AI Assistants (MCP)

Kan Do for Mac includes a small helper that lets AI assistants read and change your spaces, projects, columns, tags, and tasks, including subtasks, links, and locations. It speaks the standard Model Context Protocol (MCP), so it works with any assistant that supports MCP servers: Claude, ChatGPT and Codex, Cursor, and others.

The helper talks directly to this Mac's copy of your data and never leaves your computer. Changes it makes sync through iCloud like any other edit, right away while Kan Do is running.

#Before you start

• This is a Mac feature. Assistants on other devices can't reach this Mac's database, and iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro data isn't accessible here except through sync.
• Keep Kan Do in your Applications folder so the helper's path stays valid after updates.
• Open Settings ▸ Connector (labelled AI Assistants (MCP)). Everything below is there with copy buttons.

#Setting up Claude Code

Run this once in Terminal:

claude mcp add kando "/Applications/Kan Do.app/Contents/MacOS/kando" mcp

Then ask Claude Code things like "add a task to my Videos project" or "what's due this week in Kan Do?"

#Setting up Claude Desktop and Cowork

1. In Claude Desktop, open Settings ▸ Developer ▸ Edit Config.
2. Paste the JSON block from Kan Do's Connector tab (the Copy Configuration button). It adds a server named kando that runs the helper with the argument mcp.
3. Restart Claude. Cowork reads the same file.

There's also a one-click Claude Desktop extension bundle available from the developer if you'd rather not edit the config file.

#Setting up ChatGPT and Codex

In Terminal:

codex mcp add kando -- "/Applications/Kan Do.app/Contents/MacOS/kando" mcp

Or add the [mcp_servers.kando] block from the Connector tab to ~/.codex/config.toml (the Copy Codex Configuration button).

#Other MCP clients

Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, Gemini CLI, and most other assistants accept the same JSON block as Claude Desktop: a server named "kando" that runs the tool with the argument "mcp" over stdio. Paste it wherever that client keeps its MCP server list.

#What the assistant can do

The connector exposes these tools. You don't call them yourself; you ask in plain language and the assistant picks the right one.

Things worth knowing:

• Search finds tasks by title, tag, project, column, or note text.
• Listing returns open tasks unless the assistant asks for completed ones too.
• Adding a task can set the title, project, column, due date, start date, priority, flag, notes, a location (by name, address, or coordinates), subtasks, links, a cover image (a file path or web address), and tags. A tag that doesn't exist is created, and a path like Work/Clients/Acme creates the whole nesting in one go.
• Editing can clear a due date, start date, location, or cover image, and replaces the links or tags list as a whole.
• Deleting a column that still holds tasks is refused unless the assistant archives the tasks first, so nothing vanishes by accident.

#Things to try

• "Make a project called Kitchen Remodel in my Home space with columns Ideas, Quotes, Booked, and Done, and add the five tasks from this email."
• "What's overdue in Kan Do? Move anything tagged Waiting to next Monday."
• "Find every task in the Podcast space that mentions 'sponsor' and tag them Sponsors."
• "Read my Today list and write it up as a plan for the morning."

#A command-line tool too

The same helper works as a terminal command for scripts:

"/Applications/Kan Do.app/Contents/MacOS/kando" task add "Order filters" --project "Home" --priority high --due 2026-10-01

kando spaces, kando search "checkpoint", and kando help list what's available, and --json on any command returns machine-readable output.

#Privacy

The assistant you connect can read whatever it asks the connector for, which means your task titles and notes. What it does with that is governed by that assistant's own privacy policy. Nothing is sent anywhere by Kan Do itself, and the connector is off unless you set it up. See the privacy policy.

#If the connector complains about versions

After updating Kan Do, an older copy of the helper can meet a newer database. The error says to use the connector inside the current Kan Do app. Re-run the setup command from the Connector tab so your assistant points at the current path.