Music Generation

Music Generation

The music_generate tool lets the agent create music or audio through the shared music-generation capability with configured providers such as Google, MiniMax, and workflow-configured ComfyUI.

For shared provider-backed agent sessions, OpenClaw starts music generation as a background task, tracks it in the task ledger, then wakes the agent again when the track is ready so the agent can post the finished audio back into the original channel.

Note

The built-in shared tool only appears when at least one music-generation provider is available. If you don’t see music_generate in your agent’s tools, configure agents.defaults.musicGenerationModel or set up a provider API key.

Quick start

Shared provider-backed generation

1. Set an API key for at least one provider, for example GEMINI_API_KEY or MINIMAX_API_KEY.
2. Optionally set your preferred model:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      musicGenerationModel: {
        primary: "google/lyria-3-clip-preview",
      },
    },
  },
}

3. Ask the agent: “Generate an upbeat synthpop track about a night drive through a neon city.”

The agent calls music_generate automatically. No tool allow-listing needed.

For direct synchronous contexts without a session-backed agent run, the built-in tool still falls back to inline generation and returns the final media path in the tool result.

Example prompts:

Generate a cinematic piano track with soft strings and no vocals.

Generate an energetic chiptune loop about launching a rocket at sunrise.

Workflow-driven Comfy generation

The bundled comfy plugin plugs into the shared music_generate tool through the music-generation provider registry.

1. Configure models.providers.comfy.music with a workflow JSON and prompt/output nodes.
2. If you use Comfy Cloud, set COMFY_API_KEY or COMFY_CLOUD_API_KEY.
3. Ask the agent for music or call the tool directly.

Example:

/tool music_generate prompt="Warm ambient synth loop with soft tape texture"

Shared bundled provider support

Provider	Default model	Reference inputs	Supported controls	API key
ComfyUI	workflow	Up to 1 image	Workflow-defined music or audio	COMFY_API_KEY, COMFY_CLOUD_API_KEY
Google	lyria-3-clip-preview	Up to 10 images	lyrics, instrumental, format	GEMINI_API_KEY, GOOGLE_API_KEY
MiniMax	music-2.5+	None	lyrics, instrumental, durationSeconds, format=mp3	MINIMAX_API_KEY

Declared capability matrix

This is the explicit mode contract used by music_generate, contract tests, and the shared live sweep.

Provider	generate	edit	Edit limit	Shared live lanes
ComfyUI	Yes	Yes	1 image	Not in the shared sweep; covered by extensions/comfy/comfy.live.test.ts
Google	Yes	Yes	10 images	generate, edit
MiniMax	Yes	No	None	generate

Use action: "list" to inspect available shared providers and models at runtime:

/tool music_generate action=list

Use action: "status" to inspect the active session-backed music task:

/tool music_generate action=status

Direct generation example:

/tool music_generate prompt="Dreamy lo-fi hip hop with vinyl texture and gentle rain" instrumental=true

Built-in tool parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
prompt	string	Music generation prompt (required for action: "generate")
action	string	"generate" (default), "status" for the current session task, or "list" to inspect providers
model	string	Provider/model override, e.g. google/lyria-3-pro-preview or comfy/workflow
lyrics	string	Optional lyrics when the provider supports explicit lyric input
instrumental	boolean	Request instrumental-only output when the provider supports it
image	string	Single reference image path or URL
images	string[]	Multiple reference images (up to 10)
durationSeconds	number	Target duration in seconds when the provider supports duration hints
format	string	Output format hint (mp3 or wav) when the provider supports it
filename	string	Output filename hint

Not all providers support all parameters. OpenClaw still validates hard limits such as input counts before submission. When a provider supports duration but uses a shorter maximum than the requested value, OpenClaw automatically clamps to the closest supported duration. Truly unsupported optional hints are ignored with a warning when the selected provider or model cannot honor them.

Tool results report the applied settings. When OpenClaw clamps duration during provider fallback, the returned durationSeconds reflects the submitted value and details.normalization.durationSeconds shows the requested-to-applied mapping.

Async behavior for the shared provider-backed path

• Session-backed agent runs: music_generate creates a background task, returns a started/task response immediately, and posts the finished track later in a follow-up agent message.
• Duplicate prevention: while that background task is still queued or running, later music_generate calls in the same session return task status instead of starting another generation.
• Status lookup: use action: "status" to inspect the active session-backed music task without starting a new one.
• Task tracking: use openclaw tasks list or openclaw tasks show <taskId> to inspect queued, running, and terminal status for the generation.
• Completion wake: OpenClaw injects an internal completion event back into the same session so the model can write the user-facing follow-up itself.
• Prompt hint: later user/manual turns in the same session get a small runtime hint when a music task is already in flight so the model does not blindly call music_generate again.
• No-session fallback: direct/local contexts without a real agent session still run inline and return the final audio result in the same turn.

Task lifecycle

Each music_generate request moves through four states:

1. queued — task created, waiting for the provider to accept it.
2. running — provider is processing (typically 30 seconds to 3 minutes depending on provider and duration).
3. succeeded — track ready; the agent wakes and posts it to the conversation.
4. failed — provider error or timeout; the agent wakes with error details.

Check status from the CLI:

openclaw tasks list
openclaw tasks show <taskId>
openclaw tasks cancel <taskId>

Duplicate prevention: if a music task is already queued or running for the current session, music_generate returns the existing task status instead of starting a new one. Use action: "status" to check explicitly without triggering a new generation.

Configuration

Model selection

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      musicGenerationModel: {
        primary: "google/lyria-3-clip-preview",
        fallbacks: ["minimax/music-2.5+"],
      },
    },
  },
}

Provider selection order

When generating music, OpenClaw tries providers in this order:

1. model parameter from the tool call, if the agent specifies one
2. musicGenerationModel.primary from config
3. musicGenerationModel.fallbacks in order
4. Auto-detection using auth-backed provider defaults only:
   • current default provider first
   • remaining registered music-generation providers in provider-id order

If a provider fails, the next candidate is tried automatically. If all fail, the error includes details from each attempt.

Set agents.defaults.mediaGenerationAutoProviderFallback: false if you want music generation to use only the explicit model, primary, and fallbacks entries.

Provider notes

• Google uses Lyria 3 batch generation. The current bundled flow supports prompt, optional lyrics text, and optional reference images.
• MiniMax uses the batch music_generation endpoint. The current bundled flow supports prompt, optional lyrics, instrumental mode, duration steering, and mp3 output.
• ComfyUI support is workflow-driven and depends on the configured graph plus node mapping for prompt/output fields.

Provider capability modes

The shared music-generation contract now supports explicit mode declarations:

• generate for prompt-only generation
• edit when the request includes one or more reference images

New provider implementations should prefer explicit mode blocks:

capabilities: {
  generate: {
    maxTracks: 1,
    supportsLyrics: true,
    supportsFormat: true,
  },
  edit: {
    enabled: true,
    maxTracks: 1,
    maxInputImages: 1,
    supportsFormat: true,
  },
}

Legacy flat fields such as maxInputImages, supportsLyrics, and supportsFormat are not enough to advertise edit support. Providers should declare generate and edit explicitly so live tests, contract tests, and the shared music_generate tool can validate mode support deterministically.

Choosing the right path

• Use the shared provider-backed path when you want model selection, provider failover, and the built-in async task/status flow.
• Use a plugin path such as ComfyUI when you need a custom workflow graph or a provider that is not part of the shared bundled music capability.
• If you are debugging ComfyUI-specific behavior, see ComfyUI. If you are debugging shared provider behavior, start with Google (Gemini) or MiniMax.

Live tests

Opt-in live coverage for the shared bundled providers:

OPENCLAW_LIVE_TEST=1 pnpm test:live -- extensions/music-generation-providers.live.test.ts

Repo wrapper:

pnpm test:live:media music

This live file loads missing provider env vars from ~/.profile, prefers live/env API keys ahead of stored auth profiles by default, and runs both generate and declared edit coverage when the provider enables edit mode.

Today that means:

• google: generate plus edit
• minimax: generate only
• comfy: separate Comfy live coverage, not the shared provider sweep

Opt-in live coverage for the bundled ComfyUI music path:

OPENCLAW_LIVE_TEST=1 COMFY_LIVE_TEST=1 pnpm test:live -- extensions/comfy/comfy.live.test.ts

The Comfy live file also covers comfy image and video workflows when those sections are configured.

Related

• Background Tasks - task tracking for detached music_generate runs
• Configuration Reference - musicGenerationModel config
• ComfyUI
• Google (Gemini)
• MiniMax
• Models - model configuration and failover
• Tools Overview