Safety & Trust

reklawdbox never writes to your Rekordbox database. That is an important, technically enforced boundary, but it does not mean the whole application is read-only: some tools write audio files, artwork, exports, backups, cache data, and configuration outside master.db.

Your database is read-only

reklawdbox opens your Rekordbox master.db through SQLCipher with SQLite’s read-only flag. It can read your tracks, playlists, and metadata, but no reklawdbox code path writes that database. Rekordbox applies the exported metadata only when you later import the XML.

It auto-detects your database at the standard Rekordbox location (~/Library/Pioneer/rekordbox/master.db). You can override this with the REKORDBOX_DB_PATH environment variable if needed.

Caution

Don’t open master.db in a generic SQLite browser — Rekordbox encrypts it. Without the right decryption support you’ll see garbage data or risk corruption.

Know which layer you are changing

Layer	Boundary	Writes outside master.db?	Control point
Rekordbox database	Opened read-only; reklawdbox has no database write path	No	Technically enforced
Staged Rekordbox metadata	update_tracks keeps genre, comments, rating, color, label, year, and album changes in memory	No	Review with preview_changes; discard with clear_changes
XML export and backup	write_xml runs the configured backup step and creates an XML file for manual Rekordbox import	Yes	Review the staged diff and XML before importing it
Audio tags	write_file_tags edits tags in the target audio files; dry_run=true previews, while the default writes	Yes	Preview first and authorize the write deliberately
Artwork extraction	extract_cover_art creates an image file on disk	Yes	Choose and review the output path
Artwork embedding	embed_cover_art changes the target audio files	Yes	Authorize the targets deliberately; there is no universal preview or rollback layer
Local application state	Enrichment, analysis, audit state, calibration data, and presets persist in a separate SQLite store	Yes	Treat the internal store as application data, not as master.db
Setup and configuration	Setup can install analysis support and update MCP host or broker configuration	Yes	Review the paths and host configuration being changed

Staged Rekordbox metadata disappears when the server process ends unless it has been exported. Cache and workflow state are intentionally persistent, and backup archives and XML exports are ordinary files on disk.

See XML Export for the import workflow and Files & System for the direct file-tool contracts.

Host permissions are a separate defense

Your MCP host decides when to prompt before a tool or filesystem operation. Keep its normal permission checks enabled, and grant only the reklawdbox tools and music-library paths needed for the workflow. If your host supports scoped or remembered approvals, prefer those over disabling checks globally.

Workflow SOPs also include review and approval checkpoints. Those checkpoints are procedural instructions for the agent; they are not a universal runtime confirmation layer. A direct-write tool can act as soon as an authorized host calls it, so inspect the tool arguments and use available dry runs before large file changes.

Caution

Direct tag and artwork writes do not have a general rollback mechanism. Keep suitable file backups before bulk edits and test a small scope first.

What reklawdbox does not do

• No Rekordbox database writes. master.db remains read-only.
• No autonomous jobs. Operations run in response to host requests or CLI commands.
• No auto-sync. Changes in Rekordbox aren’t pulled automatically — the agent reads fresh data each time you ask.
• macOS Apple Silicon only. No Windows or Linux support currently.