temporal-cortex/mcp

**v0.9.1** · March 2026 · Changelog · **Website:** temporal-cortex.com
Give any AI agent autonomous scheduling capabilities. Temporal Cortex is open scheduling infrastructure that lets any AI agent schedule reliably — whether the other person has an AI agent or not, uses Google Calendar or Outlook, or responds instantly or days later. 18 tools across 5 layers handle contact resolution, temporal reasoning, cross-provider availability, and atomic booking. Accessible via MCP, A2A, REST, and browser. Powered by Truth Engine. Install: npx @temporal-cortex/cortex-mcp.
Two ways to use Temporal Cortex
For individuals
Connect your calendars. Your AI agent handles the rest — checking availability, resolving time zones, and booking meetings without double-booking. Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, OpenClaw, Manus, and any MCP-compatible AI client.
The setup wizard walks you through provider authentication, timezone configuration, and MCP client setup interactively. You'll be scheduling in under a minute.
**Or use the managed Platform** — no Node.js required. Sign up at app.temporal-cortex.com, connect your calendars via OAuth, and add a single MCP config with your API key.
For developers
Add scheduling to your AI agent or product. 18 tools across 5 layers, 4 protocols (MCP, A2A, REST, Browser), atomic booking with Two-Phase Commit, and deterministic temporal computation powered by Truth Engine.
- **Local MCP server:** npx @temporal-cortex/cortex-mcp — full tool suite, zero infrastructure
- **Platform REST API:** app.temporal-cortex.com — managed hosting, API keys, usage dashboard, Open Scheduling network
- **Framework integrations:** LangGraph, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK
- **REST API reference:** temporal-cortex.com/docs/rest-api
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Why do AI agents fail at calendar tasks?
Even the latest LLMs — GPT-5, Claude, Gemini — score below 50% on temporal reasoning tasks (OOLONG benchmark). Earlier models scored as low as 29% on scheduling and 13% on duration calculations (Test of Time, ICLR 2025). Ask "Schedule for next Tuesday at 2pm" and it picks the wrong Tuesday. Ask "Am I free at 3pm?" and it checks the wrong timezone. Then it double-books your calendar.
Most calendar tools for AI agents are thin CRUD wrappers that pass these failures through to a single calendar provider — no temporal awareness, no conflict detection, no safety net.
What makes Temporal Cortex different?
- **Temporal awareness** — Agents call get_temporal_context to know the actual time and timezone. resolve_datetime turns "next Tuesday at 2pm" into a precise RFC 3339 timestamp. No hallucination.
- **Atomic booking** — Lock the time slot, verify no conflicts exist, then write. Two agents booking the same 2pm slot? Exactly one succeeds. The other gets a clear error. No double-bookings.
- **Computed availability** — Merges free/busy data across multiple calendars into a single unified view. The AI sees actual availability, not a raw dump of events to misinterpret.
- **Deterministic RRULE expansion** — Handles DST transitions, BYSETPOS=-1 (last weekday of month), EXDATE with timezones, leap year recurrences, and INTERVAL>1 with BYDAY. Powered by Truth Engine, not LLM inference.
- **Token-efficient output** — TOON format compresses calendar data by ~40% fewer tokens than standard JSON, reducing costs and context window usage. TOON is the default output format for all data tools (list_calendars, list_events, find_free_slots, expand_rrule, get_availability). JSON is available via explicit format: "json".
What do I need to run Temporal Cortex?
- **Node.js 18+** (for npx to download and run the binary) or **Docker**
- **At least one calendar provider**:
- **Google Calendar** — requires Google OAuth credentials
- **Microsoft Outlook** — requires Azure AD app registration (MICROSOFT_CLIENT_ID)
- **CalDAV** (iCloud, Fastmail, etc.) — requires an app-specific password
How do I install Temporal Cortex?
**The fastest way to get started:**
The cortex-mcp setup wizard walks you through provider authentication, timezone configuration, and MCP client setup interactively. See the First Run Guide for a detailed walkthrough.
**Or set up manually in 3 steps:**
1. **Install prerequisites** — Node.js 18+ (or Docker) and at least one calendar provider (Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, or CalDAV).
2. **Add the MCP configuration** to your AI client's config file (see client-specific examples below).
3. **Run the auth flow** — npx @temporal-cortex/cortex-mcp auth google (or outlook / caldav). This authenticates and configures timezone, week start, and telemetry preferences.