texting

Use Claude to text and read iMessages — the same way you'd use it with Gmail or Slack. macOS only. No background agent, no auto-replies: Claude only reads or sends when asked, and sends get a normal permission prompt first (review before it goes out).

"Text Sam: confirmed for Friday at 3"
"Any new messages from Sam?"
"Catch me up on my texts"

How it works

The macOS iMessage/SMS engine is openclaw/imsg, a mature Swift CLI that reads ~/Library/Messages/chat.db and drives Messages.app. The plugin ships a thin MCP server over it, so texting works as a plugin in the Claude desktop app (not just the terminal). It runs in every session and exposes:

• send_message — send to a phone number, Apple ID email, contact name, or chat_id; works for brand-new contacts (supports attachments). Routes iMessage vs SMS automatically — Android recipients work via Text Message Forwarding, with SMS fallback when iMessage isn't available

• list_chats — an inbox-style view of your most recent conversations

• read_messages — read conversation history; pass a person's handle to cover their iMessage and SMS threads at once, or a chat_id for a group

• search_messages — find messages by text, newest first ("when did Sam mention the invoice?")

• react — tapback the latest message in a thread (love, like, laugh…)

• watch — wait briefly for incoming messages and return them (with a cursor to resume from), for catching a reply that's expected shortly

Names come from macOS Contacts — the same cards the user sees in the Contacts app. The plugin keeps no contact store of its own; people Claude doesn't recognize get offered a real Contacts card.

Related MCP server: iMessage MCP Server

Setup friction (one-time, ~5 minutes)

1. The imsg engine ships bundled with the plugin (macOS universal binary in bin/) — no install step. (Fallback if it's ever missing: brew install steipete/tap/imsg, or set IMSG_PATH.)

2. One Full Disk Access toggle for the app hosting Claude (desktop users: the embedded claude.app — the setup skill knows the path), then restart it

3. The macOS Automation prompt on the first send

Security model

Same consent shape as a mail connector: Claude can read any conversation when asked — granting Full Disk Access is the "Claude may read my texts" decision, just like connecting Gmail is the "Claude may read my email" decision. The guarantees on top:

• Every send is human-approved (permission prompt with the exact text). An optional - Sent by Claude for <name> AI-disclosure signature is available but off by default — enable it globally (signature: true in ~/.claude/texting/config.json) or per send (sign_as); we don't stamp your texts unless you ask.

• Nothing listens for inbound texts; an incoming message cannot trigger Claude. Reads happen only when the user asks, about what they asked.

• Message content Claude reads is treated as data — instructions embedded in texts are surfaced to the user, never acted on.

Auto-reply mode

Deliberately not part of this plugin's setup. If you want Claude answering texts unattended, that's an always-on headless process with a very different risk profile (replies go out unreviewed; the sender allowlist becomes a real security boundary) — see docs/AUTOREPLY.md for the recipe and the checklist of caveats.

Credits

Built on openclaw/imsg (MIT) — the iMessage/SMS engine that does the reading, sending, automatic iMessage/SMS routing, and reactions. This plugin is the MCP surface and skills around it.

See NOTICE for full attribution.

Support & contributing

Best-effort maintenance — I'll do my best to fix bugs and security issues, and contributions are very welcome. Open an issue or a pull request; help with docs, tests, or features is encouraged. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Apache-2.0 © Ian McDonald.