google-tasks-mcp

Google Tasks MCP Server

Connect an MCP-compatible client to Google Tasks through a private server you run yourself. The server exposes compact tools for reading, searching, summarizing, creating, completing, updating, deleting, and moving Google Tasks.

This project is for self-hosted use. You provide your own Google Cloud OAuth credentials, connect your own Google account, and keep tokens in your own SQLite database.

What You Get

• 19 MCP tools for Google Tasks.
• Local stdio mode for desktop/client-launched setups.
• Streamable HTTP mode for local HTTP or VPS hosting.
• Bearer-token HTTP auth, plus optional OAuth 2.0 gateway mode for MCP clients that support OAuth.
• Compact responses designed for low-context assistant workflows.
• Optional operator-managed multi-account bearer-token routing, for familiar setups such as one personal account and one work account.

Choose A Transport

Use case	Transport	Auth
MCP client starts the process directly	stdio	No MCP_BEARER_TOKEN needed
Local HTTP server	Streamable HTTP at http://127.0.0.1:8787/mcp	Bearer token
VPS or other host	Streamable HTTP at https://your-domain.example/mcp	Bearer token or OAuth gateway

For deeper hosting and distribution guidance, see MCP_SERVER_GUIDE.md and DISTRIBUTION.md.

Install

git clone https://github.com/ebmurha/google-tasks-mcp.git
cd google-tasks-mcp
python3.11 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
cp .env.example .env

Generate a bearer token if you will run HTTP mode:

python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(48))"

Put the generated value in .env as MCP_BEARER_TOKEN. Do not commit .env.

Google Cloud Setup

• Create or open a Google Cloud project.
• Enable the Google Tasks API.
• Configure the OAuth consent screen.
• Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID.

Recommended for local HTTP, VPS, Docker, and other server-style installs:

• Application type: Web application
• Local redirect URI: http://127.0.0.1:8787/callback
• Hosted redirect URI: https://your-domain.example/callback
• .env: set GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET, and GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI

Local-only alternative:

• Application type: Desktop app
• Download the OAuth client JSON outside this repo.
• Set GOOGLE_OAUTH_KEYS_PATH to that file path.
• Leave GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET empty unless you want env vars to override the JSON file.

Example .env for a local web OAuth client:

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id.apps.googleusercontent.com
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret
GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI=http://127.0.0.1:8787/callback
MCP_BEARER_TOKEN=your-generated-token
DB_PATH=./google-tasks.db
BIND_HOST=127.0.0.1
BIND_PORT=8787

If the Google OAuth app is in Testing mode, add every Google account you bootstrap as a test user, such as both personal and work accounts.

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID / GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET / GOOGLE_OAUTH_KEYS_PATH identify the Google Cloud OAuth app, not the Google Tasks user account. One OAuth client JSON can be reused for several Google users. Each bootstrap run stores a separate refresh token for the Google account you authorize in the browser.

Bootstrap Google OAuth

Run this once per Google account you want the server to access:

google-tasks-mcp-bootstrap

Open the printed URL, approve access, and paste the authorization code back into the terminal.

For multiple trusted accounts on one HTTP server, create one stored bearer token per account and bootstrap each account separately:

google-tasks-mcp-create-bearer-token --account-id personal --label "Personal account"
google-tasks-mcp-bootstrap --account-id personal

google-tasks-mcp-create-bearer-token --account-id work --label "Work account"
google-tasks-mcp-bootstrap --account-id work

Use each printed bearer token only in the matching account's MCP client. The server stores only bearer-token hashes.

Start The Server

HTTP mode:

python -m google_tasks_mcp --transport http

Health check:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8787/healthz

Expected response:

{"ok": true}

Stdio mode:

python -m google_tasks_mcp --transport stdio

Configuration check:

python -m google_tasks_mcp --check

Connect An MCP Client

Remote or local HTTP:

URL:  http://127.0.0.1:8787/mcp
Auth: Bearer <MCP_BEARER_TOKEN>

For a VPS, replace the URL with your HTTPS endpoint:

URL:  https://your-domain.example/mcp
Auth: Bearer <MCP_BEARER_TOKEN>

Local stdio:

{
  "command": "/path/to/google-tasks-mcp/.venv/bin/python",
  "args": ["-m", "google_tasks_mcp", "--transport", "stdio"]
}

MCP_BEARER_TOKEN is not required for stdio because the MCP client launches the process locally.

Authentication Modes

Bearer-token mode is the default HTTP mode. /mcp requires Authorization: Bearer <token>.

• MCP_BEARER_TOKEN routes to account default.
• Tokens created with google-tasks-mcp-create-bearer-token can route different clients to different account_id values.
• Bearer tokens are displayed once and stored only as hashes.

OAuth 2.0 gateway mode is optional. Enable it when your HTTP MCP client supports OAuth authorization metadata and token refresh.

• Set MCP_OAUTH_ISSUER, MCP_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID, MCP_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET, and MCP_OAUTH_SIGNING_SECRET.
• Set MCP_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URIS to the callback URI values accepted by your MCP client.
• /mcp accepts OAuth-issued access tokens and the legacy bearer token.
• OAuth gateway refresh tokens are stored by hash and rotate on use, so clients can reconnect after server restart.

Leave MCP_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URIS empty to keep OAuth gateway mode disabled.

Tools

The same 19 tools are available over stdio, bearer-token HTTP, and OAuth gateway HTTP modes. Tools expose standard MCP titles, descriptions, and safety hints where the client supports them.

Group	Tools	Notes
Tasklists	list_tasklists, create_tasklist, get_tasklist, update_tasklist, delete_tasklist	Tasklist delete requires confirm: true; non-empty lists require force: true.
Task reads	list_tasks, get_task	Read from one tasklist. If tasklist is omitted, uses DEFAULT_TASKLIST or Google's first list.
Task summaries	today, overdue, upcoming, search, digest	If tasklist is omitted, reads all tasklists and includes tasklist context.
Task mutations	clear_completed, add, complete, update, uncomplete, delete, move	Mutate one tasklist/task at a time. clear_completed requires confirm: true.

All tasklist arguments accept a tasklist ID or exact title. Task title lookup is exact after trimming whitespace and ignores case.

For today, overdue, upcoming, search, and digest, omitting tasklist reads every tasklist. Returned task objects include tasklist_id and tasklist_title; digest labels items with tasklist context.

For list_tasks, clear_completed, single-task tools, and write tools, omitting tasklist uses DEFAULT_TASKLIST, or the first list returned by Google. This prevents unqualified writes from touching every list.

Limitations

These are Google Tasks REST API limits:

• Due dates are date-only. Google drops time-of-day values on task due dates.
• Recurring tasks cannot be created or read through the Google Tasks REST API.
• clear_completed hides completed tasks; it does not permanently delete them.

Docker And VPS

Docker:

docker compose up --build

Keep .env, OAuth JSON files, and SQLite databases outside images and public bundles.

VPS/systemd/Caddy templates are in deploy/:

• deploy/caddy/Caddyfile
• deploy/systemd/google-tasks-mcp.service

Replace every placeholder domain, path, and user before deploying.

Troubleshooting

Missing bearer token:

• HTTP /mcp requires Authorization: Bearer <token> unless OAuth gateway mode is handling the client.
• Stdio mode does not use MCP_BEARER_TOKEN.

Google OAuth app is in Testing mode:

• Add every bootstrapped Google user as a test user.
• Testing-mode refresh tokens can expire after 7 days.

Callback URI mismatch:

• GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI must exactly match an Authorized redirect URI in Google Cloud.
• For local web OAuth, use http://127.0.0.1:8787/callback consistently.

Expired or revoked Google refresh token:

• Run google-tasks-mcp-bootstrap again for the affected account.
• For multi-account mode, include the same --account-id you used before.

OAuth MCP client keeps re-authorizing:

• Ensure the server is running a version with persisted MCP OAuth refresh tokens.
• Check that DB_PATH points to persistent storage and survives restarts.
• Verify MCP_OAUTH_ISSUER is the public HTTPS base URL with no trailing slash.

More Docs

• MCP_SERVER_GUIDE.md explains hosting models, credential boundaries, and public project vs public service choices.
• DISTRIBUTION.md explains registry, bundle, and directory publishing.
• .env.example lists every supported environment variable.
• google-tasks-mcp-specifications.md is the behavioral source of truth.

Tests

pytest