Manage Apple Notes

Manage Apple Notes from the terminal using the inotes CLI. Use when asked to list, read, create, edit, delete, or search notes in Notes.app on macOS.

Security Scan

The skill is internally consistent with its purpose — it simply documents using the inotes CLI to manage Apple Notes locally on macOS and does not request unrelated credentials or system access.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the declared requirements: macOS-only, requires the inotes binary, and the SKILL.md documents AppleScript-based local manipulation of Notes.app. Required binaries and OS restriction are appropriate for the stated purpose.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md only instructs running the inotes CLI and common shell utilities (date, jq, curl for manual download). It directs local operations (list/read/create/edit/delete/search) against Notes.app via AppleScript and does not instruct collection or transmission of data to external endpoints. It correctly calls out the need to grant macOS Automation permission for the terminal to control Notes.app.

Install Mechanism

No install spec is embedded in the package (instruction-only), but SKILL.md recommends installing via Homebrew (wangwalk/tap/inotes) or downloading GitHub Releases and verifying SHA256. These are standard approaches; however, the recommended Homebrew tap is a third-party tap (wangwalk/tap) — users should verify the tap's provenance and signatures before installing.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. This is proportionate to a local CLI wrapper for Notes. The only required runtime permission is macOS Automation access for the terminal to control Notes.app, which is explicitly documented.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not always-enabled and does not request persistent platform privileges. It does require an explicit macOS Automation grant (user-controlled) for the terminal to operate on Notes.app — this is expected and is called out in the documentation.

Assessment

This skill is coherent and appears to do what it says: control Apple Notes locally via the inotes CLI. Before installing, verify the Homebrew tap and/or GitHub release you use (check the repository, release signatures/SHAs, and the maintainer), since the SKILL.md recommends a third-party tap. Be aware that granting Automation permission to your terminal gives any process run from that terminal access to control Notes.app — that can expose all your notes, so only grant it to trusted terminal apps and only after installing a verified binary. If you have high-sensitivity notes, inspect the inotes source on GitHub or run it in a restricted environment first. If you plan to export notes (e.g., to JSON files), ensure those files are stored securely and not uploaded unintentionally (iCloud sync or other backup services may send them off-device).

Managing Apple Notes with inotes

inotes is a macOS CLI for Apple Notes. It communicates with Notes.app via AppleScript and supports all CRUD operations plus search. Output defaults to a human-readable table; use --json for machine-readable output.

🔒 Privacy & Security

• ✅ Open source: Full source code at https://github.com/wangwalk/inotes
• ✅ Local-only: All operations run locally via AppleScript; no data leaves your machine
• ✅ No network calls: inotes does not connect to any remote servers
• ✅ Auditable install: Binary installed via Homebrew from signed release or GitHub Releases
• ✅ MIT Licensed: Free and open for inspection and contributions
• ⚠️ Requires macOS Automation permission for Notes.app (user grants via System Settings)
• 📦 Universal binary: Supports both Apple Silicon (arm64) and Intel (x86_64)

Prerequisites

System Requirements:

• macOS 14+ (Sonoma or later)
• Apple Notes.app (comes with macOS)

Install via Homebrew (recommended):

brew install wangwalk/tap/inotes

Verify installation:

inotes --version  # Should show: 0.1.2
which inotes      # Should be in /opt/homebrew/bin/ or /usr/local/bin/

Manual installation from GitHub Releases:

Download from GitHub Releases and verify SHA256:

curl -LO https://github.com/wangwalk/inotes/releases/download/v0.1.2/inotes-0.1.2-universal-apple-darwin.tar.gz
# Verify checksum from release notes
tar xzf inotes-0.1.2-universal-apple-darwin.tar.gz
sudo cp inotes /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/inotes

Check permission:

inotes status

If permission is denied, the user must enable Automation access for their terminal in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation > Notes.

Commands

List notes

inotes                            # recent iCloud notes (default)
inotes today                      # modified today
inotes show week                  # modified this week
inotes show all                   # all notes
inotes show --folder Work         # notes in a specific folder
inotes show recent --limit 10    # limit results

List folders

inotes folders

List accounts

inotes accounts

Create a folder

inotes mkfolder "Projects"
inotes mkfolder "Work Notes" --account Exchange

Read a note

inotes read 1        # by index from last show output
inotes read A3F2     # by ID prefix (4+ characters)

Create a note

inotes add --title "Meeting Notes" --body "Action items" --folder Work

Edit a note

inotes edit 1 --title "Updated Title"
inotes edit 2 --body "New content" --folder Projects

Delete a note

inotes delete 1              # with confirmation
inotes delete 1 --force      # skip confirmation

Search notes

inotes search "quarterly review"
inotes search "TODO" --folder Work --limit 10

Multi-account support

By default only iCloud notes are shown. Use --account <name> or --all-accounts to access other accounts.

inotes accounts                    # list available accounts
inotes show all --account Exchange
inotes show all --all-accounts

Output formats

Flag	Description
(default)	Human-readable table
--json / -j	JSON
--plain	Tab-separated
--quiet / -q	Count only

Agent usage guidelines

• Always use --json when you need to parse output programmatically.
• Use --no-input to disable interactive prompts in non-interactive contexts.
• Use --no-color when capturing output to avoid ANSI escape sequences.
• Identify notes by index (from the last show output) or by ID prefix (first 4+ hex characters of the note ID).
• Run inotes status first to verify automation permission before attempting other commands.
• The CLI automatically filters out notes in "Recently Deleted" folders across all supported languages.

Examples for common tasks

Create daily note:

inotes add --title "Daily Notes $(date +%Y-%m-%d)" --body "## TODO\n\n## Done\n"

Export all notes to JSON:

inotes show all --json > notes-backup.json

Find notes with specific tag:

inotes search "#important" --json | jq '.[] | select(.folder == "Work")'

Archive completed notes:

inotes search "DONE" --folder Inbox --json | jq -r '.[].id' | while read id; do
  inotes edit "$id" --folder Archive
done

Troubleshooting

"Automation permission denied"

• Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation
• Find your terminal app (e.g., Terminal.app, iTerm.app)
• Enable access to "Notes"

"Command not found"

• Run which inotes to check if it's in your PATH
• If using Homebrew: brew doctor and check for warnings
• Try brew reinstall wangwalk/tap/inotes

"Note not found" when using index

• Run inotes show again to get fresh indices
• Use ID prefix instead: inotes read A3F2

Performance issues with many notes

• Use --limit flag to reduce result set
• Filter by folder: --folder "Work"
• Use date filters: today, week, recent

Additional resources

• GitHub: https://github.com/wangwalk/inotes
• Releases: https://github.com/wangwalk/inotes/releases
• Issues: https://github.com/wangwalk/inotes/issues
• License: MIT