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.

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):

bash

brew install wangwalk/tap/inotes

Verify installation:

bash

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:

bash

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:

bash

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

bash

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

bash

inotes folders

List accounts

bash

inotes accounts

Create a folder

bash

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

Read a note

bash

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

Create a note

bash

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

Edit a note

bash

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

Delete a note

bash

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

Search notes

bash

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.

bash

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:

bash

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

Export all notes to JSON:

bash

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

Find notes with specific tag:

bash

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

Archive completed notes:

bash

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