When desktop Todoist Authenticate never opens a browser
Use this when the Todoist plugin in Grok Bot desktop stays on Needs auth and Authenticate opens nothing. The official Todoist plugin on Grok Bot desktop can stay on Needs auth with 0 tools. Clicking Authenticate shows a toast instead of an OAuth window: “Couldn’t start sign-in for Todoist. The connector reported no details.” From the agent, AuthenticateMcpServer may report the server unreachable before any browser opens.
Staff on forum 171183 (kevinn, Sep 9, 2026; ticket T-F50688): a known tracked issue. Your local setup did not cause the toast.
What not to do
| Action | Why skip it |
|---|---|
| Uninstall / reinstall the Todoist plugin | Staff: will not change the toast |
| Delete the extra Needs-auth account row | Side effect of failed Authenticate attempts — leave it |
| Reset or Recover the Agent Computer | OAuth never starts on the client — Reset/Recover targets the computer, not this toast |
What to do while it is open
- Confirm other connectors on the same desktop still Authenticate (GitHub, Linear, Calendar, and so on). If they work, this matches the known Todoist-only failure.
- Keep Grok Bot updated; watch the forum thread for the staff follow-up.
- If you need Todoist tasks today, use a path that already works for you (another device if OAuth opens there, or a custom MCP you already trust) — do not invent a new OAuth workaround.
- Email hi@cursor.com with ticket T-F50688 only if you need account-specific follow-up beyond the public thread.
Related
- iOS Todoist that reaches the browser but fails once with
code_challenge requiredis a different cluster — retry often succeeds there; desktop never starts OAuth. - GitHub “didn’t provide a sign-in link” is a different plugin failure.
- Plugin discovery in general: Settings → Plugins (xAI's docs call this Marketplace in the sidebar, per Skills and routines) (cursor.com/docs/grok-bot/work, checked 2026-09-25; docs.x.ai/grok-bot/skills-routines-and-automations, checked 2026-09-25).
- All how-tos: How-to index.
- Same symptom for GitHub: When the GitHub plugin says Needs auth but has no sign-in link.
- When a connector stays on Needs auth: When MCP stays Needs auth after Authenticate.
Pitfalls
- Treating “unreachable” on Authenticate as a network or VPN problem when no browser ever opened.
- Burning support cycles on uninstall loops after staff already marked the toast as product-side.