Rambox now works with AI assistants via MCP. What would you automate?
Hey everyone! Ramiro here, CEO of Rambox. 👋
One of the newest things in Rambox v3 is MCP support (Settings → Remote Control). It lets AI assistants like Claude talk directly to Rambox and the apps you have open in it.
Today an assistant can already:
🔍 Search across all your apps at once with Unified Search ("find the message where Ana mentioned the Q3 budget")
🗂️ List, add, remove, open and switch between your apps, or change an app’s settings
🎯 Turn on Concentration mode when you need to focus
📸 Take a screenshot of an app so the assistant can see what’s on screen and help you with it
🔗 Open a link in a temporary tab
This is just the start, and we’d love to build the next part with you. So:
1. What repetitive task in your day would you love to hand off to an AI?
2. Which of your apps would you want it to read from or act on first?
3. Is there anything you would NOT want an AI to do in your apps? (Just as useful for us!)
Wild ideas are welcome too, like a morning summary of all your inboxes or "catch me up on what I missed while I was in a meeting." 😄
I’ll read every reply and share back which ideas we pick up. 🚀
Replies
How would you keep AI from sending message without your approval?????
@tessa_lynch Totally fair worry! Short answer: it can’t 🙂 MCP is off by default, and even when you turn it on, it can’t type, click or run anything inside your apps. It can open and switch apps, search across them with Unified Search, take screenshots, toggle Focus mode and that kind of thing. Sending a message is simply not something it’s able to do.
We went with an allowlist on purpose: a new capability only gets in if we decide it’s safe. Keeping AI from acting on your behalf without asking was a hard line for us.
Kind of interesting - the MCP doesn't do a few of the things that may be nice to allow:
1) Move application around
2) Add new applications
3) Send messages (with approval)
4) Look across related apps in a workspace.
I"m not clear why i'd go to Claude and have it do somethig like open / switch app, turn on concentration mode, etc. why not just open rambox and do that vs. going to Claude and asking it to do it..
Taking a screen shot -maybe..
I was really liking Rambox for a little bit, but it was a memory hog so I had to stop using it. I'm giving it another chance to see if it works better now.
@eric_s_goldstein Really appreciate you giving us another shot, and you’re right on the MCP, this is v1 🙂 We started conservative on purpose (nothing that types or clicks inside your apps), and "send with approval" plus adding and moving apps are exactly the next things worth doing. Agree that opening apps from Claude isn’t the point. Where it shines is when you’re already working in Claude and need something from your apps, like "find what Ana said about the deadline" across Slack and Gmail, without leaving the chat. Curious about your point 4: what would "looking across related apps" look like for you?
On memory: hibernation is your best friend. Apps you’re not using go to sleep, and you can set each one to auto wake-up every X minutes so you don’t miss messages. Rambox also warns you when an app is using too much, and the Task Manager shows which one is eating RAM. If it still feels heavy, tell me and I’ll take a look with you!
@saenzramiro The issue with hibernation is then focing me to relogin to the app each time.. Let me play a bit iwth it and see what comes. I'd appreciate the assistance later.
@eric_s_goldstein Ah, that shouldn’t happen! Hibernation keeps your session, so waking an app up should bring it back already signed in.
The main conern for me is privacy. Can users control exactly which open apps the assistant is allowed to read?
@emilyhou0789 Totally fair concern! There are two ways AI can touch your apps in Rambox. With the built-in AI assistant, yes: nothing is read until you hit send, and you choose exactly which apps go with each message. The one you’re on is included by default but one click leaves it out, and the content shows up in your message so you see exactly what was shared. With Remote Control (MCP), which you’d use from Claude or another assistant on your computer, it’s off by default and can’t type or click inside your apps. But it doesn’t have per-app permissions yet, so once it’s on, the assistant can screenshot whatever is open.
Both can be turned off completely. Per-app permissions for MCP is something we’d love to add, great feedback 🙌
I’d love to automate a daily summary of all my messages across Slack, Gmail, and other apps. Having everything important in one place would save a lot of time.
@kristychen005 Love this idea, and you’re not the only one asking for it! You can get pretty close today with the AI assistant: attach Slack, Gmail and any other app with the "+" and ask "what did I miss today?". You get one summary from all of them, with the AI service you already use.
Making it fully automatic, like a daily digest waiting for you every morning, isn’t there yet, but it’s exactly the kind of thing we want to build. What would "important" mean for you? Mentions, unanswered emails, specific people? 🙌
Privacy would be my biggest concern. I’d definitely want per-app permissions so I could decide exactly which apps the AI can access instead of giving it access to everything.
@mengli100 100% agree, and that’s how we built the AI assistant: it never has access to everything. Nothing is read until you send a message, and you pick the apps for each one. The one on screen goes by default, but you can leave it out with one click, and everything that gets shared shows up right in your message.
Remote Control (MCP) is the one place where per-app permissions are still missing. It’s off by default, but once you turn it on, the assistant can see any open app. Adding exactly what you’re describing there is on our list.
One feature I’d really appreciate is drafting replies to messages without sending them automatically. Let the AI do the preparation, but keep the final approval with the user.
@juanangustia That’s exactly the line we drew 🙂 Remote Control (MCP) can’t type, click or send anything inside your apps. We kept it that way on purpose, so the final say always stays with you.
That said, this is MCP v1, and having the AI write the reply straight into the app’s message box, so all you do is review it and hit send, fits that line really well. It’s the kind of thing worth exploring next. Today you can already get the prep part with the AI assistant panel: pick the app the conversation is in, ask for a draft, then paste it and hit send yourself. Would you want that mostly for email, or for chat apps like Slack too?