Push Hack is an unofficial extensible hack framework for Ableton Push 3 Standalone. It started as an experiment and it quickly evolved into something bigger than expected but it is still a prototype more than a finished product. While it works, it's not intended for everyday or production use, especially in professional contexts and environments.
If you have a Push 2 or a Push 3 Tethered please see this project.
This project is inspired by the work done for Ableton Move in the Move Anything and Schwung.
- 📕 Read the Manual
- 🛟 Would you like to contribute to the project?
- 💬 Join the Discord Community to discuss this project.
- 🎥 Watch the demo video on YouTube
Warning
This project is NOT approved, endorsed or supported by Ableton. Use at your own risk. Back up important sets, files and samples before installing the hack and familiarize yourself with the official recovery methods for Push 3 Standalone in case you need to restore your device.
Caution
Push Hack must be uninstalled an reinstalled manually after any Push's software update. Because of that, make sure that your Push is on the latest version available before installing the hack for the first time. You can read more about this in the manual.
This video is not up to date with the latest developments. However, it can still be used as a reference to understand the capabilities of Push Hack.
This project and much of its codebase were generated by coding agents, mainly Claude Code, under human supervision. If that makes you uneasy or you're not on board with that approach, no worries at all. Either way, thanks a lot for taking the time to check this project.
Push Hack only works on Push 3 Standalone because it installs additional software on top of what's already available on Push. It doesn't replace, overwrite or change any original functionalities.
This hack can't interact directly with what's happening inside Live on Push (unless via Remote Scripts, as explained below), so I had to come up with a series of workarounds:
- Create virtual MIDI I/O ports to send and receive MIDI messages from and to Live on Push. This is required, for example, to take over all the controls (knobs, buttons, LEDs). Some modules might require the user to route MIDI messages inside Push's MIDI Preferences pane.
- Create virtual audio soundcard to send and receive audio from and to Live on Push. This is required, for example, if you want to run a standalone sound module. Users then need to activate the virtual sound card in Push's audio preferences and then route the audio on Push's audio tracks/mixer.
- Use remote scripts to interact with Live on Push for example to load presets on the selected track. The limit is what is available on the Remote Script (Python) Live API.
- From an UI perspective there are two options: run a WebUI and access everything from another device via push.local or implement a custom made ShadowUI if you want all the controls to be accessible on Push's directly.
push-managerandpush-catalogfor example, use both options.
The main component is the core library: a shared Go module that can be used and referenced by any additional modules.
There are three required base modules:
- Push Manager: it's the main component of the hack. It looks like a mobile-friendly web app inspired by Move Manager but under the hood it does many different things (see below for all the details)
- Push Display: this module is required to fully control the screen and be able to draw on it.
- Push Catalog: an on-device installer for modules made by the community.
To install and uninstall Push Hack on your Push 3 Standalone you have two options:
- Use the new cross-platform Push Hack Installer
- Use the included scrips. See docs/scripts.md for every flag and standalone
push-displayre-deploy.
See docs/adding-a-hack.md for the full walkthrough — folder layout, hack.json/Makefile examples, port rules, and the core/ shared library.
docs/ = architecture, API, and Push hardware/OS references; each hack documents itself in its folder README.
Framework and API (docs/):
docs/architecture.md— deploy framework, hack structure,core/shared library, per-hack file layoutdocs/api-reference.md— HTTP routes, the RemotePanel contract, the push-display shared-memory protocoldocs/scripts.md— every flag fordiscover.sh,install.sh,uninstall.sh, andhacks/push-display/deploy.shdocs/adding-a-hack.md— full walkthrough for a new hack: folder layout,hack.json/Makefileexamples, port rules,core/shared library
Push hardware / OS (docs/):
docs/push3-internals.md— OS, filesystem, XMOS USB protocol, display, MIDI routingdocs/push3-button-map.md— Push 3 button/encoder MIDI mapdocs/push3-led-colors.md— full 128-entry LED color palettedocs/push3-assets.md— Push UI image assets (/api/assets/<path>)
Shared library:
core/README.md— package-by-package guide to the shared Go module (push3, gfx, display, httpx, hackcfg, sse, pmclient, alsaseq)
Per-hack (folder README):
hacks/push-manager/README.md— full API reference, features, display control, MIDI monitorhacks/push-display/README.md— LD_PRELOAD display/MIDI hook, shared-memory layout, build/deployhacks/push-catalog/README.md— on-device installer API, how the catalog install flow works
Catalog (catalog/): catalog/ARCHITECTURE.md, catalog/schema.md, catalog/PUBLISHING.md — the push-catalog model and how to publish a hack into it
MIT - See LICENSE