MCP server for Apple services in Claude Code and Cursor

icloud-mcp covers seven Apple services with two interchangeable backends, and as far as we know it is the only MCP server that does. In local mode it drives the native macOS apps through AppleScript: no credentials, no network, and it reaches the services the iCloud protocols do not expose (Reminders, Notes, Messages, Safari). In cloud mode it speaks IMAP/SMTP, CalDAV and CardDAV instead, so it runs on any machine, not just a Mac. The set-mode tool switches between the two at runtime, without a restart.

Features

The server exposes 41 tools across Email, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, Notes, Messages and Safari. Each tool carries a typed schema, a human title and behavioural annotations, and every list-* tool returns machine-readable structuredContent alongside its text output. Local mode needs no passwords at all; macOS Automation permissions take their place.

Access and security model

The server speaks JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout only. It opens no ports and listens on no socket.

Credentials are never logged. ICLOUD_APP_PASSWORD is read once at startup and handed only to the IMAP/SMTP/CalDAV/CardDAV clients; diagnostics print a fixed mask, never the value. Where you keep the password is up to you: a .env file beside the module for a manual install, or the .mcpb bundle's sensitive field, which the host stores in the macOS Keychain. Local mode has no password anywhere, since macOS gates access per app through its own Automation prompts, and you can revoke those at any time.

Every tool argument is validated against a zod schema before the handler runs. Arguments are also coerced at each AppleScript interpolation site, so a value that is not a number cannot reach a script template.

Privacy Policy

The server collects nothing and keeps nothing: no telemetry, no analytics, no state on disk. Your data moves only between your machine, the AI client you connect and Apple's services. The full policy, covering collection, storage, third-party sharing, retention and contact, is in PRIVACY.md.

Tools

Tools marked local only return an error in cloud mode, because the iCloud protocols do not expose those services.

Authentication

• about
  • Returns information about this server, the active mode and whether credentials are configured
  • No input
• check-auth-status
  • Verifies credentials are usable for the active mode
  • No input
• set-mode
  • Switches between local and cloud without restarting
  • Input: mode (string, local or cloud)

Email

• list-emails: folder (string, optional), count (number, optional, max 50)
• read-email: uid (string), folder (string, optional)
• send-email: to, subject, body (strings); cc, bcc (strings, optional); isHtml (boolean, optional, cloud mode only)
• search-emails: query, from, subject, folder (strings, optional), unreadOnly (boolean, optional), count (number, optional)
• mark-as-read: uid (string), folder (string, optional), isRead (boolean, optional)
• list-folders: no input

Calendar

• list-events: count (number, optional, max 50), daysAhead (number, optional)
• create-event: summary, start, end (strings, ISO 8601); description, location (optional); calendarUrl (cloud) or calendarName (local)
• update-event: eventUrl (string); any of summary, start, end, description, location. Only the fields you pass change
• delete-event: eventUrl (string)
• list-calendars: no input

Contacts

• list-contacts: count (number, optional, max 50)
• search-contacts: query (string), count (number, optional). Matches name, organisation, email and phone; phone matching ignores formatting
• read-contact: contactUrl (string)
• create-contact: displayName, firstName, lastName, email, phone, organization, title, notes (all optional)
• delete-contact: contactUrl (string)
• list-contact-accounts: no input (local only)
• list-contact-groups: accountId (string, optional) (local only)

Reminders (local only)

• list-reminder-lists: no input
• list-reminders: listName (string, optional), includeCompleted (boolean, optional), count (number, optional)
• create-reminder: name (string); body, dueDate, listName (optional); priority (number 0-9, optional)
• update-reminder: reminderId (string); any of name, body, dueDate, priority
• complete-reminder: reminderId (string), completed (boolean, optional)
• delete-reminder: reminderId (string)
• search-reminders: query (string), count (number, optional)

Notes (local only)

• list-note-folders: no input
• list-notes: folderName (string, optional), count (number, optional)
• read-note: noteId (string)
• create-note: title (string), body (string, optional), folderName (string, optional)
• search-notes: query (string), count (number, optional)

Messages (local only)

Reading requires the imsg CLI and Full Disk Access.

• list-chats: limit (number, optional)
• read-messages: chatId (number); limit (number, optional); start, end (ISO 8601, optional); attachments (boolean, optional)
• send-message: to (string), body (string), file (string, optional)
• react-message: chatId (number), type (love, like, dislike, laugh, emphasis, question)

Safari (local only)

• list-safari-tabs: no input
• get-current-safari-url: no input
• open-safari-url: url (string), inNewWindow (boolean, optional)
• close-safari-tab: windowIndex (number, optional), tabIndex (number, optional)

Tool annotations (MCP hints)

Every tool declares its behaviour explicitly instead of relying on the spec defaults, which are deliberately pessimistic. All list-*, read-*, search-* and get-* tools, plus about and check-auth-status, are marked read-only. Nine tools carry destructiveHint: the four deletions (delete-event, delete-contact, delete-reminder, close-safari-tab), the three that reach another person irrevocably (send-email, send-message, react-message) and the two in-place updates (update-event, update-reminder). Tools that reach the network or another person carry openWorldHint: all Email and Calendar tools, send-message, react-message and open-safari-url. The read-only tools plus mark-as-read, complete-reminder, update-reminder, update-event and set-mode are marked idempotent.

Installation

Requires Node.js 20 or newer.

Let your AI install it

Paste this into Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT or any agent with shell or config access:

Install the iCloud MCP server. It is the npm package "mcp-icloud" (Node 20+),
stdio transport, server name "icloud", command "npx" with args ["-y", "mcp-icloud"].
On Claude Code run: claude mcp add --transport stdio icloud -- npx -y mcp-icloud
For other clients, add that command/args pair to the client's MCP config file.
Local mode (default) needs macOS; cloud mode needs env vars USE_LOCAL_MODE=false,
ICLOUD_EMAIL and ICLOUD_APP_PASSWORD (app-specific password from account.apple.com).
Docs: https://github.com/MrGo2/icloud-mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "icloud": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-icloud"]
    }
  }
}

For cloud mode, add credentials:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "icloud": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-icloud"],
      "env": {
        "USE_LOCAL_MODE": "false",
        "ICLOUD_EMAIL": "you@icloud.com",
        "ICLOUD_APP_PASSWORD": "xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport stdio icloud -- npx -y mcp-icloud

VS Code

Use the badge at the top of this README, or add the same command/args pair to your MCP settings.

Desktop extension (.mcpb)

Download the .mcpb from Releases and open it to sideload. The bundle prompts for the mode and, for cloud mode, stores the app-specific password in the macOS Keychain rather than a file.

Permissions and troubleshooting

macOS Automation prompts (local mode)

The first time a tool touches an app, macOS asks whether the calling program may control it. This happens once per app, not once per tool. Approve the prompt, or grant it later under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation.

If you dismissed a prompt, calls to that app fail with an authorisation error (osascript error -1743, "not authorized to send Apple events"). macOS will not ask again on its own. Re-enable the checkbox under Automation, or reset the decisions:

tccutil reset AppleEvents

That clears Automation permissions for every app, so expect the prompts to return on next use.

Full Disk Access (reading messages)

list-chats and read-messages read the Messages database through the imsg CLI, which is gated by Full Disk Access, not Automation. Grant it to the program that launches the server (Claude Desktop, your terminal, or your editor) under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. Without it, those tools report that Full Disk Access is required.

If imsg is installed somewhere unusual, point at it explicitly:

export ICLOUD_MCP_IMSG_PATH=/opt/homebrew/bin/imsg

The server otherwise looks in ICLOUD_MCP_IMSG_PATH, IMSG_PATH, both Homebrew prefixes, and finally PATH.

Known limitation: large mailboxes

Mail.app tools iterate messages through AppleScript, which is slow on very large mailboxes and can exceed the Apple Event timeout before returning. Narrow the request with folder and a smaller count, or use cloud mode, where IMAP does the filtering server-side. This is a property of the AppleScript bridge, not something the server can work around.

Known limitation: large calendar sets

list-events in local mode suffers the same AppleScript wall. The date window is already filtered inside Calendar.app with a whose query, but on accounts with many calendars, especially subscribed ones carrying years of events (holidays, sports fixtures, travel feeds), the query can still exceed any reasonable timeout. list-calendars and the event write tools are not affected. Until the planned EventKit backend lands (see #10), use cloud mode for reading events: CalDAV filters server-side and is fast at any scale.

App-specific password (cloud mode)

Cloud mode needs an app-specific password. Your normal Apple ID password will not work, and Apple only issues app-specific passwords on accounts with two-factor authentication turned on.

1. Sign in at appleid.apple.com.
2. Go to Sign-In and Security → App-Specific Passwords.
3. Generate one and name it, for example, "iCloud MCP".
4. Put it in ICLOUD_APP_PASSWORD, together with ICLOUD_EMAIL.

Revoke it from the same page if it is ever exposed.

Checking what the server thinks

Call about for the active mode and service list, and check-auth-status to confirm credentials are usable in the current mode.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or newer
• Local mode: macOS with the relevant apps installed, plus imsg and Full Disk Access if you want to read messages
• Cloud mode: any OS, an iCloud account with two-factor authentication, and an app-specific password. Covers Email, Calendar and Contacts only

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
USE_LOCAL_MODE	true	false selects cloud mode
ICLOUD_EMAIL	(unset)	iCloud address, cloud mode only
ICLOUD_APP_PASSWORD	(unset)	App-specific password, cloud mode only
ICLOUD_MCP_IMSG_PATH	(unset)	Explicit path to the imsg binary

Read from the environment, or from a .env file beside the module. See .env.example.

Development

pnpm is the supported package manager; pnpm-lock.yaml is the committed lockfile.

pnpm install
pnpm test          # unit + contract suites, and a live stdio session
pnpm run inspect   # drive the server with the MCP Inspector

The test suites stub osascript and the imsg CLI, so they touch no real mail, calendar or message data and run on any OS.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.