things-mcp 0.1.1

Local-first MCP server bridging Claude to Things 3 on macOS — 29 tools for read, search, write, and tag CRUD.
Documentation

things-mcp-server

A local-first MCP server, written in Rust, that bridges Claude to a live Things 3 instance on macOS. Reads run against a read-only SQLite copy; writes go through Things' own things:///json URL scheme; tag-admin ops drive Things via AppleScript. No data leaves the machine.

Status: Plan 6 shipping — 29 MCP tools across read, search, write, and tag CRUD. stdio transport only. HTTP / Tailscale-Funnel transport for Claude.ai Cowork is designed (Plan 8) but not yet implemented.

Quick start

cargo install --path crates/things-mcp
claude mcp add things-mcp $(which things-mcp)

For tools that mutate to-dos through the JSON URL scheme (things_add_todo, things_update_todo, the assign/unassign pair, etc.), pass the auth token at registration time:

# Get the token from Things 3 → Settings → General → "Enable Things URLs" → Manage
claude mcp add things-mcp $(which things-mcp) --env THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN=<token>

Tag-admin tools (things_create_tag, rename, merge, delete, move) go via /usr/bin/osascript and don't use the auth token. The first call will prompt for macOS Automation permission for things-mcp → Things 3.

To upgrade after pulling new commits:

cargo install --path crates/things-mcp --force
# then /mcp → reconnect things-mcp inside Claude Code

Tool reference

Every tool returns structured JSON (an object — never a bare array). Field shapes are stable across versions; see crates/things-mcp/src/core/types.rs for the exact derives. Tool annotations (read_only_hint, destructive_hint, idempotent_hint, open_world_hint) are set per the MCP spec so the client can show appropriate UI affordances.

Reading lists

All list tools return { items: [...] } and accept an optional limit. Examples are written as the prompt you'd send to Claude — Claude picks the matching tool.

Tool When to reach for it Example prompt
things_list_inbox First-look triage; capture review. "What's in my Things inbox?" — or "Show me everything in inbox including ones I've already checked off this week." (with include_completed: true)
things_list_today Daily standup; ad-hoc "what am I doing now?" "What's on Today?" — or "Read me my Today list and group by project."
things_list_upcoming Weekly review; spotting deadline pile-ups. "What's scheduled for the next two weeks?" — or "Anything upcoming between 2026-06-01 and 2026-06-15?"
things_list_anytime Backlog scan; pulling work into Today. "Show me everything in Anytime under area Personal."
things_list_someday Quarterly review; spotting stale ideas. "What's been parked in Someday for a while?"
things_list_logbook Retrospectives; "what did I get done?" "What did I complete in the last 7 days?" — or "Show me everything I finished between 2026-04-01 and 2026-04-30."
things_list_trash Recovery; "did I delete something useful?" "What's in my trash?"
things_list_areas Discover the area set when writing area-scoped queries. "List my Things areas."
things_list_projects Find a project ID for follow-up writes; spot stale projects. "List all my projects." — or "Show me my open projects in the Work area."
things_list_by_tag Cross-cut a view across areas/projects via tag. "Show me everything tagged 'Errand' or its children." — or "List items tagged 'Phone-call' without recursing into child tags." (recurse: false)

Reading tags

Tool When to reach for it Example prompt
things_list_tags Explore the tag hierarchy; find candidates for merge/cleanup; pick a tag for a write. "Show me my full tag tree." Returns both a flat list (every tag with its parent_id) and a roots tree (each root with nested children recursively).

Searching

Tool When to reach for it Example prompt
things_search When list-by-X isn't enough — full-text + multi-filter. Combine free text with structural filters (tags, area, project, status, deadline range, scheduled range). "Search my open to-dos for the word 'invoice' in the Finance area." — or "Find anything tagged 'Call' due before next Friday." — or "Search across open and completed to-dos for 'tax bill' in project Q2-Tax."

Reading single items

Tool When to reach for it Example prompt
things_get_todo Pull full detail (notes, checklist, dates) for a known UUID. Returns { todo: null } when not found. "Open the to-do <uuid> and read me its notes and checklist."
things_get_project Pull a project with all its items, headings, and per-heading to-dos. Returns { project: null } when not found. "Show me everything inside project <uuid>."

Writing to-dos and projects

Every write returns a WriteOutcome { id?, action, verified, dry_run, latency_ms }. verified: true means the writer polled SQLite and confirmed the write landed. dry_run: true means safety mode short-circuited the write (test-DB mode).

Tool When to reach for it Example prompt
things_add_todo Quick capture; converting a chat into a to-do. Accepts title + optional notes/tags/area/project/deadline/scheduled/list (inbox/anytime/etc). "Add a to-do 'Follow up with Sam about Q3 budget' to my Work area, tag it 'Email', and schedule it for tomorrow."
things_add_project Spinning up a multi-step initiative. "Create a new project called 'Q3 OKRs Planning' in my Work area, with notes 'Kickoff agenda in shared drive'."
things_update_todo Editing any attribute — title, notes, dates, tags. (Tags replace wholesale; prefer assign/unassign for tag deltas.) "On to-do <uuid>, change the title to 'Draft Q3 budget memo' and move the deadline to 2026-06-20."
things_update_project Editing project attributes. "Update project <uuid>: set notes to 'Owner: AT; deadline 2026-06-30; deck in /Docs/Q3.'"
things_complete_todo Marking work done. "Mark to-do <uuid> as completed."
things_cancel_todo Closing out without claiming completion (e.g. obsolete, duplicate). "Cancel to-do <uuid> — it's a duplicate of <other-uuid>."
things_move_todo Reassigning to a different project or area. Pass the destination's UUID as list_id, or omit to move to inbox. "Move to-do <uuid> into project <project-uuid>."
things_bulk_json Power tool for batching. Send a raw array of Things JSON URL scheme operation objects (max 250). Skips per-element verify — verified is always false. "Send this batch: add three to-dos to my Inbox titled 'Pay rent', 'Renew domain', 'Email landlord'." (Claude assembles the array; this is mostly useful for scripts and migrations, not chat.)

Tag write — attach/detach on a to-do

These go through the JSON URL chassis (read-modify-write through update.tags).

Tool When to reach for it Example prompt
things_assign_tag Add one or more tags to a single to-do. Idempotent — re-assigning an already-attached tag is a no-op. "Tag to-do <uuid> with 'Errand' and 'Phone-call'."
things_unassign_tag Remove one or more tags from a single to-do. Idempotent. "Remove the 'Waiting' tag from to-do <uuid>."

Tag admin — global tag tree changes

These go through AppleScript (osascript). Things 3 must be running; first call triggers macOS Automation permission for things-mcp → Things 3.

Tool When to reach for it Example prompt
things_create_tag New tag, optionally nested under an existing parent. "Create a tag 'Deep-work' under 'Focus'." — or "Create a root-level tag 'Q3-launch'."
things_rename_tag Cleanup; renaming globally propagates to every to-do that carries the old name. "Rename 'Errand' to 'Errands'."
things_merge_tags Tag-tree cleanup: reassign every to-do tagged source to also carry target, then delete source. Source ≠ target. "Merge tag 'Errands' into 'Errand' — I have a duplicate."
things_delete_tag Remove a tag globally. The to-dos that carried it stay; only the tag is removed. "Delete the tag 'Q3-launch' — that project is over."
things_move_tag Re-nest a tag in the tree. Omit new_parent to promote to root. "Move 'Deep-work' under 'Focus'." — or "Move 'Phone-call' to the root of the tag tree."

Effective patterns

A few high-leverage prompts the tools combine well on:

  • Daily standup. "Read me Today and any overdue scheduled items, group by project, and note any with tag 'Urgent'." — things_list_today + things_search (scheduled_before today) + post-filter.
  • Weekly review. "Walk me through the Logbook for the last 7 days, then Someday items I haven't touched in 90 days, then Upcoming for next 14 days." — things_list_logbook + things_list_someday + things_list_upcoming.
  • Capture batch from chat. Paste a list of items into chat; "Add each of these to my Inbox." — single things_add_todo per line, or things_bulk_json for speed.
  • Project kickoff. "Create project 'X' under area Work, then add these 6 to-dos under it." — things_add_project then things_add_todo × 6 (with list_id set to the new project's id).
  • Tag tree spring-clean. "Show me my tag tree. Where do you see duplicates or orphans?" — things_list_tags returns the tree; Claude proposes merges; you approve each. Then things_merge_tags per pair.
  • Triage at the end of a project. "Find every open to-do tagged 'Q3-launch'. For each, tell me the project and any deadline." — things_list_by_tag then per-item context. Optionally things_unassign_tag to clean up, or things_delete_tag once empty.

HTTP / Tailscale-Funnel transport (Plan 8 — not yet shipped)

The current binary speaks stdio MCP only and runs as a child process of Claude Code on the same Mac. That's sufficient for the desktop CLI but doesn't reach Claude.ai Cowork — Anthropic's web sandbox, which sits in a VM that can't open stdio to your laptop.

Plan 8 will add a second transport, mirroring the design of the sibling zotero-connector:

  • Streamable-HTTP MCP via rmcp::StreamableHttpService, bound to 127.0.0.1 only.
  • Tailscale Funnel publishes that loopback service at an HTTPS URL like https://things-mcp.<tailnet>.ts.net. Tailscale terminates TLS; Funnel limits the inbound surface to your tailnet plus Claude.ai's known egress.
  • OAuth 2.1 + PKCE in front of the HTTP endpoint. things-mcp issues a client_id / client_secret pair on first run; you paste them into Claude.ai's connector settings. The server enforces a bearer token via tower-http middleware on every request; tokens are SHA-256 hashed at rest under ~/Library/Application Support/dev.things-mcp.things-mcp/ (mode 0600). Default TTLs: 7-day access token, 90-day refresh.
  • launchd plist keeps the HTTP server alive across reboots and reload cycles.
  • Setup wizard. things-mcp setup will walk through: Things app detection → Funnel URL setup → launchd bootstrap → token generation → self-test. things-mcp status and things-mcp show-credentials will round out the lifecycle.

The same 29 tools — same handlers, same safety gates, same DryRun mode — are served over both transports. Nothing in core/ or tools/ changes between Plan 6 and Plan 8; only the transport seam in main.rs grows a second branch.

Until Plan 8 lands, exercise the server via Claude Code on the Mac.

Configuration

~/Library/Application Support/dev.things-mcp.things-mcp/config.toml is created on first run:

[things]
db_path = "/Users/<you>/Library/Group Containers/JLMPQHK86H.com.culturedcode.ThingsMac/Things Database.thingsdatabase/main.sqlite"
# auth_token = "..."  # optional; alternative to THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN env var

[backup]
retain = 10
# directory = "..."  # optional; defaults to <config_dir>/backups

[writer]
poll_timeout_ms = 3000   # max time to confirm a write landed
poll_interval_ms = 100   # poll spacing

Environment overrides (useful for development against a fixture DB):

  • THINGS_DB_PATH=/path/to/test.sqlite — point at a non-live DB. Activates test-DB mode: writes are blocked unless you also set --allow-writes-on-test-db (in which case they're dry-run).
  • THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN=... — JSON URL auth token.
  • THINGS_MCP_ALLOW_WRITES_ON_TEST_DB=1 — same as --allow-writes-on-test-db.
  • RUST_LOG=things_mcp=debug — verbose tracing.

CLI flags:

things-mcp --db-path /path/to/test.sqlite --allow-writes-on-test-db

Safety

  • Startup backup. Every launch snapshots your live Things SQLite to <config_dir>/backups/things-<timestamp>.sqlite (retains the last 10 by default). The snapshot uses SQLite's online backup API, not a raw file copy — safe to run while Things is open.
  • Read-only pool. The reader opens the DB read-only + immutable. Writes never touch SQL — they flow through Things' own JSON URL scheme (the same API the iOS share extension uses).
  • Three safety modes. Live (production), DryRun (test-DB + --allow-writes-on-test-db — renders the URL/script but doesn't fire), Forbidden (test-DB only). Both the JSON URL executor and the AppleScript driver respect the mode.
  • Auth-token redaction. The token is wrapped in a secrecy::Secret<String> so it can't accidentally land in logs or panic messages.

Development

cargo test                    # full suite (≈155 tests)
cargo test -- --ignored       # opt-in smoke tests that touch /usr/bin/osascript
cargo build --release         # optimized binary at target/release/things-mcp

Project layout follows the conventions in CLAUDE.md. Non-trivial changes start with a dated spec in docs/superpowers/specs/ followed by a plan in docs/superpowers/plans/. Each plan task lands as an atomic commit.

Roadmap

  • Plan 7 — recurrence definition via AppleScript wrapper (the JSON URL scheme can't set recurrence rules).
  • Plan 8 — HTTP transport + OAuth 2.1 + Tailscale Funnel + launchd plist + setup wizard. Unlocks Claude.ai Cowork.
  • Plan 9 — stdio path consolidation and feature parity sweep.

See docs/superpowers/plans/ for the active plan and follow-ons.