This post is sponsored by Flexibits.

I’m delighted to welcome back Flexibits as a MacSparky sponsor. Their premier calendar application, Fantastical, has been my daily driver for years, and they just shipped something that genuinely changes how I manage my schedule.

Fantastical now has a connector for Claude and Claude Cowork using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). If you’ve been following my work with AI assistants, you know I’ve been building workflows where AI tools interact directly with the apps on my Mac. Fantastical’s MCP server lets Claude read your calendar, check your availability, and create events using Fantastical’s natural language parsing — all from within a conversation.

To get started, go to the Claude Desktop App settings on your Mac and install Fantastical under the Connectors. One thing I appreciate is the granular permission controls. You can set it to always allow calendar reading but require approval before writing, updating, or deleting events. You stay in control of exactly what the AI can do.

I’ve been using this in my own workflow and it’s a real improvement. Every morning I have Claude generate a daily brief that pulls my calendar events straight from Fantastical. Having my AI assistant understand my availability before suggesting meeting times eliminates the back-and-forth of scheduling.

This matters because your calendar is one of the most important data sources in your productivity system. When your AI assistant can see your schedule and act on it, the friction of calendar management drops dramatically. Here’s a short video from yours truly.

But Fantastical isn’t just about AI. The app continues to excel at the fundamentals: best-in-class natural language event creation, Calendar Sets that let you switch between work and personal views with a click, and seamless integration with Zoom, Google Meet, and other conferencing tools. Fantastical works across Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and Windows.

If you’re looking for a calendar app that keeps pushing the boundaries, especially if you’re curious about how AI fits into your productivity workflow, give Fantastical a try.