Apple Notes search & connection-discovery

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`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).

Category: Data & Research
Repo: antigravity-awesome-skills
Path: skills/apple-notes-search/SKILL.md
Updated: 6/18/2026, 7:42:54 AM
Open on GitHubHow to Install

AI Summary

`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). It is useful for data analysis, research workflows, web scraping, knowledge bases, and data pipelines. Source: antigravity-awesome-skills (skills/apple-notes-search/SKILL.md).

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:

  1. Install bun (if absent): brew install oven-sh/bun/bun
  2. Clone + install deps: 
    git clone https://github.com/connerkward/mcp-apple-notes
cd mcp-apple-notes && bun install
  3. 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.)
  4. 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.
  5. 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

ToolUse when
index-notesFirst run, or to force a rebuild. Background job with live progress.
search-notesDefault search. Hybrid semantic + BM25, re-ranked. Optional folder, modifiedAfter, modifiedBefore. "What did I write about X."
find-notesExact substring match (like the Apple Notes search box). Use when the user wants a literal string, not meaning. Optional folder, date range.
get-noteFetch one full note by title (fuzzy fallback).
list-notesNotes by recency. Optional folder, date range, limit.
list-foldersAll folders + note counts.
list-tags / search-by-tag#hashtag inventory / notes carrying a given tag.
related-notesNotes related to a given one via shared tags, [[wikilinks]], and vector similarity. "Show me related notes."
bridge-notesSwanson-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.
feedRanked 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-tablesPull pipe/tab tables out of a note.
create-note / update-noteCreate or edit a note.
check-changesDid notes change since last index? (does not trigger re-index)
index-healthSync 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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