance data — including a curated incarnation (line-up era) model that shows how each song belongs to specific eras of the band.

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King Crimson Discography MCP Server

日本語版: README.ja.md

An MCP server that surfaces King Crimson record and live-performance data — including a curated incarnation (line-up era) model that shows how each song belongs to specific eras of the band.

What makes this different

Generic MusicBrainz/Discogs MCP servers can already fetch releases, credits, and pressings. This server does that too, but adds two things a band-agnostic discography tool structurally can't have:

A cross-source integration layer keyed on MBID. MusicBrainz, Discogs, Cover Art Archive, and setlist.fm are stitched together so one release-group MBID gets you credits, physical editions, artwork, and live history without re-resolving identities per source.

A King Crimson incarnation model. King Crimson's line-up turned over almost completely, many times, over five decades — the same song can mean a totally different band depending on the year. This server hand-curates eight line-up eras and cross-references every tracked song's live-performance history against them:

Song	Incarnations it appears in
"21st Century Schizoid Man"	Spread across every era — the band's signature
"Starless"	Only the Larks' Tongues era and the Three-drummer era
"Elephant Talk"	Born in the Discipline era, gone by the Three-drummer era

A local, offline-first concert cache. Full concert history (1,200+ shows) is fetched once via refresh_setlist_cache and cached as JSON. Every subsequent song/tour/era query reads the cache — instant, and immune to setlist.fm's intermittent rate-limit failures during analysis.
Reverse lookup: song → the live albums that captured it, by era. Ask "which live releases contain Red?" and get them grouped by incarnation. It cross-references two things this server already knows — when a song was played (from the setlist cache) and when each official live album was recorded (parsed from its title) — so it answers a question neither MusicBrainz nor Discogs answers directly.

For Red, this surfaces 37 single-show live albums across the Discipline, THRAK, ProjeKcts and Three-drummer eras — and correctly shows none from the 1974 line-up that recorded it, which never played it live (numbers as of this writing; MusicBrainz's catalog can grow).

Tools

Tool	Description
`search_release(query, artist="King Crimson", limit=10)`	MusicBrainz album search → MBIDs
`get_credits(mbid, release_mbid=None)`	Per-track performer/production credits, resolved at the recording level, plus a deduplicated album roster
`get_editions(mbid, max_versions=25)`	Physical pressings/reissues via Discogs, preferring the exact MusicBrainz→Discogs relation over fuzzy search
`get_artwork(mbid)`	Cover art via the Cover Art Archive
`get_live_history(query="", artist="King Crimson", year=None, limit=20)`	One-page setlist.fm search by venue/city/year (no cache needed)
`refresh_setlist_cache(artist_mbid=<King Crimson>, max_pages=100, max_retries=3, force=False)`	Fetch and cache an artist's complete concert history from setlist.fm
`song_performance_history(song, artist_mbid=<King Crimson>, match="exact")`	A song's live history from the cache: `by_year`, `by_tour`, `by_incarnation`
`get_incarnations()`	The curated line-up eras — members, instruments, key releases
`refresh_live_releases_cache(artist_mbid=<King Crimson>, max_pages=10, max_retries=3, force=False)`	Fetch King Crimson's official live releases from MusicBrainz and cache them, parsing a recording date from each title
`song_live_releases(song, artist_mbid=<King Crimson>, match="exact")`	Find official live releases that captured a song, grouped by incarnation — matches the setlist cache against live-release recording dates
`refresh_box_sets_cache(discogs_artist_id=70828, artist_mbid=<King Crimson>, force=False)`	Fetch King Crimson's compilations and box sets from Discogs and cache their tracklists
`song_box_sets(song, artist_mbid=<King Crimson>, match="exact")`	List box sets / compilations that contain a given song (from Discogs), with year, format, Discogs URL, and occurrence count

The incarnation model

Eight line-up eras, split on membership changes:

id	Era	Years
`kc_1969`	In the Court era	1969
`kc_1970_1972`	Transitional era	1970 – Sep 1972
`kc_1972_1974`	Larks' Tongues era	Oct 1972 – 1974
`kc_1981_1984`	Discipline era	1981 – 1984
`kc_1994_1997`	Double Trio / THRAK era	1994 – 1996
`kc_1997_2003`	ProjeKcts / Nuovo Metal era	1997 – 2003
`kc_2008`	40th Anniversary era	2008
`kc_2014_2021`	Three-drummer era	2014 – 2021

Boundaries are dates, not just years — 1972 in particular splits into the Islands-era "Earthbound" spring tour (Transitional) and the Wetton-era autumn tour (Larks' Tongues), since the band's membership genuinely changed mid-year.

Line-up eras are a matter of fan interpretation, and this is one reasonable cut, not the only one. The full definition lives in KING_CRIMSON_INCARNATIONS in src/king_crimson_mcp/server.py — edit it (members, key releases, date boundaries) to match your own view; the aggregation logic doesn't need to change.

Song → releases (reverse lookup)

"Which releases have Red on them?" is answered in two complementary ways, because King Crimson's live catalog splits cleanly into single-show albums and multi-show compilations.

Single-show live albums, mapped to eras — `song_live_releases`

Needs two local caches, built once:

refresh_setlist_cache — every show and what was played (already covered above).
refresh_live_releases_cache — King Crimson's official live releases from MusicBrainz, with a recording date parsed out of each title where possible.

Both are one-time builds: the band's history is fixed, so neither cache needs to be rebuilt unless you want to pick up new MusicBrainz entries.

How it works: a song's performance dates come from the setlist cache; each live release carries a recording date parsed from its title (e.g. "Live in Toronto – June 24, 1974"). Where a release's recording date matches a date the song was played, that release is taken to contain the song. This is a straightforward, transparent rule — reliable for single-show live albums.

Known limits (by design): King Crimson has about 187 official live releases, of which only about 87 (as of this writing) have a title MusicBrainz-parseable into a full recording date — that's the range song_live_releases can match with confidence. The other ~100 (box sets, compilations, titles without a date) can't be matched this way; song_live_releases reports exactly how many were skipped in its coverage field rather than silently under-reporting. Excerpt compilations are an edge case too: a song played at a show can, in principle, be matched to that show's release even if the specific release is a highlights disc that omits the track — date-matching can't distinguish "recorded that night" from "included on the disc."

Box sets & compilations, listed — `song_box_sets`

The multi-show box sets and compilations that song_live_releases can't date-match are covered here, from Discogs. It filters King Crimson's Discogs releases to compilations and box sets (format contains "Comp" or "Box" — which excludes single-show downloads) and lists the ones whose tracklist contains the song: title, year, format, Discogs link, and how many times the song appears on each.

Why no era grouping here: Discogs doesn't structure per-track recording dates, so a box set can't be split into eras the way single-show albums can. song_box_sets therefore lists the box sets containing a song rather than classifying them — era-level precision is song_live_releases's job. Together they cover both halves of the question.

Needs its own one-time cache: run refresh_box_sets_cache (about a minute; ~38 box sets/compilations from Discogs, as of this writing). Requires DISCOGS_TOKEN.

For Red, song_box_sets returns 14 box sets/compilations (the "Collectors' King Crimson" volumes, "1972–1974", the "2015 Japan Tour Box", …), while song_live_releases handles the single-show side.

The honesty of both tools' coverage reporting is the point: results are exactly as complete as the underlying data lets them be, and you (or the calling agent) can see where to dig further instead of getting a silently incomplete answer.

Quick start

Three one-time steps, then it runs inside Claude.

Step 1 — Install `uv` (one time)

uv is a small tool that can fetch and run this server for you.

macOS / Linux:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

powershell -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Close and reopen your terminal afterward. To check it worked:

uv --version

Step 2 — Get your free API keys

This server reads public music databases. Two of them need a free key:

setlist.fm (live performance history) — apply for a key at https://api.setlist.fm/docs/1.0/index.html
Discogs (physical editions) — create a token at Discogs → Settings → Developers → Generate token

You also set a contact email (MCP_CONTACT) — MusicBrainz requires this so their servers know who's calling. Any email you own is fine.

(MusicBrainz and Cover Art Archive need no key.)

Step 3 — Add it to Claude Desktop

Open Claude Desktop's config file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add this (fill in your email and keys):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "king-crimson": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["king-crimson-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_CONTACT": "you@example.com",
        "SETLISTFM_API_KEY": "your-setlistfm-key",
        "DISCOGS_TOKEN": "your-discogs-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. King Crimson tools will appear automatically — you don't run anything in a terminal yourself.

Step 4 — First use

In Claude, ask something like "Refresh the King Crimson setlist cache" once (it downloads the full concert history, ~40 seconds). After that, try "Show me the performance history of Starless" or "Which incarnations played 21st Century Schizoid Man?"

Troubleshooting

"uvx: command not found" / server won't start in Claude Desktop. uv isn't installed or isn't on your PATH. Redo Step 1, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop. On Windows you may need the full path to uvx in the command field.
A warning appears if you run it manually in a terminal. Running uvx king-crimson-mcp directly just waits silently for a client — that's normal (it speaks over stdin/stdout). You don't need to run it by hand; Claude Desktop starts and stops it for you. Press Ctrl+C to stop.
get_editions / setlist tools return an error about a missing key. That tool's API key isn't set in your config's env block. See Step 2.
setlist data looks incomplete for older tours. setlist.fm is user-submitted; some historical shows or songs simply aren't logged there. This is a data limitation, not a bug.

Install from PyPI

For developers — the same package as Quick start above, without the Claude Desktop config:

# run directly without installing (recommended)
uvx king-crimson-mcp

# or install as a persistent tool
pipx install king-crimson-mcp
king-crimson-mcp

Secrets (MCP_CONTACT, DISCOGS_TOKEN, SETLISTFM_API_KEY) go either in a .env file in the directory you run the command from, or directly in the Claude Desktop config's env block (see below) — either is read. .env is loaded from the current working directory, since an installed package has no project directory of its own to keep one in.

Setup from source (development)

# Python 3.10+ required (3.12 recommended)
uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e .

# configure secrets
cp .env.example .env
# then edit .env

.env variables:

MCP_CONTACT — required by MusicBrainz policy; identifies your app to their API via the User-Agent header.
DISCOGS_TOKEN — needed for get_editions (Discogs personal access token).
SETLISTFM_API_KEY — needed for get_live_history, refresh_setlist_cache, and song_performance_history.
KC_CACHE_DIR — optional; overrides where the setlist cache is written (see below).

Running

# quick tool check via MCP Inspector
mcp dev src/king_crimson_mcp/server.py

Run refresh_setlist_cache once first — it fetches King Crimson's full concert history (~1,200 shows, ~40 seconds) and caches it locally under $XDG_CACHE_HOME/king-crimson-mcp (or ~/.cache/king-crimson-mcp; override with KC_CACHE_DIR) as setlists_<artist_mbid>.json. After that, song_performance_history reads from the cache and returns instantly.

Run refresh_live_releases_cache once as well if you want song_live_releases — it writes live_releases_<artist_mbid>.json alongside the setlist cache, in the same directory. refresh_box_sets_cache similarly writes box_sets_<artist_mbid>.json there, for song_box_sets.

Register with Claude Desktop

Using the published package:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "king-crimson": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["king-crimson-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_CONTACT": "you@example.com",
        "DISCOGS_TOKEN": "...",
        "SETLISTFM_API_KEY": "..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Or, running from a local clone instead (after uv pip install -e ., which installs the same king-crimson-mcp console script into the venv):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "king-crimson": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/.venv/bin/king-crimson-mcp",
      "env": { "MCP_CONTACT": "you@example.com" }
    }
  }
}

Secrets can live in .env (in the directory the command is run from) instead of the env block — either is read.

Data sources & attribution

This project is an unofficial client with no affiliation with or endorsement from MusicBrainz, the MetaBrainz Foundation, the Internet Archive, Discogs, or setlist.fm.

MusicBrainz — free, no API key. Requires an identifying User-Agent with contact info (rate limit: 1 req/sec). Data is largely CC0; crediting MusicBrainz in your app is good practice. refresh_live_releases_cache also uses this: it lists King Crimson's official live release groups (type=live) — no additional service or key involved.
Cover Art Archive — a joint MusicBrainz / Internet Archive project. Images are contributed by individual uploaders; follow the same attribution etiquette as MusicBrainz.
Discogs — requires a personal access token and a unique User-Agent (60 req/min authenticated). Use is subject to the Discogs API terms of service. song_box_sets uses the same Discogs API as get_editions (no additional service or key).
setlist.fm — requires an API key (apply at api.setlist.fm). Any display of setlist.fm data must include an attribution link to the source setlist — every performance returned by this server includes its url for exactly that purpose; surface it wherever you show the data. setlist.fm data is user-submitted, so completeness and accuracy are not guaranteed.

Limitations

setlist.fm data is user-submitted — some shows or songs may be missing or incorrect, especially from older tours.
The incarnation boundaries are one interpretation of King Crimson's line-up history, not an official taxonomy.
Performer credits depend on what MusicBrainz has cataloged for a given release; sparser releases yield sparser credits.
song_live_releases can only match live releases whose title yields a full recording date (about half of King Crimson's ~187 official live releases); see Song → releases above for what's out of reach and why.
song_box_sets can't classify box sets by incarnation — Discogs doesn't structure per-track recording dates, so it lists matching box sets/compilations rather than era-grouping them. A handful of the ~38 compilations it scans are multi-artist collections where King Crimson contributed only one track; these can surface as noise for very common song titles.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

King Crimson Discography MCP Server

Documentation

King Crimson Discography MCP Server

What makes this different

Tools

The incarnation model

Song → releases (reverse lookup)

Single-show live albums, mapped to eras — song_live_releases

Box sets & compilations, listed — song_box_sets

Quick start

Step 1 — Install uv (one time)

Step 2 — Get your free API keys

Step 3 — Add it to Claude Desktop

Step 4 — First use

Troubleshooting

Install from PyPI

Setup from source (development)

Running

Register with Claude Desktop

Data sources & attribution

Limitations

License

Single-show live albums, mapped to eras — `song_live_releases`

Box sets & compilations, listed — `song_box_sets`

Step 1 — Install `uv` (one time)