123 lines
7.5 KiB
Markdown
123 lines
7.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: apple-notes-search
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description: "Semantic + keyword search and connection-discovery across the user's own Apple Notes via the apple-notes MCP server. Use when the user wants to find, recall, or synthesize something from their notes, or surface non-obvious bridges/related notes. macOS, on-device."
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risk: safe
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source: community
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source_repo: connerkward/mcp-apple-notes
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source_type: community
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date_added: "2026-06-16"
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author: connerkward
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tags: [apple-notes, search, mcp, macos, semantic-search, knowledge]
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tools: [claude-code]
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license: "MIT"
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license_source: "https://github.com/connerkward/mcp-apple-notes/blob/main/LICENSE"
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---
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# Apple Notes search & connection-discovery
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`apple-notes` is an MCP server for semantic search and connection-discovery across the
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user's own Apple Notes — hybrid search, Swanson-ABC bridges, entity threads, and cited
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synthesis over everything they've written. Embeddings, search, BM25, clustering, and
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bridges run **on-device**; only **synthesis generation** calls an LLM (local OR cloud,
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the user's choice).
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This skill covers (1) the one-time setup you must walk the user through, and (2) which
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tool to reach for, since the server exposes many.
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## When to Use This Skill
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- Use when the user wants to **find, recall, or look up** something from their own Apple
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Notes ("search my notes for X", "what did I write about X", "did I ever note Y").
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- Use when the user wants to surface **non-obvious connections** across their notes
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("find bridges/connections across my notes", "what links X and Y", "show related notes").
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- Use when the user wants to **synthesize a position** from their notes ("summarize what I
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think about X from my notes", "pull together everything I've written on X").
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- Also use for "index my Apple Notes", tag/folder queries, and "what's connected to X".
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- Do **not** use for creating reminders, or for non-Apple-Notes note systems.
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## First: is the MCP connected?
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If `apple-notes` tools are not available, the server isn't registered yet — do the
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**Setup** below before anything else. If tools exist but a search returns "not indexed"
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or empty, run `index-notes` first (see Ranking caveats).
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## Setup (walk the user through this — it's the skill's real value)
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The server reads Apple Notes' SQLite store directly, so the **bun** binary needs Full
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Disk Access. Steps, in order:
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1. **Install bun** (if absent): `brew install oven-sh/bun/bun`
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2. **Clone + install deps:**
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```bash
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git clone https://github.com/connerkward/mcp-apple-notes
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cd mcp-apple-notes && bun install
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```
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3. **Grant Full Disk Access to bun.** Run `which bun`, then open System Settings →
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Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access, click `+`, and add that exact `bun` binary
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path (commonly `/opt/homebrew/bin/bun` or `/usr/local/bin/bun`). Without this the
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server cannot read NoteStore.sqlite and every call fails with a permissions error.
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(`bun install`'s postinstall tries to open this pane automatically.)
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4. **Register the MCP server** (pick the user's client):
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- Claude Code: `claude mcp add apple-notes -- bun /absolute/path/to/mcp-apple-notes/index.ts --stdio`
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- Claude Desktop: add to `claude_desktop_config.json`:
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```json
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{ "mcpServers": { "apple-notes": {
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"command": "/Users/<you>/.bun/bin/bun",
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"args": ["/Users/<you>/mcp-apple-notes/index.ts", "--stdio"] } } }
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```
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- As a Claude Code plugin (bundles this skill too): `/plugin marketplace add connerkward/ckw-skills` then `/plugin install apple-notes@connerkward`.
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5. **Restart the client**, then tell the user to ask **"Index my Apple Notes"** (or call
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`index-notes`). First index of ~1,800 notes takes a few seconds.
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## Tool map — which tool for which job
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| Tool | Use when |
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|------|----------|
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| `index-notes` | First run, or to force a rebuild. Background job with live progress. |
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| `search-notes` | **Default search.** Hybrid semantic + BM25, re-ranked. Optional `folder`, `modifiedAfter`, `modifiedBefore`. "What did I write about X." |
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| `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. |
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| `get-note` | Fetch one full note by title (fuzzy fallback). |
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| `list-notes` | Notes by recency. Optional `folder`, date range, `limit`. |
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| `list-folders` | All folders + note counts. |
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| `list-tags` / `search-by-tag` | `#hashtag` inventory / notes carrying a given tag. |
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| `related-notes` | Notes related to a given one via shared tags, `[[wikilinks]]`, and vector similarity. "Show me related notes." |
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| `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. |
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| `feed` | Ranked evidence-first connection stream (bridges + abstraction pairs + entity threads) as JSON. Optional `limit`. |
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| `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. |
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| `get-tables` | Pull pipe/tab tables out of a note. |
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| `create-note` / `update-note` | Create or edit a note. |
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| `check-changes` | Did notes change since last index? (does not trigger re-index) |
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| `index-health` | Sync status, last-indexed time, note count. Run this if results seem stale. |
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For "synthesize what I think about X" the synthesis lives in the **web app** endpoint
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(`GET /api/synthesize?q=` at `http://localhost:3741/` when run with `bun index.ts`),
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which writes a grounded answer with inline `[n]` citations back to source notes.
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## Ranking caveats (state these when results look off)
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- **Index before the first search.** No index → empty/garbage results; run `index-notes`.
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- **Auto re-index:** each search does ~1ms change detection and kicks ONE background
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incremental index if notes changed — search returns immediately from the current index
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and catches up when the job lands. If a just-edited note is missing, it's the catch-up
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lag; re-run the search.
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- **Score:** `score = RRF(vector, BM25) × title_boost × recency_factor`.
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- **Temporal queries** (`recent`, `latest`, `today`) auto-shift to a 1-day recency
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half-life at 70% weight; normal queries keep relevance primary (90-day half-life, 10%).
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- **Synthesis is the only cloud-capable part.** It needs an LLM: local via LM Studio /
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Ollama (`SYNTH_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1234/v1 SYNTH_MODEL=<model> OPENAI_API_KEY=local`,
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notes stay on-device) or real OpenAI (funded `OPENAI_API_KEY`, defaults to `gpt-4o-mini`).
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Everything else — embeddings, search, BM25, clustering, bridges, entities — is on-device.
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## Limitations
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- macOS and Apple Notes only; it does not search Obsidian, Notion, Google Docs, or other note stores.
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- The MCP server needs local filesystem permissions to read Apple Notes data, so setup cannot be completed purely inside a remote shell.
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- 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.
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- Entity tools require the optional layered graph database; without it, use hybrid search, exact search, related notes, or bridges instead.
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## Credits
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Fork of [RafalWilinski/mcp-apple-notes](https://github.com/RafalWilinski/mcp-apple-notes);
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this fork reads SQLite + protobuf directly and adds bridges, entities, feed, and synthesis.
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Authored by [Conner K Ward](https://github.com/connerkward). License MIT.
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