Imploded Software

AI assistant

Helium has an AI assistant that lets you work with your music library in plain language instead of menus and dialogs: ask questions about your collection, build playlists, clean up tags, and let Helium calculate missing Temperature, BPM and initial key values.

You can use the assistant in two ways:

• Built-in assistant. Chat directly inside Helium, in the Assistant tab in the right sidebar. You connect your own AI provider account (Anthropic, OpenAI or Google) and pay the provider for what you use.
• External AI clients. Connect an AI assistant you already use, such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop, to Helium.

Both use the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard for connecting AI assistants to applications. Helium runs a small MCP server on your computer. The assistant talks to that server, and Helium does the actual work using the same functions you use in the app. The built-in assistant and external clients use exactly the same tools and the same approval dialogs.

This is a Premium feature.

What you can do

Some examples of what you can ask:

• "How many tracks do I have, and what are my top genres?"
• "Create a two-hour playlist of 80s synthpop and new wave."
• "Create a playlist called 'Favourites 2026' with all my favourite tracks."
• "Which tracks in D:\Music\Psytrance are missing temperature or BPM? Calculate them."
• "How many energetic tracks do I have?"
• "List my genres and point out any that are spelled inconsistently. Then fix them."
• "Find all Depeche Mode tracks without a release year and fill in the correct year."

Helium's assistant tools can:

Your data and safety

• Nothing changes without your approval. Before any tags are written to your files, the assistant first shows a preview of the changes (current value and new value). When the assistant applies the changes, Helium shows a confirmation dialog listing every change. Nothing is written until you click Apply. If you don't answer within five minutes, the changes are rejected.
• Audio analysis asks first too. Before Helium analyses your tracks, it asks you to confirm. The analysis only fills in missing values unless you specifically ask it to recalculate Temperature. BPM and key values you already have are never overwritten.
• The assistant can only use Helium's tools. It works with your library through Helium. It cannot read other files or run other programs on your computer. This also applies when the built-in assistant runs through your installed Claude Code or Codex.
• Your library data goes to your AI provider. The information the assistant reads (for example track titles and tags) is sent to the AI provider you use, just like anything else you type in a chat. Helium sends it directly to that provider, never through Imploded's servers.
• Your API key stays safe. API keys for the built-in assistant are stored encrypted for your Windows user account and are only sent to the selected provider.
• Only your own computer can connect. The MCP server only accepts connections from the computer Helium runs on. Every connection must also include a secret access token.
• The assistant only works while Helium is running. Close Helium, and the assistant can no longer reach your library.

Requirements

• Helium with a Premium license.
• For the built-in assistant, one of:
  • An API key from Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT) or Google (Gemini). Usage is billed by the provider.
  • Claude Code installed and signed in. Usage counts against your Claude plan.
  • Codex installed and signed in. Usage counts against your ChatGPT plan.
• For external AI clients, an AI assistant that supports MCP servers over HTTP, for example:
  • Claude Code (works directly)
  • Claude Desktop (connects through a small helper called mcp-remote, which requires Node.js)
  • Other MCP-compatible assistants that can connect to a URL with a custom header

Settings

Open Options and select AI assistant in the Online group. The page has two sections: Built-in AI assistant and External AI clients.

Built-in AI assistant

AI provider

Choose Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT) or Google (Gemini).

Connection

For Anthropic and OpenAI you can choose how Helium connects:

• Use an API key (usage is billed by the provider): Helium calls the provider directly with your API key.
• Use my installed Claude Code (Anthropic) or Use my installed Codex (OpenAI): Helium runs your own Claude Code or Codex in the background, with access to Helium's tools only. Usage counts against your Claude or ChatGPT plan. Helium never sees your sign-in.

Google (Gemini) always uses an API key.

API key

Shown when you use an API key. Paste your key and it is saved for the selected provider. Get an API key opens the provider's page where you create one, and Remove key deletes the saved key. The text below the box tells you whether a key is saved.

Claude Code / Codex

Shown when you use your installed Claude Code or Codex. Helium shows whether it found the program. If it isn't found:

• Claude Code: install it from claude.com/code and sign in once from a terminal.
• Codex: install it with npm i -g @openai/codex and sign in once with codex login in a terminal.

Model

The AI model the assistant uses. The first model in the list is the default. Larger models give better answers, and smaller models are faster and cheaper. With Claude Code or Codex, Claude Code default or Codex default uses the model you have selected in that program.

Test connection

Checks that Helium can reach the provider with your settings.

Using the built-in assistant

Open the Assistant tab in the right sidebar. If you don't see it, check the sidebar tabs in Options → Visual.

• Type your question and press Enter to send it. Use Shift+Enter for a new line.
• The answer appears while it is being written. Lists, tables and links are formatted.
• When the assistant uses a Helium tool, a small line shows the tool name and whether it succeeded.
• Click Stop to cancel an answer that is in progress.
• Click New chat to start over with a fresh conversation.
• Click the Chat history (clock) icon to open an earlier chat and continue where you left off, or to delete chats. Helium saves your chats automatically and keeps the 50 most recent.

You don't need to start the MCP server yourself. Helium starts it automatically when you begin a chat.

External AI clients

Start server / Stop server

Starts or stops the MCP server immediately. The status next to the buttons shows whether the server is running and on which address.

Start the MCP server automatically when Helium starts

When enabled, the server starts every time you start Helium. You can still start and stop it manually with the buttons.

Port

The port the server listens on. The default is 3035. Change it only if another application already uses that port. If you change the port, you need to connect your AI assistant again.

Server address

The address your AI assistant connects to, for example http://127.0.0.1:3035/mcp.

Access token

The secret key your AI assistant uses to connect. Use Copy to copy it, or New token to create a new one. If you create a new token, previously connected assistants stop working until you connect them again.

Connect an AI client

• Copy Claude Code command copies a ready-to-run command that connects Claude Code to Helium.
• Copy Claude Desktop config copies a configuration snippet for Claude Desktop.

Connecting Claude Code

1. Start the server in Helium (see above).

2. Click Copy Claude Code command.

3. Paste the command into a terminal (PowerShell, Windows Terminal or Command Prompt) and press Enter. Paste it once. If the command appears twice on the same line, Claude Code reports an "Invalid header format" error.

   The command looks like this:

   claude mcp add --transport http --scope user helium http://127.0.0.1:3035/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <your token>"
   

4. Check the connection:

   claude mcp list
   

   helium should be listed as connected.

5. Start Claude Code and type /mcp to see the Helium tools, or just ask a question about your music library.

Thanks to --scope user, Helium is available in Claude Code no matter which folder you start it from.

Connecting Claude Desktop

1. Install Node.js if you don't already have it.
2. Start the server in Helium and click Copy Claude Desktop config.
3. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Developer → Edit Config. This opens claude_desktop_config.json.
4. Paste the copied configuration. If the file already contains other servers, add the helium entry inside the existing mcpServers section.
5. Save the file and restart Claude Desktop.

Sample conversations

These work the same in the built-in assistant and in external clients.

Library statistics

You: Give me an overview of my Helium library.

Assistant: You have 48,212 tracks by 6,904 artists on 5,318 albums, about 3,410 hours of music. Your top genres are Psytrance, Techno and Synthpop…

Creating a playlist

You: Create a playlist called "Friday warm-up" with around 90 minutes of groovy or uptempo house tracks from 2015 onwards, rated at least 4 stars.

Assistant: I've created "Friday warm-up" with 21 tracks (1 h 32 min).

The playlist appears in Helium's playlist view right away.

Favourites

You: How many favourite tracks do I have?

Assistant: You have 404 favourite tracks.

Favourites are personal. The assistant always uses the favourites of the Helium user who is currently logged in.

Fixing tags, with preview and approval

You: Find Depeche Mode tracks without a release year and fill in the correct years.

Assistant: I found 12 tracks without a year. Here is what I would change: "Enjoy the Silence": 0 → 1990, "Personal Jesus": 0 → 1989 … Shall I apply these changes?

You: Yes.

Helium now shows a dialog listing all 12 changes. Click Apply to write them to your files, or Reject to cancel.

Calculating Temperature, BPM and key for a folder

You: Which tracks do I have in D:\Music\Psytrance\New?

Assistant: There are 83 tracks in that folder (including subfolders).

You: Calculate temperature, BPM and key for the ones that are missing them.

Helium asks you to confirm, for example "An AI assistant wants to analyze 57 track(s) (Temperature, BPM, Initial key)…". After you confirm, the analysis runs in the background. You can keep using Helium and ask the assistant "How is the analysis going?" at any time. Analysing a track takes a few seconds, and longer when BPM or key must be detected, because the whole file is read. You can ask the assistant to stop the analysis. Tracks already analysed keep their new values.

Temperature labels

Temperature is Helium's energy scale from 1 to 10. You can refer to it by number or by the label shown in Helium:

You: How many energetic tracks do I have in the Psytrance genre?

Built-in prompts (external clients)

Helium also provides ready-made prompts for common tasks in external clients. In Claude Code, type /mcp__helium to see them:

In the built-in assistant, just ask for the same thing in your own words.

Tips

• Be specific. "Tracks from 1985 to 1989 in the genre synthpop" gives better results than "old synth music".
• Ask for a preview. You can always ask the assistant to show what it will change before it does anything.
• Start small. Try a tag change on a few tracks first, and check the result in Helium's tag editor.
• Large searches. Search results list at most 200 tracks at a time, but the assistant always gets the total count, so questions like "how many…" are answered correctly.
• Start a new chat for a new task. Long conversations use more tokens. Click New chat when you move on to something else.

Troubleshooting

Built-in assistant

External AI clients

Both

Feedback

Your experience helps us shape this feature. Tell us what you use it for, what you miss, and anything that didn't work as expected, through the Helium support portal or at dev@imploded.com. Thank you for helping us make Helium better!