BUG REPORT: Todoist MCP Integration - Stale Phrase Data

[gwendelen]

AH HA!!!! I think I have discovered the cause of the wonky date search problems.

BUG REPORT: Todoist MCP Integration - Stale Phrase Data
Summary: MCP returns outdated phrase data that doesn't match Todoist UI display
Steps to Reproduce:

Create task with relative due date: "Teaching penguins to dance" due "tomorrow"
Wait two days so task becomes overdue
Check task in Todoist UI vs MCP response

Expected Result:

Todoist UI shows phrase as "yesterday" (correct)
MCP should return phrase as "yesterday" (current relative time)

Actual Result:

Todoist UI shows phrase as "yesterday" (correct)
MCP returns phrase as "tomorrow" (stale from creation time)

Root Cause: Todoist API only updates phrase field when task is actively modified, not dynamically
Workaround: Ignore phrase field in MCP responses, calculate relative timing from date field only
Impact: Can cause confusion about task urgency when relying on phrase data

[gwendelen]

[gwendelen]

[gwendelen]

So.... one more thought on this. Allowing Claude to send the phrase is actually a good thing because Claude sucks at figuring out day of the week calculations and todoist is very good at that. Its just that the phrase that is returned is likely to be wrong.