Connect Microsoft 365 Copilot to GTD Brain
Most of what lands on a GTD list at work arrives in Teams, in a meeting, or in an email — exactly where Microsoft 365 Copilot already sits. Add the GTD Brain agent and Copilot becomes your GTD assistant there: say “add ‘send Priya the revised quote’ to my inbox” in the middle of a chat, ask “what are my next actions for calls?”, or run your weekly review without opening another app.
GTD Brain is a declarative agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot. It runs on Copilot's own orchestrator and talks to GTD Brain's hosted MCP (Model Context Protocol) server on your behalf, so it works in Copilot Chat, in Teams, and in the Copilot pane of Word and the Microsoft 365 app. You sign in with the same email code you use on the web — no password, no API token — and the board it works on is the same board as the web, iPhone, and Android apps.
What you’ll need
- A work or school Microsoft 365 account with Copilot Chat — included with Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans; a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence is not required.
- Agents enabled for your organization. If your admin has restricted the Agent Store, they can allow GTD Brain from the Microsoft 365 admin center under Integrated apps.
- A GTD Brain account — created for you the first time you sign in, free to start.
Your connection address
The setup below uses this address — GTD Brain’s hosted MCP server:
Step-by-step setup
Add the GTD Brain agent
Open Microsoft 365 Copilot (m365.cloud.microsoft, the Copilot app, or Copilot in Teams). In the sidebar under Agents choose “Get agents” to open the Agent Store, search for GTD Brain, and click Add. If GTD Brain is not listed for your organization, ask your Microsoft 365 admin to enable it — it is a standard Microsoft 365 app in the admin center.
Open the agent and send your first message
Select GTD Brain in the Agents list. It opens as its own chat with suggested prompts — start with “What's on my GTD Brain board?” or one of the other starters.
Sign in with your email code
On the first request Copilot shows a “Sign in to GTD Brain” button. Click it: a small GTD Brain sign-in window opens. Enter your email, type the 4-digit code we send you, and click Allow. The window closes and Copilot continues with your request. You only do this once; the connection stays signed in.
Confirm changes when Copilot asks
Copilot asks for your OK before the agent changes your board — capturing a card, moving it, archiving it. Reading your lists needs no confirmation. Say “always allow” on the actions you trust and it stops asking for those.
What you can do once connected
Once connected, the GTD Brain agent sees the same board you do — columns, cards, notes, and contexts — and works through it in the conversation. Things people say in Copilot:
- “Add “send Priya the revised quote” to my inbox.”
- “What are my next actions I can do from my phone?”
- “Go through my inbox with me and sort everything into the right lists.”
- “Who am I waiting on? Show my Waiting For list.”
- “Move the tax-return card to Next Actions and add a note that the forms arrived.”
- “Help me run my weekly review.”
Every change lands on the same board as the web, iOS, and Android apps — instantly. And whatever you ask, cards can be archived but never deleted, so nothing is ever lost to a misfired prompt.
Troubleshooting
GTD Brain does not appear in the Agent Store.
Your organization controls which agents are available. Ask your Microsoft 365 admin to allow GTD Brain in the Microsoft 365 admin center (Settings → Integrated apps). Personal Microsoft accounts (outlook.com, hotmail.com) cannot add agents; you need a work or school account.
The sign-in window never appears, or opens blank.
Allow pop-ups for m365.cloud.microsoft (or teams.microsoft.com, depending on where you use Copilot) and send the message again. The sign-in step opens GTD Brain's login page in a separate window.
Copilot answers from memory instead of from my board.
Make sure you are chatting inside the GTD Brain agent (its name is at the top of the chat), not in the general Copilot chat. In the general chat, mention @GTD Brain to hand the request to the agent.
The agent says my account needs a membership.
A new account gets a few free actions to try the connection. The message includes a link to start a GTD Brain membership — the same subscription that unlocks the web, iPhone, and Android apps. Once you have joined, ask again; the connection stays linked.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence?
No. GTD Brain is a declarative agent with its own actions, which run in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat — included with Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans. A paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence adds grounding in your organization's files and mail, which GTD Brain does not use.
Where does my GTD data live? Does Microsoft see it?
Your cards stay on GTD Brain's servers, the same place the web and phone apps use. Microsoft 365 Copilot relays your requests and the agent's answers within your conversation, like any Copilot agent, and nothing is copied into your tenant.
Can my whole team use it?
Yes. A Microsoft 365 admin can deploy the agent to everyone or to selected groups from the admin center. Each person signs in to their own GTD Brain account — boards are personal.
Is it safe to let an AI assistant touch my GTD board?
The connection is deliberately limited: your assistant can read, add, edit, move, and archive cards, but it can never delete one. Archived cards stay recoverable, so nothing is ever lost to a misfired prompt. You can disconnect at any time from the assistant's connector settings.
Do I need a paid GTD Brain subscription?
You can try it free: after connecting, your assistant can create your first 3 cards on a free GTD Brain account. Ongoing use of the connection needs a GTD Brain subscription — the same one subscription that covers the web, iOS, and Android apps.
What is MCP?
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants securely talk to outside tools and data. GTD Brain hosts an MCP server, so any MCP-capable assistant — ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, and others — can work with your board without a plugin or API key.
Do changes made by the assistant sync to my other devices?
Yes. The assistant works on the same board as the web, iOS, and Android apps, and every change syncs in real time. Add a card from a chat and it is on your phone before you switch apps.
Other connections
Connect ChatGPT · Connect Claude · Connect Claude Code · Connect Cursor · VS Code extension · Obsidian plugin · Connect Telegram · Connect Gemini CLI · Connect Docker MCP Toolkit · Connect Notion
New to GTD Brain? Get started free — create your board first, then connect Microsoft 365 Copilot from this page in a couple of minutes.