Apple Notes MCP Server

Let Claude read, search, create, update, and delete your Apple Notes — right from Claude Desktop.

I built this because I want Apple Notes to be my personal data hub, and I need it to work seamlessly with AI. This MCP server is the bridge.

Requirements: macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later.

Why This One?

There are other Apple Notes MCP implementations (including Claude's built-in one). Here's what makes this one different:

Native formatting support. When you create a note, it goes through macOS's native Markdown import — so titles become real Titles, headings become real Headings, bold/italic/lists all render as native Apple Notes formatting, not plain text pasted into a note body.

The trade-off: Notes.app will briefly appear during note creation (~3 seconds), because we use open -a Notes to trigger the native import pipeline. It's the only way to get true native formatting without reverse-engineering Apple's private internal format.

Fast reads via SQLite. Listing and searching notes queries the NoteStore database directly — under 100ms, no AppleScript overhead.

What Can It Do?

• List notes — browse all your notes or filter by folder

• Search notes — find notes by keyword

• Read a note — get the full content of any note (returned as Markdown)

• Create a note — write a new note from Markdown (with native formatting)

• Update a note — replace a note's content while preserving its folder

• Delete a note — move a note to Recently Deleted

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+

• macOS permissions for node (not Terminal or Claude Desktop):

  1. Full Disk Access — System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → add node

  2. Accessibility — System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → add node

To find your node path: which node (typically /usr/local/bin/node or /opt/homebrew/bin/node).

Option A: Local (stdio)

For Claude Desktop or Claude Code on the same Mac. Add to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-notes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ailenshen/apple-notes-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop, the config file is at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.

Option B: Remote (HTTP)

For accessing your Apple Notes from anywhere — Claude on your phone, another computer, or any MCP client that supports HTTP.

Start the server in HTTP mode on your Mac:

npx @ailenshen/apple-notes-mcp@latest --http

This will print an endpoint URL with a random secret path:

Apple Notes MCP server running on HTTP
Endpoint: http://localhost:3100/mcp/a3f8b2c9e1d4...

The secret in the URL is the only authentication — anyone with the full URL can access your notes.

Making it accessible remotely: The HTTP server listens on 0.0.0.0:3100 by default. To access it over the internet, put it behind HTTPS using any reverse proxy or tunnel you prefer (ngrok, Cloudflare Tunnel, a VPS with nginx, etc.), then point your remote MCP client to the HTTPS URL.

CLI options:

Running as a persistent service on macOS: To keep the server running across reboots with a fixed secret, create a LaunchAgent. See the wiki for an example plist.

Usage Examples

Once configured, just talk to Claude naturally:

• "List all my notes in the Projects folder"

• "Search my notes for 'meeting agenda'"

• "Read my note titled 'Shopping List'"

• "Create a note in my Work folder with today's action items"

• "Update my 'Shopping List' note with these new items"

• "Delete the note called 'Old Draft'"

How It Works

• Reading is done through a read-only SQLite connection to the Notes database — fast and safe. Note content is converted from HTML to Markdown via turndown.

• Creating uses macOS's native Markdown import (open -a Notes), so formatting is preserved natively.

• Updating deletes the old note and creates a new one, automatically preserving the original folder.

• Deleting moves notes to Recently Deleted, just like doing it manually.

Markdown Support

When creating notes, most Markdown works natively:

Roadmap

• Publish to npm — npx @ailenshen/apple-notes-mcp just works, zero setup beyond the config file.

• Remote connection (Streamable HTTP) — Access your Apple Notes from anywhere via HTTP. Your Mac becomes the bridge between any remote MCP client and your notes.

• Update note — delete + recreate with folder preservation.

Vision

Apple Notes is the most natural place to keep personal knowledge on Apple devices — it syncs everywhere, it's fast, and it's private. But it's a walled garden with no API.

This project makes Apple Notes a first-class data source for AI. The long-term goal: wherever you're talking to Claude — on your Mac, on your phone, on the web — your Apple Notes are always accessible, readable, and writable.

License

MIT