Symbia Labs
Open source

Ruse

Ruse is an open source framework for building audio effect plugins with an AI agent. Describe the sound you hear in your head. Your agent builds the plugin in Rust and packages it for Logic or any other Audio Unit or CLAP host. You never have to read the code.

Get started Examples Source on GitHub

Ruse is open source under the MIT license. Version 0.1.0 is a public beta for macOS.

Who it's for

Musicians

Describe a plugin in your own words, then load the result in Logic as an Audio Unit. Your agent assembles the DSP from tested blocks. You write no code.

Sound designers

Build the exact processor a sound needs, from a mono track up to 64 channels for surround and immersive work. Where the blocks stop, your agent writes custom DSP in safe Rust.

Plugin developers

Ship closed-source CLAP and Audio Unit plugins in memory-safe Rust, with no license fees. Ruse validates every build automatically, Apple's auval included.

A replacement for JUCE

JUCE has been the standard way to build audio plugins for twenty years. JUCE is written in C++ for a person writing code by hand, and comes under the AGPL or a commercial license from PACE.

Ruse is new code from the first line, with nothing forked or ported from JUCE or any other framework. Every Ruse plugin starts as a manifest, which lists its controls and its signal path. You and your agent edit that file together. Ruse writes the Rust.

Safe to load

A crashing plugin brings down the host's whole session. Ruse plugins use only safe Rust. The compiler then proves correct memory use, whether a person or an agent wrote the code. Before packaging, seven automated gates test for faults such as runaway output levels, allocation on the audio thread and sound that changes with the host's buffer size. A plugin that passes is safe to load even when nobody has read its source. Whether it sounds good is still for your ears to decide.

What's in it

MCP server

ruse-mcp gives your agent 12 tools to create, build, check, package and render plugins. Setup guides cover Claude Code, the Claude desktop app, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor and VS Code with GitHub Copilot.

DSP blocks

Nine blocks cover gain, filter, one-pole, shaper, dynamics, delay, tremolo, stereo and harmonic EQ.

Custom DSP

Your agent can write a plugin's DSP in Rust when the blocks don't cover a sound. Ruse refuses unsafe code in custom DSP, along with dependencies outside Ruse's own crates.

Seven gates

The gates cover channel layout, parameter descriptions, finite output at extreme settings, allocation, repeatable output, block-size independence and subnormal numbers. A failing gate reports what failed and where.

CLAP and Audio Unit

Ruse packages each plugin as CLAP and as an Audio Unit v2, and runs auval on the Audio Unit.

Examples

Ruse comes with a warm saturator, a bus compressor, a harmonic EQ and an 808 drum kit as examples. Ask your agent to load an example and change it. Six of our plugins are ready to download as finished, notarized builds on the examples page.

Get started

Ruse needs the stable Rust toolchain from rustup.rs. Clone the repository, install the MCP server, then create a workspace for your plugins.

git clone https://github.com/Symbia-Labs/ruse
cd ruse
cargo install --path crates/mcp
ruse-mcp new ~/my-plugins

Connect your agent with the steps in the getting-started guide. Then ask for a plugin, such as a tilt equalizer with one knob.

Requirements

  • A Mac. This release builds and packages plugins on macOS only.
  • The stable Rust toolchain.
  • An AI agent that connects over MCP.

Not built yet

  • VST3 and AUv3 packaging, and builds for Windows and Linux.
  • Generator blocks and instrument packaging.
  • Oversampling, reverb, convolution, spectral and pitch blocks, and meters.
  • Sample-accurate automation and per-channel parameters in graphs.
  • An editor window, and linked instances.

Questions

Open an issue on GitHub or write to hello@symbia-labs.com.