TaskTrace for Claude Code (and Codex, OpenClaw, any MCP client)
Give your AI agent access to what you were actually doing. Ask Claude "what did I do today", "find when I worked on billing", or "help me finish what I was on before lunch" — and get real answers from your own desktop activity, screenshots, transcripts, and notes.
Everything runs locally against the TaskTrace desktop app on your machine. There is no cloud service to sign up for and nothing leaves your computer unless you send it.
What this solves
Every AI conversation starts from zero. You re-explain the task, the state, the context, every time. TaskTrace holds a rolling record of what you actually did — so the assistant can look it up instead of asking.
With this plugin installed and TaskTrace running, Claude can:
- Recap your day — "what did I do today" reads grouped summaries of today's work.
- Pick up threads — "continue what I was doing on the ingest pipeline" searches your history and reads the in-progress activity for exact state.
- Find past work — "when did I last touch the OAuth flow", "find everything about migrations from the last month".
- Surface what you know — "what do I know about PDF parsing" queries a knowledge graph built from your notes, documents, and captures.
- Read the screen — "what's on my screen right now" for current context, or fetch a specific past screenshot if needed.
You control which feeds are shared from TaskTrace's Preferences → MCP pane. Turn any of them off and Claude simply does not see that data.
Install for Claude Code
One-line install via the plugin marketplace:
/plugin marketplace add warrenronsiek/TaskTraceMCPPlugin
/plugin install tasktrace-mcp@tasktrace-mcp
Then in Claude Code:
/mcp
You should see tasktrace listed. That is it.
Don't have TaskTrace yet? Download the desktop app from tasktrace.com, drop it in /Applications, launch it once, and open Preferences → MCP to turn on the feeds you want to share.
Stuck? Run /tasktrace-mcp:setup inside Claude Code. The setup skill checks your install, reports what is missing, and walks through the fix.
Manual MCP registration (no plugin)
If you prefer to skip the plugin and just register the MCP server directly:
claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope project tasktrace -- /Applications/TaskTrace.app/Contents/MacOS/TaskTrace --mcp-stdio
claude mcp list
You get the tools and resources, but not the skills that teach Claude when to use them.
What's inside the Claude plugin
The plugin contributes three skills on top of the MCP wiring:
tasktrace-context — auto-triggers on questions about your own work ("what did I do today", "find when I worked on X", "help me with this"). Teaches Claude which tool or resource to use for each query pattern.tasktrace-knowledge — auto-triggers on questions about what you know ("what do I know about X", "find claims about Y"). Routes to the graph search tool.tasktrace-setup — user-invoked via /tasktrace-mcp:setup. Runs install checks, identifies missing permissions, and walks you through fixes.
The MCP server itself exposes:
tasktrace_search — ranked natural-language search across your entire activity history.tasktrace_graph_search — structured retrieval over your selected knowledge directory (communities, nodes, claims).tasktrace://overviews/active-day — today's grouped work with summaries and durations.tasktrace://activities/high-level — recent completed activities with summaries.tasktrace://activities/detailed — eager feed including keystrokes, transcripts, screenshot metadata (off by default).tasktrace://activity/{activityId}/screenshot/{screenshotId} — binary WebP screenshots on demand.
What stays on your machine
TaskTrace captures what you ask it to capture. The MCP server only surfaces the feeds and tools you enable in the app. There is no remote endpoint. The MCP launcher is just a subprocess of the TaskTrace app you already have running:
/Applications/TaskTrace.app/Contents/MacOS/TaskTrace --mcp-stdio
When you turn off a feed in Preferences → MCP, Claude stops seeing it. There is nothing cached outside the app.
Other clients
Codex
Stage and install from the local Codex marketplace:
npm install
npm run install:codex-local
Then restart Codex, open the local marketplace, and install tasktrace-mcp.
OpenClaw
openclaw plugins install .
openclaw mcp set tasktrace '{"command":"/Applications/TaskTrace.app/Contents/MacOS/TaskTrace","args":["--mcp-stdio"]}'
openclaw config unset tools.allow
openclaw gateway restart
openclaw plugins inspect tasktrace-mcp
openclaw channels list
OpenClaw also gets the native tasktrace channel bridge over a local Unix socket, which lets agents exchange live messages with the running TaskTrace app on the tasktrace channel.
