MCP Server Apple Reminders

What fradser/mcp-server-apple-reminders MCP server does

The fradser/mcp-server-apple-reminders MCP server connects MCP clients to the native Reminders and Calendar applications on macOS. Its operations cover reminder tasks, reminder lists, checklist-style subtasks, calendar events, and calendar collections. Read, create, update, and delete operations are available for reminders, lists, subtasks, and events; calendar collections are available for inspection before working with events.

Reminders can include priorities, tags, due dates, and checklist items. The server also supports filtering by completion state, due-date ranges, priority, tags, text, recurrence, and location. Subtasks are stored in a reminder’s notes field and remain visible in Apple’s Reminders app. Date input accepts formats such as date-only values, local date-times, and ISO 8601 values with timezone handling.

How it works

The fradser/mcp-server-apple-reminders MCP server uses Apple’s EventKit framework through a bundled event command-line backend. MCP clients communicate with the Node-based server, which invokes that backend to access the local Reminders and Calendar stores. Results include values configured in the native Apple applications, allowing data to round-trip between the apps and MCP responses.

The server runs locally rather than connecting to a hosted account API. On the first relevant request, macOS may ask for access to Reminders and Calendars. The permission entry is associated with the bundled event executable and can be managed under System Settings → Privacy & Security. One permission grant applies across MCP clients using the executable on that Mac.

Setup and configuration

The published npm package requires Node.js 20 or later and macOS. The package includes a prebuilt universal event binary, so users running it through npx do not need to install Xcode or a separate Swift toolchain. A source build additionally requires pnpm and Xcode Command Line Tools.

Run the server with:

npx -y mcp-server-apple-events

For Claude Desktop or Cursor, configure a stdio server with npx as the command and -y mcp-server-apple-events as its arguments. Restart Claude Desktop after changing its configuration. A local source build can instead point node at the built dist/index.js file.

Tools and capabilities

The available MCP tools provide these functions:

• reminders_tasks: read and manage reminder tasks.
• reminders_lists: read and manage reminder lists.
• reminders_subtasks: create and manage checklist items stored in reminder notes.
• calendar_events: read and manage calendar events or time blocks.
• calendar_calendars: inspect available calendar collections.

The server validates inputs, supports Unicode, and can process natural-language requests through the connected MCP client. Example workflows include creating a tagged reminder, listing high-priority items due today, adding checklist items, creating a calendar event, and viewing events for a date range.

Limitations and notes

This integration is macOS-only because it depends on EventKit. It needs user-granted Reminders and Calendar permissions; a headless SSH or launchd context cannot display the initial permission prompt and may time out. The server enforces a 30-second EventKit call timeout, configurable with EVENTKIT_CLI_TIMEOUT_MS. The bundled backend also has a separate permission-wait timeout controlled by EVENT_PERMISSION_TIMEOUT_MS.

If Calendar reads fail, Calendar access must be set to Full Calendar Access in macOS privacy settings. Some write fields are not yet exposed by the current event backend, so the complete set of Apple Reminders or Calendar fields is not necessarily available through MCP.