Apple Calendar MCP

A Claude Desktop extension that gives Claude full access to Apple Calendar on macOS via Apple's first-class EventKit framework. Read, search, create, update, and delete events — including recurring events (edited per-occurrence or for all future occurrences), alarms, structured locations, attendee read-back, and free/busy availability.

Packaged as an MCPB desktop extension with the Calendar.app icon and one-click install.

Companion to the Apple Mail, Apple Reminders, Apple Notes, and Apple Messages connectors.

---

What it does

Tool	Description
list_calendars	Every calendar with id, title, color, source/account, write-access flag, and which is the default
create_calendar	Create a new calendar (optional color and source)
update_calendar	Rename or recolor an existing calendar
delete_calendar	Delete a calendar and all its events (destructive)
get_stats	Calendar count, events today, events in the next 7 days, next upcoming event
list_events	Event occurrences in a date range with filters: calendars, text, all-day, canceled
search_events	Free-text search across title, notes, and location, within an optional date range
get_event	Full detail — notes, URL, organizer, attendees + their responses, recurrence, alarms, location, time zone
get_event_link	ical:// URL to open the event in Calendar.app
get_availability	Merged busy intervals (free/busy) over a range — the gaps are your open slots
create_event	Create with full property set: recurrence, alarms, structured location, availability, time zone
update_event	Update any subset of properties; occurrence_date + span control recurring scope; clear_* flags remove fields
delete_event	Delete an event or occurrence(s) of a recurring series (span-aware)

How it works

Communication with Calendar happens through EventKit (EKEventStore, EKEvent, EKCalendar, EKRecurrenceRule, EKAlarm, EKStructuredLocation) via PyObjC — the same first-class framework Calendar.app itself uses, reading the same local store (including iCloud-, Google-, and Exchange-synced calendars).

This is the same approach as the companion Apple Reminders connector, and differs from the AppleScript/JXA route: EventKit exposes the full data model (recurrence read-back, per-occurrence editing, attendee responses, structured locations) and is dramatically faster. Unlike Reminders, event fetches are synchronous in EventKit, so no async bridging is needed; the one quirk is that the events predicate spans at most ~4 years per query, so wider ranges are chunked transparently.

Recurring events

Occurrences of a recurring event share one stable event_id; each occurrence returned by list_events also carries an occurrence_date. Write tools accept both:

• occurrence_date picks which occurrence you're targeting
• span picks the scope: this_event (just that occurrence, detaching it) or future_events (that occurrence and everything after)

---

Requirements

• macOS 14 Sonoma or later (requestFullAccessToEvents was added in 14)
• Python 3.11+
• Claude Desktop with extension support
• Calendar permission — Full Access — granted to Claude Desktop (see below)

---

Installation

Option 1: Desktop Extension (recommended)

Download the latest .mcpb from Releases, then double-click to install.

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/falconbradley/claude-connector-apple-calendar.git
cd claude-connector-apple-calendar
./build.sh

Then double-click dist/apple-calendar.mcpb (or drag it into Claude Desktop).

The extension appears in Settings > Extensions with the Calendar icon.

Option 2: Manual MCP config

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-calendar": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--project", "/path/to/claude-connector-apple-calendar", "apple-calendar-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Permissions

The first time Claude calls a Calendar tool, macOS will prompt you to grant Calendars access. Choose Full Access — the macOS 14+ "Add Only" grant can't read events back, so every read tool (and the read-back after each write) would fail.

If the prompt doesn't appear (which can happen with unsigned interpreters launched as child processes):

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Calendars
2. Add Claude Desktop (or whichever process is running uv) and enable Full Access
3. Quit and relaunch Claude Desktop

To verify access status, run:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db \
  "SELECT client, auth_value FROM access WHERE service='kTCCServiceCalendar'"

(auth_value of 2 = full access, 0 = denied.)

---

Usage examples

Once installed, just ask Claude naturally:

• "What's on my calendar today?"
• "When am I free for an hour tomorrow afternoon?"
• "Schedule lunch with Sam on Friday at noon at Zuni Café."
• "Move my 3pm to 4:30 and make it 45 minutes."
• "Set up a weekly team sync every Tuesday at 10am for the next 8 weeks."
• "Cancel just next Monday's standup, keep the rest of the series."
• "Add a 10-minute-before alert to my dentist appointment."
• "Who hasn't responded to the offsite invite?"
• "Create a 'Travel' calendar and put my flight itinerary on it."

---

Building from source

# Install mcpb CLI (one time)
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/mcpb

# Install uv (one time, if not already installed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Build the extension
./build.sh

# Or manually:
mcpb validate manifest.json
mcpb pack . dist/apple-calendar.mcpb

Project layout

claude-connector-apple-calendar/
├── manifest.json                    # MCPB desktop extension manifest
├── icon.png                         # Calendar.app icon (512x512)
├── icons/                           # Multi-size icons
│   ├── icon-128.png
│   ├── icon-256.png
│   └── icon-512.png
├── pyproject.toml                   # Python package + dependencies
├── build.sh                         # Validate + pack build script (gates on version drift)
├── tools/                           # Dev-only icon extraction (not packed)
├── tests/
│   └── test_e2e.py                  # End-to-end tests
└── src/
    └── apple_calendar_mcp/
        ├── __init__.py
        ├── server.py                # MCP tools (MCPServer)
        ├── calendars.py             # EventKit-backed CalendarStore
        ├── permissions.py           # TCC grant helpers
        └── models.py                # Pydantic data models

Tests

# Static tests (model shapes, validation, helpers — no permission needed)
uv run python tests/test_e2e.py --skip-live

# Full suite (requires Calendar permission)
uv run python tests/test_e2e.py

Live tests operate against a dedicated __claude_mcp_test__ calendar which is created at setup and torn down at the end.

---

Security & privacy

• All data stays on your Mac — this is a local MCP server. EventKit reads from the same store Calendar.app uses, including iCloud/Google/Exchange-synced calendars.
• Operations gated by macOS TCC: nothing happens until you grant Calendar access.
• macOS-only ("platforms": ["darwin"] in manifest).
• The connector never reaches outside the Calendar entity — no Reminders, contacts, or files.
• Destructive operations (delete_calendar, delete_event) are explicit tools the model must choose to call; they don't run as side effects of reads.
• Creating or modifying events never emails invitations — EventKit's public API can't add attendees, so nothing leaves your machine.

---

Troubleshooting

"Apple Calendar access was not granted" Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Calendars, ensure Claude Desktop is listed with Full Access (not "Add Only"), then restart Claude Desktop.

Permission prompt doesn't appear Unsigned Python interpreters launched by Claude Desktop sometimes don't trigger the prompt automatically. Add Claude Desktop manually under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Calendars.

Events beyond ~4 years out don't appear EventKit's events predicate spans at most 4 years per query. The connector chunks wider ranges automatically, but extremely wide ranges will be slow — prefer narrower windows.

A recurring-event edit changed the whole series Pass occurrence_date (from list_events) to target one occurrence, and keep span='this_event'. span='future_events' intentionally rewrites that occurrence and everything after it.

Can Claude invite people to a meeting? No — EventKit's public API exposes attendees read-only. Claude can read who's invited and how they responded, but you add invitees in Calendar.app.

Extension doesn't appear after install Make sure you're running a recent Claude Desktop that supports MCPB extensions. Restart Claude Desktop after installing.

---

Roadmap

v1 — shipped

• [x] List, create, rename, delete calendars
• [x] List, search, get events with filters and pagination
• [x] Create, update, delete events (span-aware for recurring series)
• [x] Recurrence (daily/weekly/monthly/yearly with intervals, by-day, by-month, set positions, end conditions)
• [x] Alarms (relative, absolute)
• [x] Structured (geocoded) locations
• [x] Attendee and organizer read-back with response status
• [x] Free/busy availability with interval merging
• [x] ical:// deep links

v2 — under consideration

• [ ] RSVP / respond-to-invite (blocked on public EventKit API)
• [ ] Travel-time and conference-URL read-back where EventKit exposes them
• [ ] Bulk operations (move/delete multiple events)
• [ ] Natural "find a slot for N people" helper on top of get_availability

---

License

MIT