Apple Calendar

What is mcp-ical?

mcp-ical is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables natural language interaction with your macOS Calendar. It transforms calendar management into a conversational experience, allowing users to create, modify, and query events using simple language commands.

How to use mcp-ical?

To use mcp-ical, you first need to clone the repository and install dependencies using uv sync. Then, configure your MCP client (e.g., Claude for Desktop) by adding the mcp-ical command to its configuration file. Crucially, you must launch the client from the terminal to ensure proper calendar permission requests. Once set up, you can start interacting with your calendar using natural language prompts through your MCP client.

Key Features of mcp-ical

• Event Creation: Create calendar events instantly from natural language, with support for custom calendar selection, location, notes, smart reminders, and recurring events.
• Smart Schedule Management & Availability: Quickly access your schedule and find available time slots using natural language queries.
• Intelligent Event Updates: Modify existing events naturally, including changes to time, date, calendar transfers, location, notes, reminders, and recurring patterns.
• Calendar Management: View all available calendars, receive smart calendar suggestions, and seamlessly integrate with Google Calendar if synced with iCloud.

Use Cases of mcp-ical

• Effortless Event Scheduling: Quickly schedule meetings, appointments, and reminders without manually navigating calendar interfaces.
• Quick Schedule Overview: Get an instant summary of your upcoming events or find free time slots for new engagements.
• Dynamic Event Modification: Easily adjust existing events on the fly, such as rescheduling a meeting or updating its location.
• Cross-Calendar Management: Manage events across multiple calendars, including Google Calendar if integrated with iCloud.

FAQ about mcp-ical

• Can I use mcp-ical with any MCP client? Yes, while instructions focus on Claude for Desktop, mcp-ical can be used with any MCP-compatible client.
• Why do I need to launch Claude from the terminal? Launching from the terminal is critical for macOS to properly prompt for calendar permissions. Launching directly from Finder will not trigger this prompt.
• Are there any known issues with recurring events? Yes, non-standard recurring schedules may not always be set correctly, and reminder timing for recurring all-day events might be off by one day. Better results are observed with Claude 3.5 Sonnet compared to Haiku.
• Do tests create real events? Yes, tests will create temporary calendars and events. While cleanup is automatic, it is recommended to only run tests in development environments.

MCP iCal Server

🗓️ Natural Language Calendar Management for macOS

🌟 Overview

Transform how you interact with your macOS calendar using natural language! The mcp-ical server leverages the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to turn your calendar management into a conversational experience.

You: "What's my schedule for next week?"
Claude: "Let me check that for you..."
[Displays a clean overview of your upcoming week]

You: "Add a lunch meeting with Sarah tomorrow at noon"
Claude: "✨ 📅 Created: Lunch with Sarah Tomorrow, 12:00 PM"

✨ Features

📅 Event Creation

Transform natural language into calendar events instantly!

"Schedule a team lunch next Thursday at 1 PM at Bistro Garden"
↓
📎 Created: Team Lunch
   📅 Thursday, 1:00 PM
   📍 Bistro Garden

Supported Features

• Custom calendar selection
• Location and notes
• Smart reminders
• Recurring events

Power User Examples

🔄 Recurring Events:
"Set up my weekly team sync every Monday at 9 AM with a 15-minute reminder"

📝 Detailed Events:
"Schedule a product review meeting tomorrow from 2-4 PM in the Engineering calendar, 
add notes about reviewing Q1 metrics, and remind me 1 hour before"

📱 Multi-Calendar Support:
"Add a dentist appointment to my Personal calendar for next Wednesday at 3 PM"

🔍 Smart Schedule Management & Availability

Quick access to your schedule with natural queries:

"What's on my calendar for next week?"
↓
📊 Shows your upcoming events with smart formatting

"When am I free to schedule a 2-hour meeting next Tuesday?"
↓
🕒 Available time slots found:
   • Tuesday 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
   • Tuesday 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

✏️ Intelligent Event Updates

Modify events naturally:

Before: "Move tomorrow's team meeting to 3 PM instead"
↓
After: ✨ Meeting rescheduled to 3:00 PM

Update Capabilities

• Time and date modifications
• Calendar transfers
• Location updates
• Note additions
• Reminder adjustments
• Recurring pattern changes

📊 Calendar Management

• View all available calendars
• Smart calendar suggestions
• Seamless Google Calendar integration when configured with iCloud

💡 Pro Tip: Since you can create events in custom calendars, if you have your Google Calendar synced with your iCloud Calendar, you can use this MCP server to create events in your Google Calendar too! Just specify the Google calendar when creating/updating events.

🚀 Quick Start

💡 Note: While these instructions focus on setting up the MCP server with Claude for Desktop, this server can be used with any MCP-compatible client. For more details on using different clients, see the MCP documentation.

Prerequisites

• uv package manager
• macOS with Calendar app configured
• An MCP client - Claude for desktop is recommended

Installation

Whilst this MCP server can be used with any MCP compatible client, the instructions below are for use with Claude for desktop.

1. Clone and Setup

   # Clone the repository
   git clone https://github.com/Omar-V2/mcp-ical.git
   cd mcp-ical
   
   # Install dependencies
   uv sync
   

2. Configure Claude for Desktop

   Create or edit ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

   {
       "mcpServers": {
           "mcp-ical": {
               "command": "uv",
               "args": [
                   "--directory",
                   "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/PARENT/FOLDER/mcp-ical",
                   "run",
                   "mcp-ical"
               ]
           }
       }
   }
   

3. Launch Claude for Calendar Access

   ⚠️ Critical: Claude must be launched from the terminal to properly request calendar permissions. Launching directly from Finder will not trigger the permissions prompt.

   Run the following command in your terminal.

   /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude
   

   ⚠️ Warning: Alternatively, you can manually grant calendar access, but this involves modifying system files and should only be done if you understand the risks involved.

4. Start Using!

   Try: "What's my schedule looking like for next week?"
   

🔑 Note: When you first use a calendar-related command, macOS will prompt for calendar access. This prompt will only appear if you launched Claude from the terminal as specified above.

🧪 Testing

⚠️ Warning: Tests will create temporary calendars and events. While cleanup is automatic, only run tests in development environments.

# Install dev dependencies
uv sync --dev

# Run test suite
uv run pytest tests

🐛 Known Issues

Recurring Events

• Non-standard recurring schedules may not always be set correctly
• Better results with Claude 3.5 Sonnet compared to Haiku
• Reminder timing for recurring all-day events may be off by one day

🤝 Contributing

Feedback and contributions are welcome. Here's how you can help:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch
3. Commit your changes
4. Push to the branch
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with Model Context Protocol
• macOS Calendar integration built with PyObjC