Using Alcove with ChatGPT and Claude

Connect your AI agent to Alcove once. It can then add and update your todos, events, birthdays and articles, and everything appears in the Alcove app on your iPhone.

What Alcove's MCP server does

Alcove is a calm iPhone dashboard for todos, events, birthdays and articles. Its MCP server lets an AI agent you connect work with your own Alcove data: read what is there, add new things and change or remove them when you ask. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard agents use to work with other apps.

The agent only works with your Alcove account. Alcove does not browse, scrape or recommend content, has no AI of its own and never receives your conversations with the agent: only the requests the agent sends to Alcove, such as the title of a todo it adds.

Before you start

An Alcove account. Install Alcove on your iPhone (iOS 26 or later) and sign in with Apple. Accounts are created in the app, not on the web.
An active Alcove subscription on that account (see Subscription).
An agent that supports remote MCP servers with sign-in (OAuth), such as Claude or ChatGPT. Most people connect on a computer.

Alcove's address

Every agent connects to the same address:

https://alcovesurface.com/mcp

The address is the same for every Alcove user. Your account is linked when you sign in. You also find it in the app under Settings, Connect an agent, where "Send to my computer" sends it with these steps.

Connect Claude

In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors.
Choose Add, then Add custom connector. Name it Alcove and paste the address.
Choose Continue. Claude opens the Alcove sign-in page in your browser.
Sign in with the Apple ID you use for Alcove, then choose Allow. Claude takes you back.

Custom connectors work on every Claude plan. A Free plan can add one. On Team and Enterprise plans an owner adds Alcove first.

Connect ChatGPT

ChatGPT can connect Alcove on Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, on chatgpt.com in a browser. Other plans may not offer it.

On a computer, open chatgpt.com and go to Plugins.
Select +, then Add custom MCP server. Name it Alcove and paste the address.
Choose OAuth for authentication, confirm “I understand and want to continue”, then create it.
ChatGPT opens the Alcove sign-in page. Sign in with the Apple ID you use for Alcove and choose Allow.

No “Add custom MCP server” in Plugins? Your ChatGPT plan doesn't offer it. Claude is the easier way: custom connectors work on every Claude plan.

Other agents

Any agent that supports remote MCP servers with sign-in (OAuth) can connect.
Paste the address where the agent asks for a server URL.
Sign in with Apple when Alcove opens, and choose Allow.

When you connect, your agent opens Alcove's sign-in page in the browser. Sign in with Apple using the same Apple ID as in the iPhone app. Alcove then shows what the agent will be able to use: your articles, todos, events, birthdays, settings and theme. Access is all or nothing, so there is nothing to pick. Choose Allow and the page sends you back to your agent, or Cancel and nothing is connected.

The agent never sees your Apple ID or password. It cannot manage your subscription or delete your account.

What your agent can do

Alcove offers your agent these tools. Tools under “Reads” only look at your data. Tools under “Changes” add, edit or delete something. Edits and deletes are marked as changes that overwrite or remove data, so agents such as Claude and ChatGPT usually ask you before running them.

Getting started and feedback

A short summary of your setup with first things to add, and a way for the agent to tell the Alcove team when something didn't work or you'd like a feature. Feedback works even without an active subscription.

Reads: Get started with Alcove
Changes: Send feedback to Alcove

Todos and projects

Deadlines, reminders, repeats, labels and priority. Completing a todo keeps its history; deleting a project moves its todos, it never deletes them.

Reads: List projects, Get todo, List todos, Get todo completion history
Changes: Create project, Rename project, Reorder projects, Delete project, Create todo, Edit todo, Reschedule todo, Change todo repeat schedule, Stop todo repeating, Complete todo, Undo todo completion, Snooze todo reminder, Delete todo

Events

Your response (interested, going, not interested) stays in Alcove. Nothing is sent to organisers.

Reads: Get event, List events
Changes: Add event, Edit event, Set event response, Delete event

Birthdays

With or without the year.

Reads: Get birthday, List birthdays
Changes: Add birthday, Edit birthday, Delete birthday

Articles and categories

A share link makes that one article readable by anyone who has the link, until you revoke it. Deleting a category keeps its articles.

Reads: Get article, List articles, Get article share link, List categories
Changes: Create article, Edit article, Delete article, Change article categories, Create article share link, Revoke article share link, Copy shared article to library, Create category, Rename category, Reorder categories, Delete category

Images

For articles and events: an image the agent uploads, or one public https image address that Alcove fetches and stores a copy of.

Reads: Get image import result
Changes: Start image upload, Import image

Settings and theme

Which sections show, your timezone, notification preferences and the app's colours.

Reads: Get settings, Get theme
Changes: Update settings, Update theme colours, Reset theme

Edits and deletes apply to the version the agent last read. If the item changed in the meantime, for example in the app, Alcove refuses the change and returns the latest version, so nothing you changed is silently overwritten.

Example requests

“Add a todo to renew my passport by 30 November and remind me a week before.”

“What's due this week? Mark the dentist one as done.”

“Save this event: Budapest Jazz Night, 14 November, 20:00 to 23:00 at the Opera.”

“Remember that Anna's birthday is on 3 March. I don't know the year.”

“Write a one-page summary of what we just discussed about passkeys and save it as an article in my Tech category.”

Mention Alcove in your request when the agent has several connectors, for example “Add a todo in Alcove to call mum tomorrow”.

Tips

Start with “Get started”. Ask “Help me get started with Alcove”, or choose Alcove's Get started prompt where your agent lists a connector's prompts. The agent looks at what you already have and suggests up to three first things, such as setting your timezone or adding a birthday.
Fewer approval prompts in Claude. Claude asks before each tool call until you allow it. In Customize, Connectors, Alcove, set the tools you trust to “Always allow”. Tools that delete or overwrite data are marked as such, so you can keep those on approval.
Your agent offers, you decide. When you mention a deadline, a plan with a date, a birthday or a link to read later, the agent may offer once to save it to Alcove. It asks first unless you already asked it to save.
Something didn't work? Say “Send feedback to Alcove” and describe it. The agent can also report a problem on its own; reports contain no more of your content than needed.

Disconnecting

In the Alcove app, open Settings, then Connected agents, and choose Disconnect next to the agent. It loses access immediately. Your data stays in Alcove.

You can also remove the connector in Claude or ChatGPT. To be sure the agent can no longer reach your data, disconnect it in Alcove as well. To connect again later, start from the agent as before.

Subscription

Agent access is part of an Alcove subscription, which you manage in the iPhone app through the App Store. If the subscription is not active, the agent can still see Alcove's tools, but every tool except feedback answers that agent access needs an active subscription. Nothing is deleted, and access resumes automatically once the subscription is active again.

Troubleshooting

Alcove says there is no account for my Apple ID: Accounts are created in the iPhone app. Install Alcove, sign in with Apple there, then connect your agent again with the same Apple ID. If you have more than one Apple ID, use the one you signed in with on your iPhone.
The agent says agent access needs an active subscription: The subscription on your Alcove account is not active. Open Alcove on your iPhone: it shows your subscription and lets you restore it. Access resumes on the next request once it is active; you don't need to reconnect.
The agent says it is disconnected, unauthorised or asks you to sign in again: The connection was removed in Settings, Connected agents, or it was not used for 30 days and its sign-in expired. Connect again from the agent; your data is still there.
ChatGPT has no “Add custom MCP server”: Your ChatGPT plan doesn't offer custom MCP servers. Use Claude instead, which supports custom connectors on every plan.
The sign-in page doesn't open: Allow pop-ups for your agent's website, or start the connection again from the agent.
The agent reports a conflict: The item changed since the agent last read it, often because you edited it in the app. Ask the agent to look again and repeat the change.
The agent reports too many requests: Alcove limits how much one connection can do in a short time to keep the service fair. Wait a little and try again.
Something the agent added doesn't appear in the app: Check that the section is shown (Settings, Sections) and that the app is online. Changes usually appear within seconds.

Privacy

Your Alcove data is stored in the European Union.
Alcove never receives your conversations with the agent, only the requests the agent sends to Alcove.
The agent's provider (for example Anthropic or OpenAI) handles the Alcove data the agent reads under its own terms and privacy policy, and may process it outside the EU.
No ads and no tracking. You can disconnect any agent at any time, and export your data or delete your account in the app.

Details are in the Privacy Policy.

Support

Email support@alcovesurface.com. Tell us which agent you use and what you see. Never send passwords or access tokens. More answers are on the Support page.