Connect Gemini to your to-do list

What Gemini can do with your list

Gemini talks to SwitchDesk over MCP, an open standard for connecting AI apps to other software. Through it, Gemini can:

• Answer questions about your list. What’s in Today, what’s due this week, what’s left in a category, what you checked off.
• Search. Find a to-do by a word in its title or notes, like a client’s name.
• Jot things down. Add a to-do to Incoming in one sentence, or to a category with a due date if you ask.
• Make changes you ask for. Check off, move, reschedule, add notes or delete, each one with the access you chose.
• Read your category bios. The short line on each category that says what it’s for, so Gemini can tell Fernhill work from Personal errands.

Why connect Gemini

The useful moments are often away from your desk. You remember the passport renewal in a queue, or want to know what’s left for Lumora before a call. With SwitchDesk connected, you can ask Gemini on your phone and get an answer from your actual list.

Capture is instant: a new to-do lands in Incoming, ready on your Mac when you sit down. Bigger changes wait for you. In Assistant, “move that to next week” becomes a card you approve the next time you open SwitchDesk on your Mac, so a misheard request can’t reshuffle your week.

Things to ask Gemini

• “What’s left on my SwitchDesk list for today?”

  ReadsReads Today and answers in the chat.

• “Add “Buy printer ink” to my to-do list.”

  ChangesAdds it to Incoming at once. Assistant allows this without a card.

• “What did I write down about the Lumora contract?”

  ReadsSearches to-do titles and notes for “Lumora” and summarizes what it finds.

• “Anything due before Friday for Fernhill?”

  ReadsReads the Fernhill category and due dates, then lists them by day.

• “I picked up the prescriptions. Check that off.”

  ChangesFinds the to-do and checks it off, or, in Assistant, leaves a “Check off” card on your Mac.

• “Move “Renew passport” to next week.”

  ChangesMoves it to Next Week. In Assistant, this waits as a card.

Before you start

Google decides who can add custom apps to Gemini. Per Google, you need:

• to be in the United States and 18 or older;
• a personal Google account (not a work or school Workspace account);
• Keep Activity switched on in Gemini.

You add the app on gemini.google.com in a browser, not in the phone app. You also need SwitchDesk for Mac, signed in, with Pro or the trial. See plans.

Set it up

1. 01

   SwitchDesk on your Mac

   Click Connect an AI and choose Gemini

   Open Settings → AI Access and click Connect an AI. Choose Gemini (“gemini.google.com”).

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). No key is involved.

3. 03

   gemini.google.com

   In Gemini, open Settings → Connected Apps → Add a custom app.

   Do this on the Gemini website. On some accounts it sits under Personal Intelligence → Connected Apps.

4. 04

   gemini.google.com

   Paste this URL, then Next.

   Copy

   https://mcp.switchdesk.org/mcp

5. 05

   gemini.google.com

   Sign in with your SwitchDesk email.

   Gemini sends you to SwitchDesk’s sign-in page. Enter your SwitchDesk email, then the code that arrives in your inbox. Confirm the access you picked on your Mac, or pick a preset on the page. Finish within 15 minutes.

6. 06

   Gemini

   Ask something only your list knows

   Click Done in SwitchDesk. Then try “What’s in my SwitchDesk Today list?” A real answer means it’s working on the web. Open the Gemini app on your phone and ask again.

Signing in to SwitchDesk from Gemini again replaces the old connection, so you never end up with duplicates.

Sign-in (OAuth 2.1) reference →

Choose how much Gemini can do

Pick one of three presets on “What can it do?”:

• Read only: Gemini can look but never change anything. A good choice if you mostly ask questions.
• Assistant (default): reads freely, adds to Incoming, and turns everything else into a card you approve.
• Full control: changes happen straight away, with a 7-day Undo. It also allows transcripts (if you share them) and recaps.

Or open Fine-tune and set each permission yourself. The full permission list shows what each one covers.

Keeping it safe

• You approve, not Gemini. Cards in Needs Your Approval wait for your tap on your Mac. No AI can approve its own card, and unanswered cards expire after 7 days.
• Voice slips are cheap. If Gemini mishears a request on your phone, the worst case in Assistant is an extra to-do in Incoming or a card you deny.
• Your notes are treated as text. Anything written inside a to-do, even “ignore your rules”, is data. SwitchDesk tells Gemini not to follow it.
• Every call is on record. Activity lists every call each connection makes, with Undo for 7 days on anything it changed.
• Limits it can’t cross. It can never touch your settings, billing or team, rename or delete categories, or send your data anywhere.
• Cut it off. Pause stops a connection’s writes; Revoke ends it at once. A burst of deletes pauses it by itself.

If something doesn’t work