Magenta AU Template

Starting point for building Magenta RealTime AUv3 (and future VST) plugins on macOS. This repo recycles the proven patterns from jam-au3 and mrt2-au3:

• Two-bundle AUv3 layout (host app + embedded .appex)
• magentart::core inference via the magenta-realtime submodule
• React UI in a WKWebView with native IPC bridge
• Model loading with security-scoped bookmarks
• Production core overlays (MLX GPU mutex, bounce-safe ring-buffer drain)
• GitHub Actions CI + release packaging (.pkg + .dmg)

The template ships as a working Instrument (aumu) plugin named AudioHacking: Magenta AU Template. Fork or clone it, rename identifiers, customize the UI, and ship your own plugin.

Prerequisites

• macOS 14+
• Full Xcode (Metal compiler required)
• Node.js 20+
• Python 3.12 + uv

Quick start

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/audiohacking/magenta-au-template.git
cd magenta-au-template
uv venv --python 3.12 && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install "cmake<3.28"
cmake . -B build
cmake --build build --target deploy_magenta_au -j10

Open ~/Applications/Magenta AU Template (AU).app once to register the extension, then insert AudioHacking: Magenta AU Template as an Instrument in your DAW.

Models and shared resources live under ~/Documents/Magenta/magenta-rt-v2/ (same as Jam/MRT2 standalone).

See INSTALL.md for DAW setup, AGENTS.md for agent/developer bootstrap guide, and MODEL_LOADING.md for sandbox model/resource path behavior.

Dev UI (HMR)

npm install
npm run dev --workspace=jam-ui   # Vite on port 62422

Rebuild the AU extension; when the dev server is running, the plugin UI loads from localhost with hot reload.

Creating a new plugin from this template

1. Use GitHub → Use this template or clone and rename the repo.
2. Run ./scripts/bootstrap-plugin.sh (see AGENTS.md §3) to replace bundle IDs, AU subtype, display names, and state prefixes.
3. Customize MagentaAU_AudioUnit.mm / MagentaAU_ViewController.mm and UI overlays in ui-patches/.
4. Update Info.plist.in AU component name/description.

Reference plugins

Repo	Mode	Notes
jam-au3	Instrument	Simpler Jam UI; primary reference for this template
mrt2-au3	Instrument + FX	Sidechain capture, extended params — see AGENTS.md for FX porting

License

Apache 2.0 (Magenta components). See upstream magenta-realtime.