There are over 1000 todo apps in the app store right now. Todoist, TickTick, Any.do, Apple Reminders. Todoist alone has 40 million users.

And yet most of us still forget to do things.

What if we didn't need any of these apps? What if we just taught our AI how to manage our todos instead?

That's what we're building today. A personal AI with a todo skill that replaces the todo apps on our phone. When we're done, you can delete them.

What Todo Apps Got Right

To be fair, these apps got some things right:

  • Quick capture - Type "buy milk Monday" and it understands

  • Projects and labels - Organize tasks into groups

  • Reminders - Get pinged at the right time

  • Calendar sync - See tasks alongside your schedule

  • Cross-device - Works on phone and laptop

Solid foundations. So where did they go wrong?

What Todo Apps Got Wrong

We analyzed a lot of reviews for these apps. Here's what people complain about:

Everything is still manual. You enter everything. You prioritize everything. The app just holds your list.

No intelligence. Keep postponing a task? The app doesn't adapt. It just nags.

Overwhelming lists. 47 overdue items. You feel anxious. You close the app.

Siloed data. Your todos don't talk to your calendar. Your calendar doesn't talk to your email. Everything is scattered.

People forget to open it. This is the most common complaint. The app only works if you use it.

What if your AI already knew what you needed to do because it was paying attention?

Skills Instead of Apps

Here's the shift. Instead of downloading todo apps, we teach our AI todo skills.

Old way: 100 apps on your phone, data scattered everywhere.

New way: One AI that you teach. Your data in your vault. Portable. Private. Yours.

What a Todo Skill Looks Like

A personal AI with a todo skill has two parts:

1. The Todo Table

This is where your actual data lives. A simple table with columns like:

Column

What it stores

id

Unique identifier

task

What you need to do

due_date

When it's due

priority

How important (1-4)

project

Optional grouping

completed

Yes or no

created_at

When you added it

This gets stored as a Parquet file in your private Arca vault. Not on some company's server. You own it. Export it anytime.

2. The SKILL.md File

This is the instruction manual for your AI. It tells your AI:

  • What is this data?

  • What are some example queries?

  • How should I help the user with this?

When you ask "What's due today?" your AI reads this skill, queries your table, and answers. No app required.

Let's Build It

Here's how to build your personal AI with a todo skill using n8n and Arca.

What You'll Need

  • An n8n account (cloud or self-hosted)

  • An Anthropic API key (for Claude)

  • An Arca account (free)

Step 1: Import the Template

I have a template workflow ready. In n8n start a new workflow, then:

  1. Go to Import

  2. Select Import from URL

  3. Paste this URL: https://arca.build/todos_n8n_template.json

  4. The workflow will load with all the components

Step 2: Connect Your Claude Account

  1. Double-click on the Claude node

  2. Click Create New Credential

  3. Go to console.anthropic.com

  4. Create an API key

  5. Paste it into n8n

  6. Save

We use Claude because it's great at MCP tool calling.

Step 3: Create Your Arca Account

  1. Go to arca.build

  2. Sign up with Google or email

  3. You'll land on an empty dashboard - that's fine

  4. Go to your Account page

  5. Copy your API Key

Step 4: Connect Arca to n8n

  1. Find the MCP Server node in your workflow

  2. The endpoint should be: https://mcp.arca.build

  3. Authentication: Bearer Auth

  4. Click Create New Credential

  5. Name it something like "Arca API Key"

  6. Paste your Arca API key from Step 3 as the Bearer token

  7. Save

Step 5: Select the MCP Tools

In the MCP Server node, you'll see available tools:

  • list_available_tools - See what's available

  • list_skills - Check what skills your AI has

  • create_tabular_skill - Create a skill like todos

  • add_tabular_item - Add new records

  • get_tabular_items - Fetch records

  • update_tabular_items - Update records

  • alter_tabular_skill_schema - Add new columns later

  • create_vector_skill - For text-heavy data like journals

  • add_vector_item - Add to vector collections

  • search_vectors - Semantic search

Select all of them and save.

Step 6: Activate and Test

  1. Turn on the workflow (toggle in top right)

  2. Copy the webhook URL that appears

  3. Open it in a new browser tab

This is your personal AI interface. You can bookmark this on your phone's home screen for easy access.

Step 7: Create Your First Todo

In the chat interface, just tell your AI to set up todos:

Let's set up a todo skill

Your AI will:

  1. Check if you have any skills yet

  2. Create the todo skill

  3. Ask for your first todo item

Then add a todo:

Add a todo: Finish the quarterly report by Friday

Step 8: Verify in Arca

Go back to your Arca dashboard:

  1. Click Home

  2. Check Data Tables - you'll see your todos table

  3. Click View Entries - your todos are there

  4. Check Skills - you'll see the SKILL.md file that was auto-generated

The skill file describes how your AI should interact with your todo data. It includes the schema, example queries, and usage notes.

Using Your Personal AI

Now you can interact naturally:

  • "What todos do I have?"

  • "What's due this week?"

  • "Add a todo: Call mom on Sunday"

  • "Mark the quarterly report as done"

  • "What's my highest priority task?"

Your AI reads the skill, queries your data, and responds. No app to open. No UI to learn.

Connect Everywhere

Your Arca vault works with any AI that supports MCP:

  • Claude - Add Arca as a connector in Claude's settings

  • ChatGPT - Use the custom connector feature

  • Your n8n workflow - What we just built

  • Any MCP-compatible agent - Same API key, same data

Your data follows you. Switch AI providers whenever you want. Check https://arca.build/mcp to learn how to do this.

Don't Want to Build It?

That's fine. If you'd rather skip the setup and just use a personal AI that already has all of this built in, check out Mio.

Mio is the home of your hosted personal AI that uses Arca as its data layer. You sign up, give your AI a name, and start teaching it skills through conversation. No n8n. No API keys. No configuration.

You can talk to Mio through SMS, WhatsApp, phone calls, or just the website. And if you want to use it inside Claude or ChatGPT, Mio has its own MCP server you can connect.

Same idea. Same data ownership. Someone else did the building.

What's Next

This is just the beginning. In upcoming episodes, we'll add more skills:

  • Meal tracking and calorie logging

  • Weight logs

  • Workout tracking

  • Journal entries

  • Grocery lists

  • And more

Each skill builds on the same pattern: a data table and a SKILL.md file in your Arca vault.

The goal is to replace the apps on your phone with skills in your personal AI. One AI instead of 100 apps.

Questions?

Drop a comment on the video or DM me on LinkedIn. Let's build this together.

One app category down. Ninety-nine to go.

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