productivity

Apple Notes

sirmews

by sirmews

Access and search your Apple Notes and iCloud Notes easily with this app. Manage your notes securely and efficiently.

Access and search local Apple Notes databases.

github stars

125

0 commentsdiscussion

Both formats append explainx.ai attribution and the canonical URL for this MCP server listing.

Read-only access (no editing or creation)Requires macOS Full Disk Access permissionLocal database access only

best for

  • / Finding forgotten notes and ideas
  • / Getting AI help with personal knowledge stored in Notes
  • / Cross-referencing information across your note collection

capabilities

  • / Retrieve all Apple Notes from local database
  • / Search through notes by content or title
  • / Read full content of specific notes
  • / Access notes metadata and organization

what it does

Connects Claude to your local Apple Notes database so it can read and search through your existing notes. Requires macOS and full disk access permissions.

about

Apple Notes is a community-built MCP server published by sirmews that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Access and search your Apple Notes and iCloud Notes easily with this app. Manage your notes securely and efficiently. It is categorized under productivity.

how to install

You can install Apple Notes in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.

license

MIT

Apple Notes is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.

readme

Apple Notes Model Context Protocol Server for Claude Desktop.

Read your local Apple Notes database and provide it to Claude Desktop.

Now Claude can search your most forgotten notes and know even more about you.

Noting could go wrong.

Components

Resources

The server implements the ability to read and write to your Apple Notes.

Tools

The server provides multiple prompts:

  • get-all-notes: Get all notes.
  • read-note: Get full content of a specific note.
  • search-notes: Search through notes.

Missing Features:

  • No handling of encrypted notes (ZISPASSWORDPROTECTED)
  • No support for pinned notes filtering
  • No handling of cloud sync status
  • Missing attachment content retrieval
  • No support for checklist status (ZHASCHECKLIST)
  • No ability to create or edit notes

Quickstart

Install the server

Recommend using uv to install the server locally for Claude.

uvx apple-notes-mcp

OR

uv pip install apple-notes-mcp

Add your config as described below.

Claude Desktop

On MacOS: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Note: You might need to use the direct path to uv. Use which uv to find the path.

Development/Unpublished Servers Configuration

"mcpServers": {
  "apple-notes-mcp": {
    "command": "uv",
    "args": [
      "--directory",
      "{project_dir}",
      "run",
      "apple-notes-mcp"
    ]
  }
}

Published Servers Configuration

"mcpServers": {
  "apple-notes-mcp": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
      "apple-notes-mcp"
    ]
  }
}

Mac OS Disk Permissions

You'll need to grant Full Disk Access to the server. This is because the Apple Notes sqlite database is nested deep in the MacOS file system.

I may look at an AppleScript solution in the future if this annoys me further or if I want to start adding/appending to Apple Notes.

Development

Building and Publishing

To prepare the package for distribution:

  1. Sync dependencies and update lockfile:
uv sync
  1. Build package distributions:
uv build

This will create source and wheel distributions in the dist/ directory.

  1. Publish to PyPI:
uv publish

Note: You'll need to set PyPI credentials via environment variables or command flags:

  • Token: --token or UV_PUBLISH_TOKEN
  • Or username/password: --username/UV_PUBLISH_USERNAME and --password/UV_PUBLISH_PASSWORD

Debugging

Since MCP servers run over stdio, debugging can be challenging. For the best debugging experience, we strongly recommend using the MCP Inspector.

You can launch the MCP Inspector via npm with this command:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv --directory {project_dir} run apple-notes-mcp

Upon launching, the Inspector will display a URL that you can access in your browser to begin debugging.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Source Code

The source code is available on GitHub.

Contributing

Send your ideas and feedback to me on Bluesky or by opening an issue.

FAQ

What is the Apple Notes MCP server?
Apple Notes is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server profile on explainx.ai. MCP lets AI hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Cursor) call tools and resources through a standard interface; this page summarizes categories, install hints, and community ratings.
How do MCP servers relate to agent skills?
Skills are reusable instruction packages (often SKILL.md); MCP servers expose live capabilities. Teams frequently combine both—skills for workflows, MCP for APIs and data. See explainx.ai/skills and explainx.ai/mcp-servers for parallel directories.
How are reviews shown for Apple Notes?
This profile displays 28 aggregated ratings (sample rows for discoverability plus signed-in user reviews). Average score is about 4.5 out of 5—verify behavior in your own environment before production use.

Use Cases

Extended AI Capabilities

Add new capabilities to Claude beyond text generation

Example

Access external data sources, execute code, interact with tools and services

Transform Claude from chatbot to action-taking agent

Context Enhancement

Provide Claude with access to relevant context and data

Example

Load project documentation, access knowledge bases, query databases

Get more accurate, context-aware responses

Workflow Automation

Automate multi-step workflows combining AI and external tools

Example

Research → Summarize → Create document → Send notification

Complete complex tasks end-to-end without manual steps

Implementation Guide

Prerequisites

  • Claude Desktop 0.7.0+ or Cursor IDE with MCP support
  • Basic understanding of MCP architecture and capabilities
  • Access credentials for integrated services (if required)
  • Willingness to experiment and iterate on configuration

Time Estimate

15-60 minutes depending on server complexity

Installation Steps

  1. 1.Install MCP server: npm install -g [package-name] or via GitHub
  2. 2.Add server configuration to ~/.claude/mcp.json
  3. 3.Provide required credentials and configuration
  4. 4.Restart Claude Desktop to load new server
  5. 5.Test basic functionality with simple prompts
  6. 6.Explore capabilities and experiment with use cases
  7. 7.Document successful patterns for reuse

Troubleshooting

  • MCP server not loading: Check config syntax, verify installation
  • Connection errors: Check network, firewall, credentials
  • Feature not working: Read server docs, check required parameters
  • Performance issues: Monitor resource usage, check for network latency
  • Conflicts with other servers: Check port assignments, namespace collisions

Best Practices

✓ Do

  • +Read server documentation thoroughly before setup
  • +Start with simple use cases to validate functionality
  • +Test in non-production environment first
  • +Monitor resource usage and performance
  • +Keep servers updated for bug fixes and new features
  • +Document configuration for team members
  • +Use environment variables for sensitive configuration

✗ Don't

  • Don't grant overly permissive access to MCP servers
  • Don't skip reading security considerations in docs
  • Don't expose sensitive data without proper controls
  • Don't run untrusted MCP servers without code review
  • Don't ignore error messages—investigate root cause

💡 Pro Tips

  • Combine multiple MCP servers for powerful workflows
  • Create custom MCP servers for your specific needs
  • Share successful configurations with team
  • Use MCP inspector for debugging
  • Join MCP community for tips and troubleshooting

Technical Details

Architecture

Model Context Protocol standardizes how AI hosts (Claude, Cursor) communicate with external tools and data sources through server implementations.

Protocols

  • Model Context Protocol (MCP)
  • JSON-RPC 2.0
  • stdio or HTTP transport

Compatibility

  • Claude Desktop
  • Cursor IDE
  • Custom MCP clients

When to Use This

✓ Use When

Use when you need Claude to access external data, execute actions, or integrate with tools. Best for extending AI capabilities beyond conversation.

✗ Avoid When

Avoid when native integrations exist (use official APIs directly), for real-time critical systems, or when security/compliance requires zero external dependencies.

Integration

  • Tool composition: Chain multiple MCP tools in workflows
  • Context augmentation: Provide AI with relevant external data
  • Action delegation: Let AI execute tasks on external systems
  • Bidirectional sync: Keep AI context and external systems in sync

Discussion

Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)
  • No comments yet — start the thread.

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Ratings

4.528 reviews
  • Shikha Mishra· Dec 12, 2024

    According to our notes, Apple Notes benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.

  • Min Chen· Nov 15, 2024

    Apple Notes reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.

  • Rahul Santra· Nov 3, 2024

    We wired Apple Notes into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.

  • Pratham Ware· Oct 22, 2024

    Apple Notes is a well-scoped MCP server in the explainx.ai directory — install snippets and categories matched our Claude Code setup.

  • Luis Khanna· Oct 6, 2024

    Useful MCP listing: Apple Notes is the kind of server we cite when onboarding engineers to host + tool permissions.

  • Aarav Liu· Sep 25, 2024

    Strong directory entry: Apple Notes surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.

  • Oshnikdeep· Sep 13, 2024

    I recommend Apple Notes for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.

  • Camila Okafor· Sep 13, 2024

    Apple Notes has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.

  • Valentina Singh· Aug 16, 2024

    I recommend Apple Notes for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.

  • Ganesh Mohane· Aug 4, 2024

    Strong directory entry: Apple Notes surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.

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