| name | apple-notes-search |
| description | Semantic + keyword search and connection-discovery across the user's own Apple Notes via the apple-notes MCP server. Use when the user wants to find, recall, or synthesize something from their notes, or surface non-obvious bridges/related notes. macOS, on-device. |
| risk | critical |
| source | community |
| source_repo | connerkward/mcp-apple-notes |
| source_type | community |
| date_added | 2026-06-16 |
| author | connerkward |
| tags | ["apple-notes","search","mcp","macos","semantic-search","knowledge"] |
| tools | ["claude-code"] |
| license | MIT |
| license_source | https://github.com/connerkward/mcp-apple-notes/blob/main/LICENSE |
| plugin | {"targets":{"codex":"blocked","claude":"blocked"},"setup":{"type":"manual","summary":"Requires third-party MCP setup and macOS Full Disk Access; keep out of plugin-safe bundles.","docs":"SKILL.md"}} |
Apple Notes search & connection-discovery
apple-notes is an MCP server for semantic search and connection-discovery across the
user's own Apple Notes — hybrid search, Swanson-ABC bridges, entity threads, and cited
synthesis over everything they've written. Embeddings, search, BM25, clustering, and
bridges run on-device; only synthesis generation calls an LLM (local OR cloud,
the user's choice).
This skill covers (1) the one-time setup you must walk the user through, and (2) which
tool to reach for, since the server exposes many.
When to Use This Skill
- Use when the user wants to find, recall, or look up something from their own Apple
Notes ("search my notes for X", "what did I write about X", "did I ever note Y").
- Use when the user wants to surface non-obvious connections across their notes
("find bridges/connections across my notes", "what links X and Y", "show related notes").
- Use when the user wants to synthesize a position from their notes ("summarize what I
think about X from my notes", "pull together everything I've written on X").
- Also use for "index my Apple Notes", tag/folder queries, and "what's connected to X".
- Do not use for creating reminders, or for non-Apple-Notes note systems.
First: is the MCP connected?
If apple-notes tools are not available, the server isn't registered yet — do the
Setup below before anything else. If tools exist but a search returns "not indexed"
or empty, run index-notes first (see Ranking caveats).
Setup (walk the user through this — it's the skill's real value)
The server reads Apple Notes' SQLite store directly, so the bun binary needs Full
Disk Access. Steps, in order:
- Install bun (if absent):
brew install oven-sh/bun/bun
- Clone + install deps:
git clone https://github.com/connerkward/mcp-apple-notes
cd mcp-apple-notes
git checkout <reviewed-tag-or-commit>
bun install
- Grant Full Disk Access to bun. Run
which bun, then open System Settings →
Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access, click +, and add that exact bun binary
path (commonly /opt/homebrew/bin/bun or /usr/local/bin/bun). Without this the
server cannot read NoteStore.sqlite and every call fails with a permissions error.
('s postinstall tries to open this pane automatically.)
