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).

This skill covers (1) the one-time setup you must walk the user through, and (2) which tool to reach for, since the server exposes many.

When to Use This Skill

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.

First: is the MCP 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 (see Ranking caveats).

Setup (walk the user through this — it's the skill's real value)

The server reads Apple Notes' SQLite store directly, so the bun binary needs Full Disk Access. Steps, in order:

Install bun (if absent): brew install oven-sh/bun/bun

Clone + install deps:

git clone https://github.com/connerkward/mcp-apple-notes
cd mcp-apple-notes
git checkout <reviewed-tag-or-commit>
bun install

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. (bun install's postinstall tries to open this pane automatically.)
Register the MCP server (pick the user's client):
- Claude Code: claude mcp add apple-notes -- bun /absolute/path/to/mcp-apple-notes/index.ts --stdio
- Claude Desktop: add to claude_desktop_config.json:
```
{ "mcpServers": { "apple-notes": {
    "command": "/Users/<you>/.bun/bin/bun",
    "args": ["/Users/<you>/mcp-apple-notes/index.ts", "--stdio"] } } }
```
- As a Claude Code plugin (bundles this skill too): /plugin marketplace add connerkward/ckw-skills then /plugin install apple-notes@connerkward.
Restart the client, then tell the user to ask "Index my Apple Notes" (or call index-notes). First index of ~1,800 notes takes a few seconds.

Tool map — which tool for which job

Tool	Use when
`index-notes`	First run, or to force a rebuild. Background job with live progress.
`search-notes`	Default search. Hybrid semantic + BM25, re-ranked. Optional `folder`, `modifiedAfter`, `modifiedBefore`. "What did I write about X."
`find-notes`	Exact substring match (like the Apple Notes search box). Use when the user wants a literal string, not meaning. Optional `folder`, date range.
`get-note`	Fetch one full note by title (fuzzy fallback).
`list-notes`	Notes by recency. Optional `folder`, date range, `limit`.
`list-folders`	All folders + note counts.
`list-tags` / `search-by-tag`	`#hashtag` inventory / notes carrying a given tag.
`related-notes`	Notes related to a given one via shared tags, `[[wikilinks]]`, and vector similarity. "Show me related notes."
`bridge-notes`	Swanson-ABC bridges — non-obvious connections: pairs (A, C) not directly similar but both strongly tied to a shared intermediary B. "Find non-obvious connections across my notes." Optional `folder`, `limit`. No LLM.
`feed`	Ranked evidence-first connection stream (bridges + abstraction pairs + entity threads) as JSON. Optional `limit`.
`entity-notes` / `list-entities`	"Where else do I talk about Mercedes?" Entity chips → notes by mention weight. Needs the optional entity graph db (`~/.mcp-apple-notes/layered_graph.db`); if absent these report how to generate it.
`get-tables`	Pull pipe/tab tables out of a note.
`create-note` / `update-note`	Create or edit a note.
`check-changes`	Did notes change since last index? (does not trigger re-index)
`index-health`	Sync status, last-indexed time, note count. Run this if results seem stale.

For "synthesize what I think about X" the synthesis lives in the web app endpoint (GET /api/synthesize?q= at http://localhost:3741/ when run with bun index.ts), which writes a grounded answer with inline [n] citations back to source notes.

Ranking caveats (state these when results look off)

Index before the first search. No index → empty/garbage results; run index-notes.
Auto re-index: each search does ~1ms change detection and kicks ONE background incremental index if notes changed — search returns immediately from the current index and catches up when the job lands. If a just-edited note is missing, it's the catch-up lag; re-run the search.
Score: score = RRF(vector, BM25) × title_boost × recency_factor.
Temporal queries (recent, latest, today) auto-shift to a 1-day recency half-life at 70% weight; normal queries keep relevance primary (90-day half-life, 10%).
Synthesis is the only cloud-capable part. It needs an LLM: local via LM Studio / Ollama (SYNTH_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1234/v1 SYNTH_MODEL=<model> OPENAI_API_KEY=local, notes stay on-device) or real OpenAI (funded OPENAI_API_KEY, defaults to gpt-4o-mini). Everything else — embeddings, search, BM25, clustering, bridges, entities — is on-device.

Limitations

macOS and Apple Notes only; it does not search Obsidian, Notion, Google Docs, or other note stores.
The MCP server needs local filesystem permissions to read Apple Notes data, so setup cannot be completed purely inside a remote shell.
Search quality depends on a fresh local index. Recently edited notes may require check-changes, index-health, or a rerun after background indexing catches up.
Entity tools require the optional layered graph database; without it, use hybrid search, exact search, related notes, or bridges instead.

Credits

Fork of RafalWilinski/mcp-apple-notes; this fork reads SQLite + protobuf directly and adds bridges, entities, feed, and synthesis. Authored by Conner K Ward. License MIT.

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