Generate music

Create AI music with optional lyrics or instrumental output via Pollinations.

Generate original music locally through Arka using the Pollinations elevenmusic model. Output defaults to ~/Music/arka-generated/ (override with MUSIC_OUTPUT_DIR).

Setup

# .env
POLLINATIONS_API_KEY=pk_...

Get a key at enter.pollinations.ai.

Examples

arka “Instrumental track:”

arka generate music upbeat lo-fi hip hop --instrumental
arka generate music cinematic orchestral -d 45

With lyrics:

arka generate music indie folk --lyrics "Verse one...
arka "Chorus line...""
arka generate music pop ballad --lyrics-file lyrics.txt

arka “Prompt-only (model may add vocals from the style description):“

arka generate music summer dance pop about sunrise
arka generate_music "jazz piano lounge" -o ~/Music/demo.mp3

Flags

Flag	Description
--lyrics "…"	Lyrics to sing
--lyrics-file path	Read lyrics from a file
--instrumental	No vocals
-d / --duration	Length in seconds (3–300, default 30)
-o / --output	Output .mp3 path
-m / --model	Pollinations model (elevenmusic default)

Natural language

These phrases route automatically:

arka "generate music calm piano instrumental"
arka "compose a song about coding with lyrics: build, test, ship"
arka route "create a lo-fi beat"

Environment

arka “Variable”	arka “Default”	arka “Purpose”
POLLINATIONS_API_KEY	—	arka “Required API key”
MUSIC_DURATION	30	arka “Default duration”
MUSIC_MODEL	elevenmusic	arka “Pollinations audio model”
MUSIC_OUTPUT_DIR	~/Music/arka-generated	arka “Save location”
OPEN_MUSIC	1	Open file after generation (0 to disable)

Related

• MCP integration — call arka_music_generate from Cursor or Claude
• Browser video capture — walkthrough recordings
• Meme templates — local image memes

MCP (Cursor / Claude)

From Cursor chat, ask the agent to call arka_music_generate:

{
  "action": "generate",
  "prompt": "upbeat lo-fi hip hop",
  "instrumental": true,
  "duration": 30
}

To start from an existing song, fetch and translate lyrics first with arka_fetch_lyrics, then generate:

{
  "action": "translate",
  "artist": "Queen",
  "title": "Bohemian Rhapsody",
  "target": "hindi",
  "generate": true,
  "style": "hindi pop ballad"
}

Parse natural language first:

{ "action": "parse", "text": "create an instrumental cinematic track for 45 seconds" }

Check backend setup:

{ "action": "check" }

Terminal equivalent:

arka mcp call arka arka_music_generate --args '{"action":"generate","prompt":"jazz piano","instrumental":true}'
arka mcp call arka arka_music_generate --args '{"action":"parse","text":"compose a song about summer"}'