managing-notes

name	managing-notes
description	Creates, reads, searches, and organizes notes in Notes.app on macOS through AppleScript. Use when the user asks about Notes.app, creating notes, searching notes, or organizing notes into folders.

Managing Notes

Use the AppleScript scripts in scripts/ to create, read, search, and organize notes. These scripts require Notes permissions in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Notes.

Create notes

bash scripts/create-note.sh \
  --title "Meeting Notes" \
  --body "Discussion points and action items..."

Creates a new note in the default "Notes" folder. Supports plain text and HTML formatting.

HTML formatting for todo lists:

bash scripts/create-note.sh \
  --title "Shopping List" \
  --body "<ul><li>Milk</li><li>Bread</li><li>Eggs</li></ul>" \
  --html

Note in specific folder:

bash scripts/create-note.sh \
  --title "Project Plan" \
  --body "Key milestones and deadlines..." \
  --folder "Work"

Search notes

bash scripts/search-notes.sh --query "project"
bash scripts/search-notes.sh --query "meeting" --folder "Work"
bash scripts/search-notes.sh --query "important" --title-only --limit 10

Searches notes by title or content. Use --title-only for faster title-only searches, --show-preview for content previews, and --limit to control result count.

Read notes

bash scripts/read-note.sh --title "Meeting Notes"
bash scripts/read-note.sh --title "Project Plan" --folder "Work"

Reads the full content of a note by title (supports partial matching).

List notes

bash scripts/list-notes.sh
bash scripts/list-notes.sh --folder "Work"

Lists all notes or notes in a specific folder.

Organize folders

# Create a folder
bash scripts/create-folder.sh --name "Archive"

# List folders
bash scripts/list-folders.sh

# Rename a folder
bash scripts/rename-folder.sh --name "Old Folder" --new-name "New Folder"

# Delete a folder
bash scripts/delete-folder.sh --name "Unwanted Folder"

Move and delete notes

# Move a note to another folder
bash scripts/move-note.sh \
  --title "Old Note" \
  --to "Work"

# Move a note with source folder specified
bash scripts/move-note.sh \
  --title "Old Note" \
  --from "Notes" \
  --to "Archive"

# Delete a note
bash scripts/delete-note.sh --title "Unwanted Note"

Export notes

bash scripts/export-note.sh \
  --name "Important Note" \
  --output /tmp/note.txt

Exports a note's content to a text file. Can also export all notes from a folder:

bash scripts/export-note.sh \
  --folder "Work" \
  --output-dir /tmp/work-notes \
  --format html

HTML formatting

Notes.app uses HTML for rich text formatting. Use --html flag when creating formatted notes:

• Bullet lists: <ul><li>Item 1</li><li>Item 2</li></ul>
• Strikethrough (completed items): <strike>Completed item</strike>
• Bold: <strong>Bold text</strong>
• Italic: <em>Italic text</em>

Permissions

The first time these scripts run, macOS will prompt for Notes access. Grant access in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Notes.

Additional options

• create-note supports --body-file to read note body from a file (useful for large content)
• create-folder supports --parent to create nested folders
• list-notes supports --recent, --with-attachments, --limit, and --show-folders options