Connect Claude to your to-do list

What Claude can do with your list

Once the connector is on, Claude can reach into SwitchDesk mid-conversation. It works from the same list you see on your Mac:

• Look things up. Incoming, Today, This Week, each category, due dates, sub-to-dos, notes and what you’ve already done. It can search titles and notes too.
• Know where things go. Each category’s bio says what it’s for, so Claude can tell Fernhill work from Personal errands without asking.
• Write things down. New to-dos in Incoming, a category, Today or a day this week, with a due date or a repeat.
• Change what’s there. Rename, add notes, move, set dates, mark done or in progress, delete.
• Check with you. A question with up to three answers, or a batch of up to 25 changes you approve or deny in one tap.

Meeting notes and your Notes window are off-limits until you share them. Meetings, Notes and Recaps stay on your Mac until you switch on “Share meetings & notes with your AIs”, which copies summaries, action items and notes (not audio) to SwitchDesk’s server. Transcripts need a second box, and you confirm with a code we email you. Calls marked “Never share this call” are never copied.

Why it fits a chat

Most planning happens in conversation: you think out loud, change your mind, then settle. Claude is good at that part. The trouble is the plan usually stays in the chat. With the connector, the last step of the conversation is “put that in my list”, and the plan lands where you’ll see it tomorrow.

It also works the other way. Paste a brief, an email thread or meeting notes into Claude, ask what you need to do, and Claude can compare its answer with what’s already on your list before it adds anything twice. And because the connector follows your Claude account, a to-do you think of on the train can go in from the Claude app on your phone.

Things to ask Claude

• “Here’s my week. Help me decide what goes on Today and what can wait.”

  ReadsReads Today, This Week and what’s due, then talks it through with you. Nothing changes.

• “Good. Put that plan into SwitchDesk.”

  ChangesAdds the to-dos where you agreed. Anything outside Incoming waits in Needs Your Approval; sent together, it’s one card, like “Add 4”.

• “I pasted the Lumora brief above. What do I owe them, and is any of it already on my list?”

  ReadsSearches your titles and notes, then lists what’s new and what you already have.

• “What’s overdue, and what could I drop?”

  ReadsReads due dates and suggests. If you agree to drop some, the deletes wait for your tap in Assistant.

• “Turn the notes on “Fernhill pricing slides” into a checklist.”

  ChangesRewrites the notes. In Assistant the edit shows as a card first.

• “Add “Pick up the dry cleaning” to Personal.”

  ChangesWorks from the Claude app on your phone too. The card waits on your Mac until you approve it.

• “What did Joe Raman and I agree on Tuesday’s call?”

  ReadsReads the call’s summary and action items, if you switched on “Share meetings & notes with your AIs” on your Mac.

Set it up

You need SwitchDesk for Mac, signed in, and claude.ai open in your browser. The connector is added on the web; Claude Desktop and the mobile apps pick it up from your account.

1. 01

   SwitchDesk on your Mac

   Click Connect an AI and choose Claude

   Open Settings → AI Access and click Connect an AI. Choose Claude (“Web, desktop & phone”).

2. 02

   SwitchDesk on your Mac

   Answer “What can it do?”, then Continue

   Pick Read only, Assistant or Full control; Fine-tune sets each permission on its own. Click Continue (with Full control the button reads Allow & Continue). Claude connects by signing in, so there is no key to copy or store.

3. 03

   Claude

   In Claude, open Customize → Connectors → + Add → Add custom connector.

4. 04

   Claude

   Paste this URL, then Continue.

   Name it SwitchDesk. If Claude asks how it should identify itself, keep Use Claude’s published identity (Recommended) and click Add, then Connect.

   Copy

   https://mcp.switchdesk.org/mcp

5. 05

   Claude

   Sign in with your SwitchDesk email.

   We email you a code; enter it, and the page shows the access you picked on your Mac. Confirm it and you’re back in Claude. Finish within 15 minutes.

6. 06

   Claude

   Ask it something

   Click Done in SwitchDesk. Then start a chat in Claude and ask: “Using SwitchDesk, what’s due this week?” The first time, Claude may ask before it uses the tool. That prompt is Claude’s own.

Claude learns the tools from the connector itself. If you want to see what it’s told, the guide for AI agents is public.

MCP server and tool reference →

Choose how much Claude can do

There are two layers. Claude’s own setting decides whether it asks you before calling a tool at all; you can let it use SwitchDesk tools freely or keep the prompt. SwitchDesk’s access decides what those calls may do once they arrive.

For a chat assistant, Assistant is the right default: reading and adding to Incoming just work, and every other change becomes a card. If you plan in Claude every morning and approve every “Add” anyway, set Add anywhere to On with Fine-tune. Keep deletes on Ask. Read only suits a Claude you only use for questions. Every permission, explained.

Keeping it safe

• No key to leak. Claude holds a sign-in that refreshes itself. Revoke in Settings → AI Access ends it at once.
• You approve, Claude can’t. Only your tap in Needs Your Approval approves a card, and cards expire after 7 days. Claude can never approve, deny or undo anything, or change its own access.
• Pasted text is just text. A document or web page you bring into the chat may hold instructions aimed at an AI. SwitchDesk tells Claude to treat every to-do and note as data, and Assistant keeps deletes behind Ask for this reason.
• A record of every call. Activity lists every call each connection makes, with Undo for 7 days on anything it changed.
• Nothing leaves. Claude has no tool to email, share or send your list anywhere.

If something doesn’t work

• The sign-in page asks which access to give. More than 15 minutes passed since you clicked Continue. Pick a preset there and carry on.
• Claude says it’s not allowed. That permission is Off. Change it in Settings → AI Access; the next call uses the new setting.
• Claude says it’s waiting for approval. That’s expected. Open SwitchDesk on your Mac and tap the card in Needs Your Approval.
• Claude says SwitchDesk Pro is needed. AI Access is part of Pro. The connection pauses and picks up again when your plan does. Pricing.
• Claude can’t see your meetings or Notes. Switch on “Share meetings & notes with your AIs” on your Mac and enter the code we email. Transcripts also need “Include full transcripts”.
• Claude says it’s rate limited. It asked too often in a short time. It will tell you how many seconds to wait.