To-do apps that work with Claude and other AI assistants

By Basil, maker of Alcove · Updated 8 October 2026 · 10 min read

If you already use Claude, the obvious next step is letting it see your to-do list: "What's due this week?", "Move everything tagged #finance to Friday." Whether that works, and where, depends on how your to-do app connects. Some apps run a server on the internet that Claude signs in to; others run a small program on your Mac; a few rely on what other people have built.

How I compared. I make Alcove, one of the apps below, so read this with that in mind. I didn't install the other apps for this page; I checked each one's help documentation, App Store listing and pricing page, and Anthropic's and OpenAI's documentation, on 8 October 2026. Prices are US.

Three ways an assistant reaches your tasks

Anthropic's help explains the split: a remote connector is reached from Anthropic's cloud in every Claude app, while local servers set up in Claude's desktop app run on your computer and aren't available in Claude on the web or in Cowork. That one difference decides most of the table below.

The apps compared

For more on what each app costs across all your devices, see to-do app prices compared.

Which should you pick?

• You use Claude on your phone or in a browser. Todoist or TickTick. Their remote servers are the only routes here that work in every Claude app, and both also work with ChatGPT. Your tasks live on their servers, and Claude reaches them through Anthropic's.
• You already live in Apple Reminders. Claude's iPhone app can add reminders, set due dates, priorities and notes, and manage repeating reminders in your existing lists. It can't create or edit the lists themselves. On the Mac you'd need a community server.
• You want the connection to stay on your Mac. 2Do or Alcove. Both run a local server that Claude's desktop app starts, with no relay of their own in between. 2Do is the more configurable of the two, with smart lists and focus filters; Alcove adds notes, boards and the Mac menu bar.
• You use Things 3 or OmniFocus and don't want to switch. A community server is the route for now. Cultured Code lists the safe methods to look for. For OmniFocus, Omni said in September 2026 that it is working towards MCP, so it may be worth waiting. See Alcove vs Things 3 and Alcove vs OmniFocus if you're weighing a switch.

What an assistant can and can't do with your tasks

Every server here lets an assistant read tasks, add them, change them and mark them done. Beyond that they differ:

• Todoist: tasks and projects, including rescheduling. Its help says Claude can't manage sections, labels, comments or filters through the connector, or assign tasks in shared projects. One tip from Todoist: ask Claude to "reschedule" a repeating task, because "change the date" removes the repeat.
• TickTick: tasks, lists, sections, tags, comments, habits, focus records and countdowns.
• 2Do: lists, tasks, projects, checklists and sub-tasks, alarms and repeats, and pausing tags. 2Do must be open on the Mac for it to work.
• Apple Reminders in Claude's iPhone app: reminders in existing lists, but not the lists.
• Alcove: tasks, lists, tags, notes and links between them, attachments and a day summary; from version 1.1, boards too.

What none of them do is remind you on their own. The to-do app delivers the reminder; the assistant can only set it, where the app's tools allow. And an assistant only sees what the server exposes: Alcove's server, for example, doesn't include your calendar events.

Privacy and permissions

With every option here, what the assistant reads becomes part of your conversation, and the assistant's provider (Anthropic, for Claude) handles it under its own privacy policy. Todoist, 2Do and Cultured Code all say so in their help pages. The routes differ in what else is involved:

• Remote: your tasks pass between the app maker's servers and Anthropic's. You approve access once, and you can usually revoke it from the app's settings; Todoist's is under Settings, Integrations.
• Local: the link between the app and the assistant stays on your Mac. The assistant still sends what it reads to its provider.

The controls differ too. Todoist's connection asks for one read-and-write permission, and Todoist notes that most assistants confirm before writing anything. 2Do's extension can reach only 2Do's task data, and lists you've locked stay locked. Alcove gives each assistant four switches (read, create, update and delete), makes every new assistant wait for your approval, starts it with read only, and records every request, refused ones included, in an activity log.

Whichever app you choose, start with read access only. Let the assistant summarise and suggest for a few days before you let it change anything.

Where Alcove fits (I make it)

Alcove: Tasks & Notes has a local MCP server built into its Mac app. It's off until you turn it on, needs no account, and nothing goes through an Alcove server, because there isn't one. Tasks an assistant adds on the Mac reach your iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud.

In version 1.0 the server has 29 tools for tasks, lists, tags, notes, attachments and a day summary. From version 1.1, assistants can also work with boards, set reminder types and read files and pictures you've attached. It works with Claude's desktop app, Claude Code and other apps that start local MCP servers.

Alcove isn't the right pick if you want Claude on your phone or the web to manage your tasks, or if you use ChatGPT: Todoist and TickTick do that. It also isn't a shared list for a family or team.

Setting it up takes about two minutes:

1. In Alcove on the Mac, open Settings, choose MCP and turn on Local MCP server.
2. Click Copy MCP config and add it to Claude's desktop app, or add the server to Claude Code with one command.
3. Ask Claude about your tasks, then approve it in Alcove and choose what it may do.

The full steps for each assistant app are in connecting Claude to your to-do list, and planning your day with Claude has prompts to start with. For what Alcove keeps on your devices and what can leave them, see a private to-do list.

Sources

Checked in October 2026:

• Use Todoist in Claude and Connect Todoist to an AI assistant, Todoist Help Center
• TickTick MCP, TickTick Help Center
• Third-Party AI Tools and Things, Cultured Code
• Hey Siri, We're Ready!, The Omni Group, 14 September 2026, OmniFocus pricing and OmniFocus features
• 2Do Claude Desktop MCP extension and 2Do licensing explained
• Use Claude with iOS apps and Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP, Claude Help Center
• Connect and test your plugin and Secure MCP Tunnel, OpenAI
• Community servers: iMCP for Reminders on the Mac, and Microsoft To Do MCP
• App Store listings: Todoist, TickTick, Things 3 for Mac, iPhone and iPad, 2Do for iPhone and iPad, and Microsoft To Do

Questions people ask