inotes — Apple Notes CLI

inotes is a fast, scriptable command line for Apple Notes — list, search, show, and create notes from your terminal, with a --json flag for scripts and agents. Part of the imsg / imail / inotes / wa local-first tool family.

inotes list --limit 20
inotes search "standup" --json
inotes create --title "Idea" --body "…"

macOS only

inotes drives Notes.app through AppleScript (osascript), which only exists on macOS. There is no Linux or Windows build, and none is planned — the tool has nothing to talk to without Notes.app.

Related MCP server: Apple Notes MCP Server

Install

# Homebrew
brew install ml-lubich/tap/inotes

# pip
pip install inotes-mcp

# from a clone
git clone https://github.com/ml-lubich/inotes-mcp.git
cd inotes-mcp
uv tool install .

The PyPI/Homebrew package is inotes-mcp; the installed command is always inotes.

Permissions

inotes needs Automation access to Notes.app. The first time it runs a command, macOS will prompt you to allow it — or grant it up front in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation (allow your terminal app to control Notes). Verify it's working with:

inotes doctor

Quick start

inotes doctor                                        # verify Notes.app access
inotes list --limit 20                               # recent note titles
inotes list --json                                    # {"notes": [...]}
inotes search "standup" --limit 10 --json             # search titles + bodies
inotes show "My Note"                                 # exact-title lookup
inotes create --title "Idea" --body "…"               # new note
inotes create --title "Work" --body "…" --folder "Projects"
inotes version
inotes -h                                             # help at every level

show requires an exact note title match. create --folder targets a named folder; omit it to use the default account.

Commands

Help is available at every level: inotes -h, inotes <command> -h, inotes agent -h.

Using inotes from an agent

inotes is CLI-first by design — cheaper on tokens than a full MCP round trip for the common case of list/search/show/create. inotes agent schema gives an agent a machine-readable contract of every command and its parameters; inotes agent guide gives it a short playbook (the same rules documented above: run doctor first, --json on list/search, exit code 0 on success).

Built-in MCP server

inotes mcp runs a stdio MCP server exposing the same five operations (doctor, list_notes, search_notes, show_note, create_note) as MCP tools — no separate package needed. Point any MCP client at the installed inotes command:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "inotes": {
      "command": "inotes",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

For richer CRUD than this CLI's surface covers, pair inotes with sweetrb/apple-notes-mcp, a full third-party MCP server for Apple Notes.

Development

git clone https://github.com/ml-lubich/inotes-mcp.git
cd inotes-mcp
python3 -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest -q
inotes -h

A legacy bash implementation is preserved as inotes.bash.bak for reference.

MIT License · Copyright (c) 2026 Misha Lubich (ml-lubich)