Bear MCP server

Bear MCP Server is a connection tool that lets you interact with the Bear note-taking application through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It enables AI assistants and other applications to create, modify, and manage notes in Bear through a standardized interface.

Installation Options

Prerequisites

Before installing, you need to have uv installed on your system to use the uvx command. You'll also need a Bear API token.

Setting Up with Goose CLI

To enable the Bear extension in Goose CLI, edit your configuration file:

nano ~/.config/goose/config.yaml

Add the following entry under the extensions section:

extensions:
  bear:
    name: Bear
    cmd: uvx
    args: [--from, git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear, mcp-bear]
    envs: { "BEAR_API_TOKEN": "<YOUR_TOKEN>" }
    enabled: true
    type: stdio

Make sure to replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with your actual Bear API token.

Setting Up with Goose Desktop

To add the Bear extension to Goose Desktop:

1. Open Goose Desktop
2. Navigate to the Extensions section
3. Click "Add New Extension"
4. Configure with these settings:
   • Type: Standard IO
   • ID: bear
   • Name: Bear
   • Description: Interacting with Bear note-taking software
   • Command: uvx --from git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear mcp-bear
   • Environment Variables: Add BEAR_API_TOKEN with your actual token

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the documentation at Using Extensions - MCP Servers.

Setting Up with Claude Desktop

To configure the Bear server for Claude Desktop:

1. Edit the claude_desktop_config.json file
2. Add the following entry under the mcpServers section:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bear": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear",
        "mcp-bear",
        "--token",
        "<YOUR_TOKEN>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

3. Replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with your actual Bear API token
4. Restart Claude Desktop

For more information about MCP configuration, see For Claude Desktop Users - Model Context Protocol.

Supported Actions

The Bear MCP server supports various actions that let you interact with your Bear notes programmatically:

Note Management

• Create new notes
• Open existing notes
• Add text to notes
• Move notes to trash
• Archive notes

Tag Operations

• List all tags
• Open a specific tag
• Rename tags
• Delete tags

Filtering and Searching

• Find untagged notes
• View to-do lists
• See today's notes
• View locked notes
• Search through your notes

Web Integration

• Grab content from URLs

For the full details on each action's parameters and behavior, refer to Bear's X-callback-url Scheme documentation.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "bear" '{"command":"uvx","args":["--from","git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear","mcp-bear"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "bear": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--from",
                "git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear",
                "mcp-bear"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "bear": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--from",
                "git+https://github.com/jkawamoto/mcp-bear",
                "mcp-bear"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect