Put it in my calendar
Type “dentist Thursday 3pm” in chat. The event is created in Apple Calendar on your locked iPhone and the agent reads back “Added: Dentist · Thu 3:00 PM”.
iPhone · iOS 27 · waitlist
Let AI agents control your iPhone.
Askew is a relay that lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP agent run Shortcuts on your locked iPhone. Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Contacts, Health, Photos, HomeKit — Apple's personal data has no server API; the only door is your phone. Your agent walks through it: run a Shortcut, get the result back, and receive what the phone sends on its own. The iOS app is on the waitlist; multi-iPhone and iPad support is undergoing validation before public launch. Local Mac MCP packages are available now.
Works with Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, n8n — anything that can load an MCP server. The iOS app is not yet released.
Any agent that can load an MCP server.
Askew ships as a local MCP server. If your agent can add one, it can use your iPhone. No SDK, no plugin, no browser extension.
- Claude Code
- Claude Desktop
- ChatGPT · OpenAI Agents
- Codex
- Cursor
- n8n
- Any MCP client
The connector is the askew-mcp package on npm, open source under MIT on GitHub. It is the only part of Askew that holds your key, so it is the part you can read. For standalone local Mac use: mac-shortcuts-mcp 0.1.2 (npm).
Product names belong to their owners. Askew is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
Three steps, then it's just conversation.
This setup is for the iOS relay, which is still on the waitlist. Mac users can run Shortcuts locally with the released MCP packages while their Mac is awake.
01
Connect your agent
Add the local Askew connector to your agent as an MCP server. Your agent gets tools like run, notify and inbox.
$ claude mcp add askew -s user -e ASKEW_CONNECTOR_KEY=akc_… -- npx -y askew-mcp02
Install the dispatcher
Tap one link in the Askew app. A single Shortcuts automation lands on your iPhone. Flip its toggle on. That is the only automation you will ever set up.
03
Allow once, then forget it
The first run asks “Always Allow” on an unlocked phone. From then on jobs run on a locked phone, in one to two seconds, with no prompt.
Set up in 3 minutes.
One app on the phone, one MCP server for the agent, one automation. The relay at api.askew.my is the default, so there is nothing to configure on the server side.
01Get the app and a connector key
Install the Askew app on your iPhone (iOS 27). It is not on the App Store yet — join the waitlist for the first TestFlight build. In the app: Settings → Register device → allow notifications → New connector → copy the key. It starts with akc_ and is shown once.
02Add the connector to your agent
The connector is the askew-mcp package on npm (Node 22 or later). Pick your agent:
Claude Code
claude mcp add askew -s user -e ASKEW_CONNECTOR_KEY=akc_… -- npx -y askew-mcpClaude Desktop · Cursor · any MCP client
{
"mcpServers": {
"askew": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "askew-mcp"],
"env": { "ASKEW_CONNECTOR_KEY": "akc_…" }
}
}
}Codex CLI
[mcp_servers.askew]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "askew-mcp"]
env = { ASKEW_CONNECTOR_KEY = "akc_…" }The first run prints the connector fingerprint. Compare it with the fingerprint shown in the app's connector screen — that is the end-to-end key check, once.
Source: github.com/Dominic-DK/askew-mcp (MIT). Issues and pull requests welcome.
03Install the dispatcher and say hello
In the app, Presets → Askew dispatcher → Install. Pick Shortcuts in the share sheet → Add Shortcut → open it and turn on the Automation toggle at the top. With the phone unlocked, run one test push from Settings → Checkup and tap “Always Allow” once. Then tell your agent:
“Add dentist Thursday 3pm to my phone calendar.”
Your agent now has 11 tools — askew_run, askew_notify, askew_inbox_wait and friends. Every recipe you add in Presets is a link tap; the automation never changes.
Full setup guide — every step in detail, the fingerprint check, the limits, emergency stop, and what to do when something does not work.
Both directions.
The agent asks the phone, the phone tells the agent, and the agent shows you things on the lock screen.
Agent → phonePhone → agentAgent → you
Reminders and Notes
Add, find and complete reminders. Create and search notes. The agent works with the apps you already use, not a copy of them.
Receipt OCR
“Log the receipt I just photographed.” The phone runs text extraction on the latest photo and returns the text. The image never leaves the phone unless you say so.
HomeKit scenes
Let the agent run “Good night” or “Leaving home”. Scenes execute on the phone with your existing HomeKit setup and permissions.
Morning briefing when you actually wake up
Your Sleep Focus ends. The phone gathers today's calendar, open reminders and weather, and sends them to the agent. A briefing lands on your lock screen.
Apple Pay purchase → expense log
Every Wallet transaction fires an automation with amount, merchant and card. The agent appends it to your ledger, sheet or Notion. Zero effort after the tap.
Action button, Share sheet, voice memo
Hold the Action button and speak. Share an article or PDF from Safari. Send a voice memo. It all goes to the agent's inbox, and the answer comes back as a notification.
Notifications and a results box
Briefings, drafts and alerts arrive as real lock-screen notifications, mirrored to Apple Watch, with the full text kept in the app.
What works today.
Locked-iPhone relay runs have been verified on real devices. The iOS app remains on the waitlist; multi-device and iPad validation is still in progress. Local Mac MCP packages are available now.
| Feature | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Encrypted local run history | askew-mcp 0.2.1 adds encrypted local run records and result lookup with askew_get_run. Reusing the same idempotency key prevents another execution while the local record is retained, including after restart. These records stay on this Mac. |
| Run locally on your Mac | askew-mcp 0.2.1 and the standalone mac-shortcuts-mcp 0.1.2 are on npm. Your agent runs Shortcuts on the same awake Mac; this is not remote Mac execution through the relay. |
| Run a Shortcut on a locked iPhone | Tell your agent “put the dentist on my calendar, Sep 24 at 3” — it lands on the locked phone and the confirmation comes back in about three seconds. |
| Read what is on your phone | “What do I have this week?” Calendar, Reminders, Notes and Contacts come back without you touching the phone. |
| Agent → you notifications | A long job finishes and your agent pings your phone. It is kept in the results box. |
| Phone → agent | Send anything from your phone into your agent's inbox with one Shortcuts action. Your agent picks it up on its next turn. |
| End-to-end encrypted | The connector seals everything on your own machine. The relay only carries sealed envelopes. |
| Tap to run | Mark a recipe as sensitive and it asks first: you get a notification, and it only runs when you tap. |
| Nothing lost offline | Run something in airplane mode and the result queues on the phone, then uploads when you are back. |
| Useful without an agent | JSON handling, templates, variables and a secrets store — Shortcuts actions you can use on their own. |
| Emergency stop | One button on your phone halts everything, including jobs already queued. |
| Bring your own Shortcut | Build it in the Shortcuts app, paste the iCloud link, and Askew checks permissions, outbound domains and hardcoded keys for you. |
| Delete everything | One action in the app permanently erases your account and all its data. |
| Setup check | The app verifies notification permission, the push token and your connector fingerprint, then sends a test push so you can watch one job run end to end. |
Pricing
| Free | Pro — $19.99/mo, $199.99/yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Times the phone works | 1,000 a day | 10,000 a day |
| Recipes switched on | 5 at a time | Unlimited |
| Running at once | 2 | 5 |
| History kept | 7 days | 90 days |
| Works without an agent | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| End-to-end encryption | Included | Included |
| Official recipes | All of them | All of them |
One count = the phone did one piece of work. Your agent reading a list or checking a status does not count. The counter resets at midnight in your phone's time zone. A thousand a day means the phone working once every 26 seconds, non-stop — in practice the real line is the five recipes you keep switched on.
Launch offer, from day one: for the first month, five times the free allowance and 50% off Pro.
Coming next
| Feature | What it will do |
|---|---|
| Recipe market | Publish what you built, share it by link, and find recipes others made. |
| More than one iPhone | Account recovery, device management and per-route targets are implemented. Multi-iPhone execution and recovery are being validated before the public iOS launch. |
| iPad validation | iPad notification automations and device-specific execution still need real-device validation before public support. |
| Photos and files | Text only today. |
| Failure diagnosis | A screen that tells you why something did not run. |
Encrypted payloads. Clear boundaries.
With the local connector, job inputs, results and attachments are sealed between your computer and device. Verify pairing using the fingerprint words in the app.
| Visible to the relay | Encrypted on the supported local connector path |
|---|---|
| Route names, timestamps, status, errors and push tokens | Job inputs, results and attachments |
| Notification titles | Notification bodies and extended content |
| Imported recipe links, action descriptions and uploaded shortcut files | Shared variable values |
Your chosen agent and services called by your shortcuts can receive the data you authorize. Recipe uploads are processed on the server: never embed secrets. See the policy for retention and deletion exceptions.
Questions people ask first.
Which devices does it work on?
The iOS app targets iPhone with iOS 27 and is still on the waitlist. Multi-iPhone and iPad support is undergoing validation before public launch. Local Mac MCP packages are available now: askew-mcp 0.2.1 and mac-shortcuts-mcp 0.1.2 run on the same awake Mac as your agent, not on a remote Mac through the relay. There is no Android version and none is planned.
Which OS version do I need?
iOS 27 or later. Askew relies on the notification-triggered automation in iOS 27 to wake a Shortcut on a locked iPhone. There is no fallback for iOS 26 or earlier, and the App Store minimum version will enforce this. The connector runs on your computer and needs Node 22.
What does my agent need?
The ability to load an MCP server. That covers Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, n8n and most agent frameworks. The local connector is a small process the agent starts on demand. No background daemon, no websocket, no browser extension.
How many automations do I have to set up?
One, once. A single dispatcher automation handles every recipe. Installing a recipe is a link tap. The first time it runs you approve “Always Allow” once on an unlocked phone.
Does it work when the phone is locked?
Yes. Measured on a real device: push to result in one to two seconds with the phone locked, twenty consecutive runs without a prompt.
Can I self-host the relay?
Undecided. The relay is small and the connector is end-to-end encrypted, so a self-hosted option is on the table. Join the waitlist and tell us if that matters to you.
When does it ship, and what does it cost?
Not announced. We are on a waitlist while the app goes through real-device testing and App Store review. Pricing will be published before launch.
What changed.
Dated, newest first. The connector's own release notes live in its repository.
Encrypted local run history
askew-mcp 0.2.1 adds encrypted local run records and result lookup with askew_get_run. Reusing the same idempotency key prevents another execution while the local record is retained, including after restart. These records stay on this Mac.
Local Mac MCP packages released
askew-mcp 0.2.0 is on npm with 11 tools and local execution on the current Mac. The standalone mac-shortcuts-mcp 0.1.2 is also available. The iOS app remains on the waitlist; multi-iPhone and iPad validation continues.
Connector open-sourced
The askew-mcp source is public on GitHub under MIT, with unit tests for the envelope format. Version 0.1.1 on npm links to the repository.
askew-mcp on npm
First release of the local connector:
npx -y askew-mcp, 9 tools, HPKE end-to-end encryption, connector fingerprint, shared variables sealed with the account key.Public relay and this site
Relay at api.askew.my (Seoul), landing page in English, Korean, Chinese and Japanese, waitlist, 13 signed recipes with one-tap install in the app, Sign in with Apple.
First real-device round trip
Agent → locked iPhone → Calendar event, result back in one to two seconds. Twenty consecutive locked runs without a prompt.
Get the first build.
Email only. We will write when there is a build to install. iPhone with iOS 27.