productivity

Things

by wbopan

Integrate with the best to do list app for macOS—Things. Enjoy advanced task management, database export, and project cr

Integrates with Things.app task management for macOS, enabling task and project creation with full metadata support, update operations including completion status, database export functionality, and summary generation through URL scheme and direct database access.

github stars

2

macOS only - requires Things.appNeeds Things authorization token for updatesDirect database access for exports

best for

  • / macOS users managing tasks through Things.app
  • / Daily planning and task organization workflows
  • / AI-assisted project management and scheduling

capabilities

  • / Create new tasks and projects in Things.app
  • / Update existing tasks and completion status
  • / Schedule tasks for specific dates
  • / Export and view task database summaries
  • / Organize tasks with areas, tags, and deadlines
  • / Generate task reports and overviews

what it does

Connects AI assistants to the Things.app task manager on macOS, allowing direct creation and management of tasks and projects.

about

Things is a community-built MCP server published by wbopan that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Integrate with the best to do list app for macOS—Things. Enjoy advanced task management, database export, and project cr It is categorized under productivity.

how to install

You can install Things in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.

license

MIT

Things is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.

readme

Things MCP Server

npm version License: MIT macOS

Control your Things.app tasks directly from Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other AI assistants using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

What It Does

This MCP server lets AI assistants interact with your Things.app tasks on macOS. You can:

  • Create new tasks and projects
  • Update existing items
  • View your task database with detailed summaries
  • Schedule tasks for specific dates
  • Organize with areas, tags, and deadlines

Quick Start

1. Get Things Authorization Token

For updating existing tasks, you need an authorization token:

  1. Open Things.app on macOS
  2. Go to Things → Preferences → General
  3. Check "Enable Things URLs"
  4. Copy the authorization token that appears

2. Configure Your AI Assistant

<details> <summary><strong>Claude Desktop</strong></summary>

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "things": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@wenbopan/things-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}
</details> <details> <summary><strong>Cursor IDE</strong></summary>

Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project or ~/.cursor/mcp.json globally:

{
  "things": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["@wenbopan/things-mcp"],
    "env": {
      "THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
    }
  }
}
</details>

3. Restart Your AI Assistant

After configuration, restart your AI assistant to load the MCP server.

Use Cases

Daily Planning

"Show me my today's tasks and create a project for the new marketing campaign with initial tasks for research, design, and content creation."

Project Management

"Update the mobile app project to add design review and testing tasks, then schedule the design review for next Monday."

Task Organization

"Move all my unscheduled shopping tasks to the 'Personal' area and tag them with 'weekend'."

Progress Tracking

"Give me a summary of all active projects with their deadlines and completion status."

Quick Capture

"Create a task to call the dentist, schedule it for tomorrow, and set a deadline for end of week."

License

MIT

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome! Please ensure all tests pass before submitting.

FAQ

What is the Things MCP server?
Things is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server profile on explainx.ai. MCP lets AI hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Cursor) call tools and resources through a standard interface; this page summarizes categories, install hints, and community ratings.
How do MCP servers relate to agent skills?
Skills are reusable instruction packages (often SKILL.md); MCP servers expose live capabilities. Teams frequently combine both—skills for workflows, MCP for APIs and data. See explainx.ai/skills and explainx.ai/mcp-servers for parallel directories.
How are reviews shown for Things?
This profile displays 10 aggregated ratings (sample rows for discoverability plus signed-in user reviews). Average score is about 4.5 out of 5—verify behavior in your own environment before production use.
MCP server reviews

Ratings

4.510 reviews
  • Shikha Mishra· Oct 10, 2024

    Things is among the better-indexed MCP projects we tried; the explainx.ai summary tracks the official description.

  • Piyush G· Sep 9, 2024

    We evaluated Things against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.

  • Chaitanya Patil· Aug 8, 2024

    Useful MCP listing: Things is the kind of server we cite when onboarding engineers to host + tool permissions.

  • Sakshi Patil· Jul 7, 2024

    Things reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.

  • Ganesh Mohane· Jun 6, 2024

    I recommend Things for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.

  • Oshnikdeep· May 5, 2024

    Strong directory entry: Things surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.

  • Dhruvi Jain· Apr 4, 2024

    Things has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.

  • Rahul Santra· Mar 3, 2024

    According to our notes, Things benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.

  • Pratham Ware· Feb 2, 2024

    We wired Things into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.

  • Yash Thakker· Jan 1, 2024

    Things is a well-scoped MCP server in the explainx.ai directory — install snippets and categories matched our Claude Code setup.