Automate macOS Messages for Universal Communication

Mac Messages MCP

Use Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, or any local MCP client to search, read, and
send messages through the macOS Messages app.

Mac Messages MCP runs locally on your Mac. It opens the Messages and Contacts
databases read-only, returns only the data a client asks for, and uses
Messages.app automation only when the client explicitly calls the send tool.

What it can do

• Read recent messages across all conversations or filter by contact or group
  chat
• Fuzzy-search message text across a time window, including all available
  history
• Find Contacts by approximate name and return send-ready phone numbers
• List named group chats and use their chat IDs for reads or sends
• Send iMessage, with SMS/RCS fallback for eligible phone recipients
• Check whether a recipient appears reachable through iMessage before sending
• Find attachments by date, sender, and MIME type
• Return small images inline, convert HEIC images to PNG, or return a local path
  for larger and non-image files
• Diagnose Messages and Contacts database permissions from inside the MCP client

Quick start

1. Install uv

brew install uv

Confirm that the launcher is available:

uvx --version

Python 3.10 or newer is required. uvx can provision a compatible Python and
installs Mac Messages MCP in an isolated environment, so you do not need to
create a virtual environment first.

2. Grant macOS permissions

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access and enable the
app that will launch the MCP server:

• Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, or the ChatGPT desktop app when configured in
  that app
• Terminal, iTerm2, Ghostty, or another terminal when using Claude Code or Codex
  CLI from that terminal

Quit and reopen the app after changing Full Disk Access. On the first contact
lookup or send, macOS may separately ask for access to Contacts or permission to
control Messages. Allow those prompts.

Also make sure Messages.app is open, signed in, and already able to send a
normal message.

3. Add the server to your MCP client

The server command is the same everywhere:

uvx mac-messages-mcp

Choose your client below.

Claude Desktop

Open Claude → Settings → Developer → Edit Config, then add:

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

Preserve any other servers already in claude_desktop_config.json, save the
file, and restart Claude Desktop.

Claude Desktop also supports installable .mcpb extensions. See
Build the Claude Desktop extension if you
want to package this repository as one.

Claude Code

Add it once at user scope so it is available in every project:

claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user mac-messages -- uvx mac-messages-mcp

Verify it:

claude mcp get mac-messages

Inside Claude Code, run /mcp to inspect the connection and tools.

Codex CLI, Codex IDE extension, and ChatGPT desktop app

Codex clients on the same Mac share MCP configuration. Add the server with:

codex mcp add mac-messages -- uvx mac-messages-mcp

Then verify it:

codex mcp list

You can also add it directly to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.mac-messages]
command = "uvx"
args = ["mac-messages-mcp"]

Restart the desktop app or IDE extension after changing the configuration. In
Codex CLI, use /mcp to view the active server.

Cursor

Or open Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP → New MCP Server and use:

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

Restart the server from Cursor's MCP settings after saving.

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Open the Command Palette and run MCP: Add Server. Choose Command
(stdio), enter uvx as the command, add mac-messages-mcp as the argument,
and install it globally.

Or add it from a terminal:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"mac-messages","command":"uvx","args":["mac-messages-mcp"]}'

The equivalent user or workspace mcp.json entry is:

{
  "servers": {
    "mac-messages": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mac-messages-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Other stdio MCP clients

Use this generic server definition:

{
  "command": "uvx",
  "args": ["mac-messages-mcp"]
}

If a GUI client reports that uvx cannot be found, run which uvx in Terminal
and replace "uvx" with the returned absolute path. Homebrew commonly installs
it at /opt/homebrew/bin/uvx on Apple silicon and /usr/local/bin/uvx on Intel
Macs.

4. Verify the connection

Ask your client to call tool_check_db_access, then tool_check_addressbook.
Once both succeed, try prompts such as:

Show me my messages from the last two hours.

Find messages from Carter about dinner in the last 30 days.

Find PDFs sent to me this month, but do not open any yet.

Find Jordan in my contacts and draft a message saying I am running 10 minutes
late. Do not send it until I confirm.

The first uvx launch can take longer while it downloads and caches Python
dependencies.

5. Optional: set the phone number region

Phone numbers written in national format (06 39 98 00 01, (415) 555-1234)
have to be expanded to E.164 before they can be matched against the Messages
database, and that expansion needs to know which country they belong to. The
server reads your Mac's own region setting for this, so on a correctly
configured Mac there is nothing to do.

Set MAC_MESSAGES_REGION to an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code when your
numbers belong to a different region than your Mac is configured for - a French
SIM on a Mac set to en_US, say:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mac-messages": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mac-messages-mcp"],
      "env": { "MAC_MESSAGES_REGION": "FR" }
    }
  }
}

For Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user \
  --env MAC_MESSAGES_REGION=FR \
  mac-messages -- uvx mac-messages-mcp

The region is resolved once at startup, so restart the server after changing
it. Resolution order: MAC_MESSAGES_REGION, then the macOS AppleLocale
preference, then LC_ALL / LC_CTYPE / LANG, then US. Numbers already
written in E.164 (+33639980001) are never reinterpreted and need none of
this.

Available tools

The server also exposes two MCP resources:

• messages://recent/{hours}
• messages://contact/{contact}/{hours}

Working with contacts, chats, and attachments

Recipients

For direct messages, E.164 phone numbers are the most reliable format:

+14155551234

Numbers written in national format work too. They are expanded to E.164 using
the region your Mac is configured for, so (415) 555-1234 becomes
+14155551234 on a US Mac and 06 39 98 00 01 becomes +33639980001 on a
French one. Set MAC_MESSAGES_REGION to an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code
(MAC_MESSAGES_REGION=GB) when your numbers belong to a different region than
your Mac does. Numbers already in E.164 are never reinterpreted.

The server also accepts email addresses, contact names, and contact:N
selections returned after an ambiguous contact search.

For a group conversation, call tool_get_chats, pass its chat ID to
tool_send_message, and set group_chat=true. Use the same ID as chat_id in
tool_get_recent_messages to read that conversation.

Attachments

Attachment access is deliberately split into three steps:

1. Message reads and searches add compact markers such as
   [attachments: #42 image/jpeg (invitation.jpg)].
2. tool_search_attachments searches metadata without loading file contents.
3. tool_get_attachment fetches one selected attachment.

Images up to 5 MB are returned inline by default. HEIC images are converted to
PNG. Larger images, PDFs, video, and audio are returned as local filesystem
paths so the MCP client can decide whether to open them. Stickers, link-preview
payloads, and .pluginPayloadAttachment containers are filtered out.

Troubleshooting

uvx or spawn uvx ENOENT

The GUI app cannot see your shell's Homebrew path. Run:

which uvx

Use that full path as the MCP command, then restart the client.

Operation not permitted, unable to open database file, or no messages

Grant Full Disk Access to the app that launches the server, not just to
Messages.app. Completely quit and reopen the launcher afterward, then call
tool_check_db_access again.

For Claude Code or Codex CLI, the launcher is normally your terminal. For a
desktop or IDE integration, it is normally Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, or
the ChatGPT desktop app itself.

Contacts are empty or contact lookup fails

Allow the launching app to access Contacts if macOS prompts. Confirm Full Disk
Access, restart the app, and call tool_check_addressbook followed by
tool_check_contacts.

If contacts are listed but their numbers carry the wrong country code, the
server is expanding your national-format numbers against the wrong region. Set
MAC_MESSAGES_REGION to the right ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code and restart the
server.

Reading works but sending fails

1. Open Messages.app and send a message manually to confirm the account and
   recipient work.
2. Check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation and allow the
   launching app to control Messages.
3. Prefer an E.164 number such as +14155551234 for a direct recipient.
4. Use tool_check_imessage_availability to inspect the likely route.

An attachment is listed but cannot be opened

Messages may retain database metadata after macOS has offloaded the file. Open
the conversation in Messages.app and download the attachment, then retry
tool_get_attachment.

The server appears to hang when run in Terminal

That is normal for an MCP stdio server: it waits for protocol input from a
client. Use your client's MCP status view, or launch the MCP Inspector:

yarn dlx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx mac-messages-mcp

Install as a standalone tool

MCP clients can launch the package directly with uvx; a permanent installation
is optional.

uv tool install mac-messages-mcp
mac-messages-mcp

Upgrade or remove it with:

uv tool upgrade mac-messages-mcp
uv tool uninstall mac-messages-mcp

Python API

The MCP server is the primary interface, but the package also exports its core
read/send functions:

from mac_messages_mcp import get_recent_messages, send_message

recent = get_recent_messages(hours=48)
print(recent)

result = send_message(
    recipient="+14155551234",
    message="Hello from Mac Messages MCP!",
)
print(result)

These calls use the same macOS permissions and can send real messages.

Development

git clone https://github.com/carterlasalle/mac_messages_mcp.git
cd mac_messages_mcp

uv sync --frozen --extra dev
uv run pytest
uv run black --check .
uv run isort --check-only .
uv build

Tests mock AppleScript and use temporary database fixtures; they must never read
a contributor's real Messages or Contacts data. See
CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution checklist and
VERSIONING.md for releases.

Build the Claude Desktop extension

The repository includes an MCPB manifest.json and a build script that can
bundle an architecture-specific uv binary:

yarn global add @anthropic-ai/mcpb
uv run python scripts/build_mcpb.py

For an Intel build:

uv run python scripts/build_mcpb.py --arch x86_64

Install the generated .mcpb from Claude Desktop → Settings → Extensions →
Advanced settings → Install Extension…. A bundled extension still needs
network access on first launch to download Python and the package dependencies.

Use --no-bundle to package against the system uv, or run
uv run python scripts/build_mcpb.py --help for every option.

Docker

The included Dockerfile is for package and catalog validation. A Linux container
cannot access macOS TCC permissions or automate Messages.app, so Docker is not a
supported way to read or send messages on the host Mac.