Claude Desktop with Apple Notes

Connect Claude Desktop to your Apple Notes using MCP.

Getting started

Install Alto Index: Download Alto Index from the Mac App Store and sync your Apple Notes. If you picked Documents as the export folder, they land in ~/Documents/alto-index/notes
Install Claude Desktop: Download Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download if you haven’t already.
Configure the MCP server: Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file to add the filesystem MCP server. The config file is located at:
```
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
```

Add the filesystem configuration: Update your claude_desktop_config.json with this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "/Users/[YOUR_USERNAME]/Documents/alto-index"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace [YOUR_USERNAME] with your actual macOS username.

Restart Claude Desktop: Quit and restart Claude Desktop to load the new configuration. You’ll see the filesystem tools appear in Claude’s interface.

Alto Index also has its own MCP server and a Claude Desktop extension: MCP server.

Available read-only tools

Claude Desktop will have access to these read-only filesystem tools to explore your exported notes:

read_file: Read a single note file
read_multiple_files: Read multiple notes at once
search_files: Search across all your notes
list_directory: Browse note folders
directory_tree: View folder structure
get_file_info: Get note metadata

Note: Alto Index exports are read-only. Claude can explore and analyze your notes but cannot modify them.

Real-world examples

Search for music notes

You: search files about ukulele in notes

Claude: I’ll search for ukulele-related content in your notes…

Found 41 files mentioning ukulele, including songs like “Birds of a Feather”, “L-O-V-E”, and “Dream a Little Dream”.

Read specific notes

You: show me my interior design notes

Claude: Let me search for interior design related notes…

I can then read specific files you’re interested in.

Analyze note patterns

You: how many notes do I have about travel?

Claude: I’ll search for travel-related content across your notes…

You have 87 notes related to travel, including trip planning, flight details, and destination research.

Tips

Natural language: Just ask Claude naturally, it will use the right tools. You don’t need to name them.
Multiple operations: Claude can chain operations together, like searching for notes and then reading the most relevant ones.
Pattern matching: The search tool supports regex patterns for more complex searches across your notes.
Private: All processing happens locally on your machine. Your notes never leave your computer.