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

1. Install Node.js

You need Node.js 18+ installed. If you don't have it, download the LTS version from the link.

2. Configure Claude Desktop

Open the Claude Desktop config file:

open -e ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

If the file doesn't exist, create it. Add the following:

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

That's it — no need to clone any code. npx will automatically download and run the server.

Save the file, then restart Claude Desktop.

3. Grant Permissions

You need to grant two permissions to node (not to Terminal or Claude Desktop):

Full Disk Access — System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → add and enable node
- Required for reading notes. The server reads the Notes database (NoteStore.sqlite) directly, which macOS protects behind Full Disk Access.
- Without this permission, list/search/read will fail.
Accessibility — System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → add and enable node
- Required for creating notes. The server uses System Events to auto-click the Import confirmation dialog.
- Without this permission, create will fail.

To find your node path, run which node in Terminal — typically /usr/local/bin/node or /opt/homebrew/bin/node.

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

| Action | Method | Speed | |--------|--------|-------| | List / Search | SQLite (read-only) | < 100ms | | Read | AppleScript → Markdown | ~1s | | Create | Native Markdown import | ~3-4s | | Update | Delete + Create | ~4-5s | | Delete | AppleScript | ~1s |

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:

| Element | Support | |---------|---------| | Headings, bold, italic, lists, inline code | Fully supported | | Block quotes | Content preserved, no indent style | | Links | Text preserved, URL lost | | Tables, footnotes | Not supported |

Roadmap

[x] Publish to npm — npx @ailenshen/apple-notes-mcp just works, zero setup beyond the config file.
[ ] Remote connection (Streamable HTTP + OAuth 2.1) — Currently, this server runs locally via stdio. The next goal is to add an HTTP transport with OAuth so that Claude on iPhone/iPad can connect to your Mac's Apple Notes remotely. Your Mac becomes the bridge between mobile Claude and your notes.
[x] 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

MCP Servers