Things Cloud

Use this skill when the user wants an agent to inspect or safely update Things 3 tasks through Things Cloud.

Prefer the MCP server when the host supports MCP. Use the CLI as the fallback or when the user asks for explicit shell commands.

Setup

Install the maintained CLI and MCP server:

go install github.com/pdurlej/things-cloud-sdk/cmd/[email protected]
go install github.com/pdurlej/things-cloud-sdk/cmd/[email protected]

Set credentials:

export THINGS_USERNAME="[email protected]"
export THINGS_TOKEN="your-things-cloud-password-or-token-alias"

THINGS_PASSWORD also works when THINGS_TOKEN is not set. Do not store credentials in the repository or in skill files.

MCP Configuration

Use this stdio MCP server config for OpenClaw, Claude Code, Codex hosts, or any MCP-compatible agent runtime:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "things": {
      "command": "things-mcp",
      "env": {
        "THINGS_USERNAME": "[email protected]",
        "THINGS_TOKEN": "your-things-cloud-password-or-token-alias"
      }
    }
  }
}

Agent Policy

• Read before writing.
• Prefer MCP tools for task operations.
• Use CLI --simple output for compact task lists.
• Use --dry-run before any user-visible write generated by an agent.
• Summarize the planned change and get confirmation before non-dry-run writes.
• Never write to the local Things SQLite database.
• Do not infer completion from absence in active views; use completed/logbook.
• Use task UUIDs returned by Things Cloud output. Do not invent UUIDs.

Common Reads

With MCP:

• list_tasks with view set to today, inbox, anytime, someday, or upcoming
• search_tasks for title/note search
• list_projects, list_areas, and list_tags for metadata

With CLI:

things-cloud-cli today --simple
things-cloud-cli inbox --simple
things-cloud-cli anytime --simple
things-cloud-cli someday --simple
things-cloud-cli upcoming --simple
things-cloud-cli search "invoice" --simple

Completion Evidence

Use completed/logbook commands when the user asks whether something was done:

things-cloud-cli completed --since 2026-05-20T00:00:00Z --format full
things-cloud-cli logbook --since 2026-05-20 --limit 50 --format full

Safe Writes

Preview first:

things-cloud-cli create "Follow up with Marta" --when today --dry-run
things-cloud-cli edit \x3Ctask-uuid> --title "New title" --dry-run
things-cloud-cli complete \x3Ctask-uuid> --dry-run

After user confirmation, run the same command without --dry-run.

Recurring tasks:

things-cloud-cli create "Check car listings" --repeat every-day --dry-run
things-cloud-cli create "Weekly review" --repeat weekly:mon --dry-run
things-cloud-cli create "Follow up after reply" --repeat after-completion:every-day --dry-run

Clear recurrence:

things-cloud-cli edit \x3Ctask-uuid> --repeat none --dry-run

Output Rules

• Keep raw command output as JSON.
• Summaries should mention the task title, UUID, view/status, and whether the write was dry-run or executed.
• If a task reference is ambiguous, search first and ask the user to choose.
• If credentials are missing, ask the user to set THINGS_USERNAME and either THINGS_TOKEN or THINGS_PASSWORD.