RTM Server

A production-quality Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Remember The Milk task management.

Enables Claude to manage your tasks through natural language conversation.

Features

• Full RTM API Coverage: 30+ tools covering tasks, lists, tags, notes, and more
• Smart Add Syntax: Natural language task creation ("Call mom ^tomorrow !1 #family")
• Undo Support: All write operations return transaction IDs for undo
• Async Performance: Built on httpx with connection pooling
• Type Safety: Full Pydantic models and type hints

Installation

Using uvx (Recommended)

uvx rtm-mcp

Using pip

pip install rtm-mcp

From Source

git clone https://github.com/ljadach/rtm-mcp.git
cd rtm-mcp
uv sync

Setup

1. Get RTM API Credentials

RTM API keys are issued through a separate developer portal (not your account settings):

1. Go to RTM API Key Registration — you may need to log in first
2. Click "Apply for an API Key"
3. Fill in the form — app name (e.g. "Claude MCP"), description, anything works
4. After submitting, you'll see your API Key and Shared Secret — save both

2. Run Setup

rtm-setup

This will:

• Prompt for your API credentials
• Open your browser for authorization
• Save the auth token to ~/.config/rtm-mcp/config.json

3. Configure Claude Desktop

Add to ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rtm": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["rtm-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

Once configured, you can ask Claude to manage your tasks:

• "Show my tasks due today"
• "Add a task to buy groceries tomorrow, high priority"
• "Complete the grocery task"
• "What high priority tasks do I have?"
• "Move the meeting prep task to my Work list"
• "Add a note to the project task"

Smart Add Syntax

When adding tasks, use RTM's Smart Add syntax:

Symbol	Meaning	Example
^	Due date	^tomorrow, ^next friday
!	Priority	!1 (high), !2 (medium), !3 (low)
#	Tag	#work, #urgent
@	Location	@home, @office
=	Estimate	=30min, =2h
*	Repeat	*daily, *every monday

Example: "Review report ^friday !1 #work =1h *weekly"

Available Tools

Tasks

• list_tasks - List tasks with filters
• add_task - Create a new task
• complete_task / uncomplete_task - Mark done or reopen
• delete_task - Remove a task
• postpone_task - Move due date by one day
• move_task - Move to different list
• set_task_name - Rename task
• set_task_due_date - Change due date
• set_task_priority - Set priority level
• set_task_recurrence - Set repeat pattern
• set_task_start_date - Set start date
• set_task_estimate - Set time estimate
• set_task_url - Attach URL
• add_task_tags / remove_task_tags - Manage tags

Notes

• add_note - Add note to task
• edit_note - Edit existing note
• delete_note - Remove note
• get_task_notes - View all notes

Lists

• get_lists - List all lists
• add_list - Create new list
• rename_list - Rename list
• delete_list - Delete list
• archive_list / unarchive_list - Archive management
• set_default_list - Set default list

Utilities

• test_connection - Test API connectivity
• check_auth - Verify authentication
• get_tags - List all tags
• get_locations - List saved locations
• get_settings - View user settings
• get_contacts / get_groups - Contact management
• parse_time - Parse natural language time
• undo - Undo previous operation

Configuration

Environment Variables

RTM_API_KEY=your_api_key
RTM_SHARED_SECRET=your_shared_secret
RTM_AUTH_TOKEN=your_token

Config File

~/.config/rtm-mcp/config.json:

{
  "api_key": "your_api_key",
  "shared_secret": "your_shared_secret",
  "token": "your_token"
}

Development

# Install dev dependencies
make dev

# Run linting
make lint

# Run tests
make test

# Run with coverage
make test/coverage

# Format code
make format

Docker

docker build -t rtm-mcp .
docker run -it --rm \
  -e RTM_API_KEY \
  -e RTM_SHARED_SECRET \
  -e RTM_AUTH_TOKEN \
  rtm-mcp

Claude Desktop config for Docker:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rtm": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "RTM_API_KEY",
        "-e", "RTM_SHARED_SECRET",
        "-e", "RTM_AUTH_TOKEN",
        "rtm-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• Remember The Milk for the excellent task management service
• FastMCP for the MCP framework
• Anthropic for Claude and the MCP specification