Ask an agent. Apply it yourself.

TidyGrid has a built-in MCP server. Connect Claude Code, Codex and Cursor or the Claude desktop app, then ask in plain words: “arrange my home screen by color”, “put all games in one folder”. The agent changes the draft you see in TidyGrid. It cannot write to your device.

Connect your agent

TidyGrid shows these lines with the exact path on your Mac under AI agents in its sidebar, with a Copy button. The path below assumes TidyGrid is in your Applications folder.

Claude Code

Run this in Terminal.
claude mcp add tidygrid -- "/Applications/TidyGrid.app/Contents/MacOS/tidygrid-mcp"

Codex

Run this in Terminal.
codex mcp add tidygrid -- "/Applications/TidyGrid.app/Contents/MacOS/tidygrid-mcp"

Cursor

Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json.
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tidygrid": { "command": "/Applications/TidyGrid.app/Contents/MacOS/tidygrid-mcp" }
  }
}

Claude desktop app

Settings, Developer, Edit Config, then add this.
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tidygrid": { "command": "/Applications/TidyGrid.app/Contents/MacOS/tidygrid-mcp" }
  }
}

How it works

  1. Open TidyGrid and turn on Let an AI agent tidy up. Connect your iPhone or iPad, or open the built-in sample phone to try it.
  2. Ask your agent. It reads the layout with get_layout and, for colour, get_icons.
  3. The agent sends a complete new layout with propose_layout. It appears in the TidyGrid window as a draft, one step you can undo.
  4. Look it over, change anything you like, and press Apply yourself. TidyGrid backs up the current layout before it writes.

If TidyGrid is closed or agent access is off, the tools answer with a message asking you to open TidyGrid.

The five tools

get_layout
Reads the current draft: the device and its grid, the Dock, every page with folders and widgets, the Shelf, the apps that are only in the App Library, and anything that would block applying.
get_icons
Returns the main colour of each app icon (hue, saturation, brightness), for arranging by colour. It sends no images.
evaluate_layout
Checks a complete layout without changing anything: unknown or repeated apps, pages or a Dock that are too full, and what would be left out.
propose_layout
Replaces the draft in the TidyGrid window with a new layout. Anything left out goes to the Shelf and has to be placed before you can apply. You can undo it like any other change.
list_backups
Lists the layout backups saved for the connected device. Restoring one is done by you in the app.

What an agent cannot do

  • Write to your iPhone or iPad. There is no tool for it. Applying is a button in the TidyGrid window.
  • Install, delete or rename apps, or change icons. It can only move what is already on the device.
  • Add widgets or change their settings. Widgets have to stay on pages.
  • Reach your device or TidyGrid from another computer. The server talks to the app over a private local connection on your Mac.

A plain-text version of this page for agents: /llms.txt