Things MCP server

The Things MCP Server allows you to control your Things.app tasks directly from AI assistants like Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Cursor using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This integration enables you to create, update, view, and organize tasks in Things without leaving your AI assistant interface.

Installation and Setup

Prerequisites

• macOS with Things.app installed
• A compatible AI assistant (Claude Desktop, Cursor IDE, etc.)

Getting Your Things Authorization Token

To enable task updates, you need to obtain an authorization token:

1. Open Things.app on your Mac
2. Navigate to Things → Preferences → General
3. Check the box for "Enable Things URLs"
4. Copy the authorization token that appears

Setting Up With Claude Desktop

To configure Claude Desktop to work with the Things MCP server:

1. Edit the configuration file at this location:

   ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   

2. Add the following configuration:

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

3. Replace "your-token-here" with the actual authorization token you copied from Things

Setting Up With Cursor IDE

For Cursor IDE, create a configuration file in one of these locations:

• Project-specific: .cursor/mcp.json in your project folder
• Global: ~/.cursor/mcp.json

Add this configuration:

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

Finalizing Setup

After configuring your AI assistant, restart it to load the MCP server settings.

Using Things MCP

You can interact with Things through natural language commands in your AI assistant. Here are some example use cases:

Creating Tasks and Projects

Ask your AI assistant to:

• Create a new task with details
• Set up a project with multiple subtasks
• Add tasks with specific dates and deadlines

Example:

Create a project called "Marketing Campaign" with tasks for research, design, and content creation

Managing Existing Tasks

Use commands like:

• Update task details or deadlines
• Reschedule tasks to different dates
• Move tasks between projects or areas

Example:

Update the mobile app project to add design review tasks and schedule them for next Monday

Viewing and Organizing

Request information such as:

• See today's tasks
• Get summaries of projects and their status
• Filter tasks by tag, area, or deadline

Example:

Show me all my tasks tagged with "urgent" that are due this week

Task Organization

Manage your task structure with commands like:

• Move tasks to specific areas
• Apply tags to multiple tasks
• Group related tasks into projects

Example:

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

Common Commands

Here are some useful command patterns to try with your AI assistant:

• "Create a task to [description] due [date]"
• "Show me my tasks for today"
• "Update the [task name] deadline to [date]"
• "Create a project for [project name] with tasks for [task list]"
• "Give me a summary of my active projects"
• "Move all tasks with [tag] to [area]"

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "things" '{"command":"npx","args":["@wenbopan/things-mcp"],"env":{"THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN":"your-token-here"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

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

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

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

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect