| name | apple-notes-search |
| description | Runs on-device semantic plus keyword search and Swanson-ABC connection-discovery over the user's Apple Notes via the apple-notes MCP. Use when finding, recalling, synthesizing, or bridging notes on macOS. Not for Obsidian, SiYuan, Notion, or Apple Reminders. |
| version | 1.0.1 |
| risk | critical |
| source | community |
| source_repo | connerkward/mcp-apple-notes |
| source_type | community |
| date_added | 2026-06-16 |
| 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).
When to Use
- 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.
Prerequisites
- macOS with Apple Notes.
bun installed (brew install oven-sh/bun/bun).- Full Disk Access granted to the
bun binary.
- MCP server registered in the client (Claude Code or Claude Desktop).
Procedure
- Check if the MCP is 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.
- Setup (walk the user through this):
a. Install bun (if absent):
brew install oven-sh/bun/bun
b. Clone + install deps:
git clone https://github.com/connerkward/mcp-apple-notes
cd mcp-apple-notes
git checkout <reviewed-tag-or-commit>
bun install
c. 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.
d. (pick the user's client):
