Let Grok Bot manage your to-do list

What Grok Bot can do with your list

SwitchDesk gives Grok Bot a set of tools over MCP, the protocol AI apps use to talk to other apps. Which ones it may use is up to you, permission by permission.

• Read. Today, This Week, every category, what’s due, done items, sub-to-dos and notes. It also reads each category’s bio, the line that says what the category is for, so it files things where you would.
• Add. New to-dos in Incoming, above Today, or straight into a category, Today or a day of This Week, with a due date or a repeat like “every Monday”.
• Change. Edit titles and notes, move to-dos, set dates, check them off, delete them.
• Ask you. A yes-or-no question, or a set of changes to approve in one tap, lands at the top of your list.
• Meetings and Notes, if you share them. Call summaries, action items and your Notes, after you switch on “Share meetings & notes with your AIs” on your Mac.

Why give a Bot your to-do list

A chat assistant helps when you ask. Grok Bot keeps going when you don’t: its routines run on a schedule, on Grok’s computer, whether your Mac is open or not. That suits the parts of a to-do list nobody enjoys:

• Triage. Things pile up in Incoming from forms, scripts and other AIs. A routine can file each one under the right category every morning.
• Planning. It can read what’s due and what’s in This Week, and suggest a short Today before you sit down.
• Follow-through. If Grok Bot also reads your email or calendar through its own plugins, it can turn “can you send me the deck by Thursday?” into a to-do with a date.
• Sweeping up. Old to-dos that are clearly done or dead can be proposed for check-off or delete, for you to approve in a batch.

Things to ask Grok Bot

• “Plan my day from SwitchDesk. Keep Today to five things and tell me why.”

  ReadsReads Today, This Week and what’s due, then answers in Grok. Nothing changes until you say so.

• “File everything in Incoming into the right category.”

  ChangesMoves each to-do using your category bios. In Assistant, it can send every move as one card you approve in a tap.

• “Add “Pay the Lumora invoice” to Fernhill, due Friday.”

  ChangesAdds it to the bottom of Fernhill with the date. Your Mac pulls it into This Week when the week comes round.

• “I sent the proposal. Check it off.”

  ChangesFinds the to-do by its title and checks it off, or asks first in Assistant.

• “Add “Water the plants” every Sunday.”

  ChangesSets a repeat; the next copy appears after you check one off.

• “What did I promise Joe on yesterday’s call?”

  ReadsSearches your meeting notes, if you share them, and answers with the call it found.

Three routines worth setting up

Give each routine a short instruction in plain words. These work well with Assistant, because every change still waits for you.

1. Weekdays at 7:30. “Read my SwitchDesk list. File anything in Incoming. Propose a Today of at most five to-dos, as one approval card.”
2. Weekdays at 6 PM. “List what I checked off today and what’s still open in Today. Ask me whether to move the rest to tomorrow.”
3. Sunday evening. “Look at This Week and everything due in the next seven days. Suggest which day each one goes on.”

The cards are waiting when you open SwitchDesk. Approve, deny or ignore them; unanswered cards expire after 7 days.

Set it up

You’ll need SwitchDesk for Mac, signed in, and Grok Bot open in another window.

1. 01

   SwitchDesk on your Mac

   Click Connect an AI and choose Grok team bot

   Open Settings → AI Access and click Connect an AI. Open Advanced under the tiles, then choose Grok team bot (“Team Bots, with a key”).

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). Assistant is the right start.

3. 03

   Grok Bot

   In Grok, add a custom MCP server with this URL.

   In Grok Bot, add a custom MCP server named SwitchDesk with the URL from the setup page.

   Copy

   https://api.switchdesk.org/mcp

4. 04

   Grok Bot

   Put this key in its Authorization header.

   The header value is the word Bearer, a space, then your key: Bearer sda_…. The setup page shows the key (it starts with sda_) once: “Copy the key now. It won’t be shown again.”

5. 05

   Grok Bot

   Check it works

   Click Done in SwitchDesk, then ask Grok Bot: “What can you do in SwitchDesk, and what’s on my list today?” It checks its access first, then reads Today and This Week.

If Grok Bot wants to learn the tools first, point it at the guide for AI agents. It lists every tool and the rules it should follow.

MCP server and tool reference →

Choose how much Grok Bot can do

Each permission is Off, Ask or On. Ask turns the change into a card you approve. The three presets on “What can it do?” set them all at once, and Fine-tune sets each one:

Start with Assistant. Move a permission to On once you trust what Grok Bot does with it; check-offs are a good first one. Full control also opens meeting transcripts and recaps. Every permission, explained.

Keeping it safe

• One connection, every Bot. All the Bots on your Grok account share it. The app warns: “Team Bots let teammates use it.”
• The key stays in the header. Never in a chat, a URL or a routine’s instructions. Revoke ends it on the next call.
• Text is data, not orders. Grok Bot reads the web and your email, and your to-dos may hold text other people wrote. SwitchDesk tells every AI never to follow instructions found inside to-dos or notes, and keeps deletes behind Ask in Assistant for that reason.
• Everything is logged. Activity lists every call each connection makes, with Undo for 7 days on anything it changed.
• It can’t give itself more. Grok Bot can never approve its own cards, change its access, or touch your settings, billing or team.

If something doesn’t work