Macuse — AI Superpowers for Every Mac App

Give your AI direct control of Calendar, Mail, Notes, Reminders, Messages, and any other Mac app over the Model Context Protocol — an MCP server for Mac plus Computer Use for macOS, fully on-device.

Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Raycast, VS Code, Warp, Zed, LM Studio, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible client.

This repo packages Macuse for agent clients: the Claude Desktop .mcpb installer and the agent plugin for Claude Code and Codex. The macOS app itself and the full docs live at macuse.app.

| You use | Install this | Get | | --- | --- | --- | | Claude Code, Codex | Agent plugin | MCP tools + skills | | Claude Desktop | .mcpb bundle | MCP tools | | Cursor, Raycast, VS Code, Zed, … | Direct command | MCP tools |

All three connect to the same local server. The plugin additionally installs skills — instructions that teach the agent how to use the tools correctly instead of discovering the parameter shapes by trial and error.

What Macuse Does

Two complementary ways for AI to work with your Mac. Everything runs locally — your data never leaves your device.

Native App Integrations

Your AI reads and writes directly to macOS apps through natural conversation.

| Toolbox | What you can ask | | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Calendar | "Schedule a meeting next Tuesday at 3pm", find free time, manage events | | Mail | "Draft a reply to this email", search inbox, organize messages | | Notes | "Find notes mentioning the Q2 launch", capture ideas, append to notes | | Reminders | Create tasks with due dates and priorities, mark complete, search across lists | | Messages | Read and send iMessages, search conversations | | Stickies | Search, read, and create sticky notes in Apple Stickies | | Contacts | Look up by name, email, phone, or company | | Maps & Location | Place search, directions, travel time, current location | | Shortcuts | Browse installed Shortcuts and run them with optional input |

Computer Use on macOS

See and control any Mac app — even ones without a dedicated integration. Macuse brings Computer Use to macOS for any MCP client, not just Claude or Codex.

• Click any element, type text, navigate menus, drive any app
• Fill out web forms, operate enterprise software, automate APIs that don't exist
• Runs in the background — your cursor and active window stay untouched while AI works in another app

Install as an Agent Plugin

For Claude Code and Codex. Bundles the MCP server with three skills, so the agent knows the workflows, parameter formats, and permission-error recovery paths up front.

1. Install Macuse: download from macuse.app/download, drag Macuse.app to /Applications, and launch it once

2. Add the marketplace and install:

   Claude Code

   /plugin marketplace add macuse-app/macuse-mcp
   /plugin install macuse@macuse-plugins
   

   Codex

   codex plugin marketplace add macuse-app/macuse-mcp
   codex plugin add macuse@macuse-plugins
   

3. Approve OAuth: on the first tool call, approve the authorization prompt in the Macuse window

Restart the session (or run /reload-plugins in Claude Code) if tools do not appear immediately. Set MACUSE_BINARY if the app is not in /Applications.

Skills Included

| Skill | Covers | | --- | --- | | macuse-setup | Install, connect a client, grant macOS permissions, diagnose a broken setup | | macuse-apps | Calendar, Mail, Reminders, Notes, Messages, Location — routing, parameter shapes, workflow ordering | | macuse-computer-use | Driving any Mac app's GUI — inspect/act/verify loop, element targeting, error recovery |

The agent loads a skill only when the task calls for it. Details live in plugins/macuse/README.md.

Codex users: write operations currently fail because Codex auto-declines consent prompts from third-party MCP servers (openai/codex#18896). Reads work normally.

Install for Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop doesn't support remote http:// connectors directly, so this .mcpb is the one-click installer. For other MCP clients, see Use With Other Clients below.

1. Install Macuse:
   • Download from macuse.app/download
   • Drag Macuse.app to /Applications and launch it
   • Grant the permissions the app prompts for
2. Install the bundle: download macuse.mcpb from Releases and double-click to open in Claude Desktop
3. Approve OAuth: approve the authorization prompt that pops up — connection done

To uninstall, remove the entry from Claude Desktop settings.

Use With Other MCP Clients

For clients that accept a custom command (Cursor, Codex, Raycast, VS Code, Warp, Zed, LM Studio, Windsurf, ChatWise, and more), skip this bundle and configure directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "macuse": {
      "command": "/Applications/Macuse.app/Contents/MacOS/macuse",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Per-client setup guides: macuse.app/docs/clients.

Privacy & Permissions

• Local-only. All processing stays on your Mac. No cloud, no telemetry of your content.
• Per-app permissions. Allow, deny, or one-time-approve each AI client for each app it touches. Sensitive apps like password managers and banking re-confirm every time. Revoking an AI client automatically clears its app permissions.
• Per-client OAuth. Each MCP client gets its own authorization, manageable in Macuse settings.

How This Works

Every install path is a thin shim over the same thing: macuse mcp, the CLI built into the Macuse macOS app. All MCP protocol handling, OAuth, permissions, and reconnection live inside the app.

• The .mcpb bundle is a ~130 LOC Node stdio wrapper that spawns macuse mcp and forwards JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout. It exists solely because Claude Desktop doesn't yet support http:// remote connectors directly.
• The plugin skips Node entirely — a shell launcher execs the same binary, and adds the skills on top.

Override the binary path with the MACUSE_BINARY environment variable (configurable in the Claude Desktop bundle UI). Default: /Applications/Macuse.app/Contents/MacOS/macuse.

Repo Layout

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json   Claude Code marketplace catalog
.agents/plugins/marketplace.json  Codex marketplace catalog
plugins/macuse/                   The plugin — manifests, launcher, skills
src/, bin/                        Node stdio wrapper for the .mcpb bundle
manifest.json                     .mcpb bundle manifest (Claude Desktop)
server.json                       MCP Registry entry

Both marketplaces point at plugins/macuse in this repo, so one push updates every channel. Version strings across package.json, manifest.json, and both plugin manifests are synced at release time by scripts/sync-manifest-version.js.

Validate plugin changes before pushing:

claude plugin validate ./plugins/macuse --strict   # plugin manifest
claude plugin validate . --strict                  # marketplace catalog

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later — Apple Silicon or Intel
• Macuse macOS app installed
• Node 20.8.1+ for the .mcpb bundle only (bundled by Claude Desktop's runtime); the plugin has no Node dependency

Links

• Website: macuse.app
• Download: macuse.app/download
• Docs: macuse.app/docs
• Pricing: macuse.app/pricing — free tier with daily limits, or one-time Lifetime
• MCP spec: modelcontextprotocol.io

License

This MCPB bundle is MIT-licensed. The Macuse macOS application is a separate commercial product — see macuse.app for details.