Apple Notes MCP server

This MCP Apple Notes server enables semantic search and RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) over your Apple Notes, allowing AI assistants like Claude to search and reference your notes during conversations. It uses on-device embeddings with no need for external API keys.

Prerequisites

• Bun
• Claude Desktop

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/RafalWilinski/mcp-apple-notes
cd mcp-apple-notes

2. Install dependencies:

bun install

Setting Up Claude Integration

1. Open Claude desktop app and navigate to Settings -> Developer -> Edit Config

2. Open the claude_desktop_config.json and add the following entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "local-machine": {
      "command": "/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/.bun/bin/bun",
      "args": ["/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/apple-notes-mcp/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Important: Replace <YOUR_USER_NAME> with your actual username.

3. Restart the Claude desktop app. You should see a connection status indicator confirming the MCP server is connected.

Using With Claude

1. Start by indexing your notes. Ask Claude to index your notes by saying something like:

   • "Index my notes"
   • "Index my Apple Notes"

2. Once your notes are indexed, you can ask Claude to search through them or reference specific notes during your conversations.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, you can check the server logs:

tail -n 50 -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-local-machine.log
# or
tail -n 50 -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp.log

Features

• Semantic search over Apple Notes using on-device embeddings
• Full-text search capabilities
• Vector storage using LanceDB
• MCP-compatible server for AI assistant integration
• Native Apple Notes integration
• Fully local execution - no API keys needed

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 "local-machine" '{"command":"/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/.bun/bin/bun","args":["/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/apple-notes-mcp/index.ts"]}'

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": {
        "local-machine": {
            "command": "/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/.bun/bin/bun",
            "args": [
                "/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/apple-notes-mcp/index.ts"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "local-machine": {
            "command": "/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/.bun/bin/bun",
            "args": [
                "/Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/apple-notes-mcp/index.ts"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect