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:
- Install bun (if absent):
brew install oven-sh/bun/bun - Clone + install deps:
``bash 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 claudedesktopconfig.json: ``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) × titleboost × recencyfactor. - 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 (SYNTHBASEURL=http://localhost:1234/v1 SYNTHMODEL=<model> OPENAIAPIKEY=local, notes stay on-device) or real OpenAI (funded OPENAIAPI_KEY, defaults to gpt-4o-mini). Everything else — embeddings, search, BM25, clustering, bridges, entities — is on-device.
Example
User request:
Use @apple-notes-search for this task: Semantic + keyword search and connection-discovery across the user's own Apple Notes via the apple-notes MCP server.
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.