Chickadee Bandit

Use Chickadee Bandit from an AI assistant

Ask Claude what's on this week, or have it add to the grocery list, using only what you allow.

Support › Use Chickadee Bandit from an AI assistant

What it does

Chickadee Bandit speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the standard way AI assistants such as Claude connect to other services. Once connected, an assistant can see what your household sees (who's in the family, the calendar, tasks, conversations, and your apps' data) and, where you allow it, act: add a row to an app, post a message, send a notification.

It works only through those tools. It can't see passwords, billing details, or anything outside them. Remember that whatever the assistant reads is sent to the company that runs the assistant, under that company's terms.

What an assistant can do

These are all of the tools, grouped by the access level a connection needs. An assistant is offered only the ones its access level allows, and it acts as the person who connected it. The tools that work with an app's data reach only the apps that have AI access turned on.

Read only

Every connection can do these. None of them changes anything.

  • List apps (list_apps): Lists the apps that have AI access turned on. Reads only.
  • Get household context (get_family_context): Reads shared household information: members, groups, the calendar, tasks, and locations and presence where those are shared with you. Reads only.
  • List conversations (list_conversations): Lists the conversations you're in, including the Household conversation. Reads only.
  • Read conversation messages (read_conversation_messages): Reads recent messages from one of your conversations. Reads only.
  • Get activity feed (get_activity_feed): Reads recent activity in the hub. Reads only.
  • Get app data (get_app_data): Reads a saved value from an app. Reads only.
  • Query app database (query_app_db): Runs one of the read-only lookups an app offers to assistants. Reads only.

Read & write

A connection set to Read & write or Admin can also do these.

  • Post conversation message (post_conversation_message): Posts a message to one of your conversations, under your name. The others in the conversation are notified, as they are when you type one yourself. Makes a change.
  • Send notification (send_notification): Sends a notification to everyone in the household, to the adults, or to the members you name. It reaches household members only. Makes a change.
  • Run app database mutation (mutate_app_db): Changes existing entries in an app, using one of the updates the app offers to assistants. Can replace or remove what's there.
  • Insert app database row (insert_app_db): Adds an entry to an app, using one of the additions the app offers to assistants. An app can define an addition that updates a matching entry instead of adding a second one. Can replace or remove what's there.
  • Delete app database rows (delete_app_db): Removes entries from an app, using one of the removals the app offers to assistants. Can replace or remove what's there.
  • Set app data (set_app_data): Saves a value in an app, replacing what was saved under the same name. Can replace or remove what's there.

Admin

Only a connection set to Admin, made by an admin, can do these.

  • Get app authoring guide (get_app_authoring_guide): Reads the guide to writing an app. Reads only.
  • Get app source (get_app_source): Reads back an app that was published to this household, so it can be changed. Reads only.
  • Validate app (validate_app): Checks an app against the publishing rules without installing it. Reads only.
  • Publish app (publish_app): Installs a new app, or replaces an app with an updated version. Some apps wait for an admin's approval before they run. Can replace or remove what's there.
  • Unpublish app (unpublish_app): Removes an app from the household. Can replace or remove what's there.
  • Suspend or resume app (set_app_status): Suspends an app, or turns a suspended one back on. Makes a change.

Most assistants ask before they use a tool that makes a change. Chickadee Bandit tells the assistant which tools only read and which can replace or remove something, so it can ask at the right moments.

Connect by signing in

Some assistants connect without a token, as a connector: Claude and ChatGPT in their connector settings, and Claude Code. Give the assistant your server address, which is your hub's address followed by /api/mcp.

  1. The assistant sends you to Chickadee Bandit. Sign in if you aren't already.
  2. Check the name of the application that's asking, pick the household, and choose an access level (the same three levels described below).
  3. Tap Approve. You're sent back to the assistant, connected.

The assistant acts as you, exactly as it would with a token, and the same rules apply: adults only, and an admin can keep AI access to admins. Each connection is to one household; connect again to add another.

Your connections are listed on the web under Settings → AI Access, in Connected applications. Disconnect ends one immediately. An admin sees every member's connections there and can disconnect them. To change a connection's access level, connect the assistant again and choose a different one. Changing your password or signing out everywhere does not disconnect an assistant.

Create your token

For an assistant that takes a token instead: Each adult sets this up for themselves on the web, under Settings → AI Access. Under Your token, pick an access level and tap Create token.

Your token is yours alone. The assistant acts as you and sees exactly what you would, so nothing private to someone else leaks through it. Nobody else can see your token, admins included, and it's shown only once, when you create it, so copy it into your assistant straight away.

Tokens don't expire. Rotate token swaps yours for a new one and disconnects everything using the old one immediately; Revoke switches it off. An admin can revoke any member's token, for a lost laptop say, but can't see or copy it. Children and guests don't have tokens.

An admin can also keep AI access to admins only: on the AI Access page, turn off Members can connect their own AI assistants. Members' tokens stop working while it's off.

Set the access level

Each token has its own Access level, which you can change at any time on the same page:

  • Read only: read family data, conversations, and app data.
  • Read & write: also post messages, send notifications, and change app data.
  • Admin: also install, update, and remove apps, which is what an assistant needs to build an app for you. Only admins can choose it.

A change applies to the assistant's very next request. If an admin stops being an admin, a token set to Admin works as Read & write.

Connect an assistant

Under Connect an assistant, pick yours: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, or Other. The page shows where the configuration goes and what to paste. For Claude Desktop:

  1. Create your token, and copy the chickadee server entry while the page still shows the token in it.
  2. In Claude Desktop (Mac or Windows), open Settings → Developer → Edit Config and add the entry to the file. It runs mcp-remote with your server address (your hub's address followed by /api/mcp) and your token. Keep that file private: it holds your token.
  3. Save the file and restart Claude Desktop. Ask it something like "What's on our calendar this week?"

Any other assistant that supports MCP servers and lets you set a request header works the same way: point it at the server address and send your token as an Authorization: Bearer header. ChatGPT's connectors can't send a token; connect it by signing in instead.

Choose which apps it can touch

Each app decides whether AI may use it at all, and whether that's read-only or read and write. An admin can narrow that further:

  • One app: on the app's page in Apps, use the AI access switch. It shows AI access: read or read/write when on, and disabled by admin when you've turned it off. You can take access away; you can't grant more than the app allows.
  • Every app at once: on the AI Access page, turn off AI access to app data. Assistants can still see the calendar, tasks, and conversations, but not your apps' own records.

Good to know

  • Creating, rotating, and revoking a token on the AI Access page, changing its access level, and admin actions taken through AI are recorded in Settings → Audit Log. So are connecting and disconnecting an application.
  • There are rate limits: 120 requests a minute per member, and no more than 10 notifications every five minutes, so an assistant can't flood the family.
  • If an assistant suddenly can't connect, its token may have been rotated or revoked, or an admin may have turned off AI assistants for members. The AI Access page says which; if the token is gone, create a new one and paste it into your assistant's settings.