# vasylenko/claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🏢 Workplace & Productivity  
**Repository:** https://github.com/vasylenko/claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes  
**GitHub Stars:** 206  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 235  
**Views:** 3  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/vasylenko-claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes

## Description
Search, read, create, and update Bear Notes directly from Claude. Local-only with complete privacy.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","bear-notes-mcp@latest"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What vasylenko/claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes does

vasylenko/claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes exposes Bear Notes through MCP tools for searching, reading, creating, editing, tagging, archiving, and attaching files. It belongs in the 🧠 Knowledge & Memory category and is intended for developers who want an AI client to work with an existing Bear library on a Mac.

Search uses relevance ranking rather than simple substring matching. Matches can come from titles, note content, hierarchical tags, or OCR-extracted text from attached images and PDFs. Search also supports date ranges, relative date descriptions, pinned-only filtering, and tag-based browsing. Results include context snippets.

## How it works

Read operations query Bear’s local SQLite database directly, so Bear does not need to be open for searches and note reads. Changes take a different path: write operations go through Bear’s URL handler, allowing Bear to validate and apply them atomically.

The server starts in read-only mode. Four read tools remain available by default, while Edit Mode unlocks creation and modification features. Text changes can target an entire note or a section identified by its heading. Modification tools require the note’s current revision token; stale revisions are rejected and require reading the note again before retrying.

vasylenko/claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes makes no network calls or telemetry connections. Processing takes place locally on the Mac, apart from information sent to the AI provider by the client using the server.

## Setup and configuration

The Claude Desktop extension requires both Bear and Claude Desktop. Download the latest `.mcpb` release, open it while Claude Desktop is running, and accept the installation prompt. If opening the file does not work, install it through Claude’s Settings, Extensions, and Advanced Settings screens.

The standalone package requires Node.js 24.13.0 or later. Claude Code can register it with `claude mcp add -s user bear-notes -- npx -y bear-notes-mcp@latest`. Other MCP clients can use an entry that runs `npx -y bear-notes-mcp@latest`.

Standalone debug logging is enabled with `UI_DEBUG_TOGGLE=true`. Claude Desktop exposes the same setting through the extension configuration interface. A separate new-note convention can place tags below the title instead of at the bottom of newly created notes.

## Tools and capabilities

vasylenko/claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes provides tools to:

- Search notes by relevance, tags, dates, and pinned status.
- Open full note content, including OCR text from supported attachments.
- Create notes and add or replace text at note or section level.
- Attach local images, PDFs, and documents up to 25 MB.
- Add tags, list the tag hierarchy, rename tags globally, or delete tags globally.
- Find untagged notes and archive notes without deleting them.
- Report whether the server is in read-only mode or Edit Mode.

## Limitations and notes

Bear must be installed for the integration, and the extension workflow also requires Claude Desktop. The standalone package is intended for Node.js 24.13.0 or newer. File attachments are limited to 25 MB, and symbolic links are rejected.

Writes require a current revision token and can fail when the note has changed since it was last read. The server is unofficial and opinionated, so it may be unnecessary for small libraries where basic note lookup is sufficient. vasylenko/claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes is local-first, but prompts and returned note data can still be sent to the AI provider selected in the MCP client.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/vasylenko-claude-desktop-extension-bear-notes/readme_