AI Note MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects AI assistants to your AI Note task management system. This package enables direct interaction with your AI Note tasks through natural language conversations in Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible platforms.

📚 Complete Project Guide - 전체 프로젝트 가이드 및 아키텍처 정보

Table of Contents

• Access Methods
• Features
• Authentication
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage
• HTTP Endpoint
• Available Tools
• API Reference
• Development
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• License

Access Methods

AI Note MCP server is available through three transport options to cover different integration scenarios:

1. stdio Mode (This Package) - For Personal Use

• Installation: npm install -g @ainote/mcp
• Usage: Claude Desktop and other stdio-based MCP clients
• Setup: Local installation with API key configuration
• Best for: Individual users connecting their personal AI Note account to Claude Desktop

2. Local SSE Bridge (ChatGPT / MCP Apps)

• Command: ainote-mcp-http
• Protocol: Server-Sent Events (SSE) + JSON-RPC over HTTP POST
• Usage: ChatGPT Model Context Protocol connectors, other SSE-capable MCP clients
• Setup: Run locally alongside your browser; supports API key or (optional) OAuth bearer tokens
• Best for: Users wanting to expose AI Note tools to ChatGPT without deploying infrastructure

3. Hosted HTTP Endpoint - For Platform Integration

• URL: https://api.ainote.dev/api/mcp
• Protocol: JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP
• Usage: Platform integrations (Kakao PlayMCP, etc.)
• Setup: No installation required, direct API access
• Best for: Third-party platforms and services integrating AI Note functionality

All transports expose the same tool catalog. Choose the option that matches your hosting model and client capabilities.

Features

• 📝 Task Management: Create, update, delete, and list tasks directly from Claude Desktop
• 📄 Dev Docs: Manage CLAUDE.md, Cursor rules, Windsurf rules, and dev documents centrally via MCP
• 🗂️ Dev Category Hierarchy: Auto-organized under dev/ with subcategories (claude, cursor, windsurf, copilot, docs, skills, agents, commands, hooks, mcp)
• 🔄 Claude Environment Sync: Push/pull ~/.claude/ skills, agents, commands, hooks across machines (macOS/WSL/Linux)
• 🔐 End-to-End Encryption: mcp category (mcpServers + API keys) auto-encrypted client-side with age; server never sees plaintext
• 🪪 OS Keychain Integration: Per-machine age identity stored in macOS Keychain / libsecret / Credential Manager (file fallback supported)
• 🤝 Session Handoffs: handoff_save / handoff_list / handoff_get with optional time: HHMM for same-day disambiguation — saved under the primary vault, auto-purged after 7 days
• 📦 Multi-Device File Sync: sync_push / sync_pull / sync_list push markdown notes into the user's git-backed primary vault — works across macOS, Linux, iOS shortcuts
• 🏛️ GitHub-Backed Vaults: vault_create / vault_clone / vault_sync provision a private GitHub repo per vault; ainote indexes contents but never proxies git traffic
• 🛡️ MCP Tool Annotations: Every tool advertises readOnlyHint / destructiveHint / idempotentHint / openWorldHint so autonomous agent runtimes can gate destructive calls
• 🏷️ Category Support: Organize tasks with categories
• 🔍 Advanced Filtering: 18+ filter options including date ranges, location, overdue tasks
• ⭐ Priority Management: Mark tasks as important
• 📅 Smart Due Dates: Human-readable format with relative time (e.g., '26.1.25 14:30 - 오늘)
• 🔒 Dual Authentication: Support for both User API Key (24-char) and MCP Key (64-char)
• 📊 Usage Tracking: Automatic API usage statistics per MCP key
• 🌊 Streaming API: Real-time streaming for bulk operations and large datasets
• 🤖 Bot Integration: Telegram bot support via Clawdbot + mcporter

Quick Start (No Account Needed)

You can start using AI Note MCP without an existing account. The MCP server includes onboarding tools that let you sign up and get an API key directly from Claude:

1. Add to your MCP config (no API key yet)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ainote": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainote/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

2. Restart Claude Desktop

3. Ask Claude to sign you up

"Sign me up for AI Note with email [email protected] and password mypassword123"

Claude will call the signup_and_get_key tool and return your MCP API key.

4. Add the API key to your config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ainote": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainote/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "AINOTE_API_KEY": "<your-key-from-step-3>"
      }
    }
  }
}

5. Restart Claude Desktop again

Now all tools (tasks, dev docs, etc.) are available.

CLI Signup

You can also sign up directly from the terminal:

npx @ainote/mcp signup

This will interactively ask for email, password, and name, then return your MCP API key.

CLI Tool Invocation (call)

Run any of the 26 ainote tools directly from the shell — no Claude / Cursor / MCP host required. Useful for scripts, alfred / raycast workflows, automation, and one-off queries.

# List all tasks due today
npx @ainote/mcp call list_tasks --due_today=true

# Save a handoff (JSON form)
npx @ainote/mcp call handoff_save \
  --json '{"project":"demo","topic":"poc","content":"..."}'

# Get a handoff
npx @ainote/mcp call handoff_get --project=demo --topic=poc

# Read a resource URI as JSON (load all tasks at once)
npx @ainote/mcp call list_tasks --limit=500

Flag parsing: --key=value is JSON.parse-d (numbers/booleans/null/arrays/objects work directly; raw strings fall back). Pass the entire arguments object via --json '<obj>'. Add --raw for the full JSON-RPC envelope.

Auth resolution order: AINOTE_API_KEY env var → OS keychain (from ainote-mcp login).

Onboarding MCP Tools

These tools also work inside Claude (no API key needed):

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | signup_and_get_key | Create account + get MCP key | | login_and_get_key | Login + get MCP key (existing account) | | get_setup_guide | Setup instructions |

Authentication

The CLI supports browser-based login as a more secure alternative to manually pasting API keys into your MCP config. Tokens and the MCP key are stored in the OS keychain.

Quick start

ainote-mcp login                 # browser-based, recommended
ainote-mcp whoami                # verify current login
ainote-mcp logout                # revoke + clear keychain

How it works

ainote-mcp login runs an RFC 8628 OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant. The CLI generates a PKCE pair locally, opens your browser to sign in via the AI Note web app, and polls the backend until you approve. On success it stores an access token, a refresh token, and an MCP key in the OS keychain. The default MCP stdio mode automatically uses the stored MCP key — no AINOTE_API_KEY env var needed.

Storage locations

| OS | Location | |----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | macOS | Keychain Access — service @ainote/cli | | Linux | libsecret (gnome-keyring / kwallet) — service @ainote/cli | | Windows | Credential Manager — target @ainote/cli | | Fallback | ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/ainote/credentials.json (mode 0600) |

The fallback file is only used when no system keychain is available (e.g. headless servers without libsecret).

CLI flags

• --scope=mcp,read,write — comma-separated scopes requested for the token (default: mcp,read,write)
• --no-browser — print the verification URL instead of auto-opening a browser (use this on SSH/CI)

Environment overrides

• AINOTE_API_URL — backend URL (default https://api.ainote.dev)
• AINOTE_API_KEY — pre-provisioned MCP key. When set, the login flow is bypassed entirely and this key is used as-is.

Headless / CI usage

For SSH sessions, devcontainers, or CI runners that cannot open a browser, use --no-browser. The CLI will print a short user code and a verification URL; open the URL on any device (laptop, phone) signed in to your AI Note account, approve the request, then return to the terminal:

$ ainote-mcp login --no-browser
Open this URL in any browser:
  https://ainote.dev/oauth/cli/device?user_code=BCDF-GHJK
Waiting for approval...
✓ Logged in as [email protected]

After login, subsequent invocations (ainote-mcp, ainote-mcp whoami) work normally with no further interaction.

Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Fix | |-----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | LOGIN_HINT error on any subcommand | Run ainote-mcp login | | macOS Keychain prompt every run | Open Keychain Access, find @ainote/cli, set access control to "Always allow" for node | | Browser does not open | Re-run with --no-browser and copy the URL manually | | Persistent 401 after login | Tokens were revoked server-side. Run ainote-mcp login again | | libsecret not available on Linux | Install gnome-keyring / libsecret-1-0, or rely on the file fallback (still encrypted at-rest by the OS) |

See docs/architecture/CLI_AUTH.md for the full protocol specification, sequence diagram, and security model.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18.0.0
• npm or yarn
• Claude Desktop with MCP support enabled

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm

npm install -g @ainote/mcp

Option 2: Install from source

git clone https://github.com/ainote-dev/ainote-mcp.git
cd ainote-mcp-server
npm install

Update

Update from npm (Recommended)

To update to the latest version when installed via npm:

npm update -g @ainote/mcp

Or to install a specific version:

npm install -g @ainote/[email protected]

Update from source

If you installed from source:

cd ainote-mcp-server
git pull origin main
npm install

After updating, restart Claude Desktop to load the new version.

Configuration

To connect the MCP server with Claude Desktop, follow these steps.

Step 1: Get your AI Note API Key

You need an API key from your AI Note account to allow Claude to access your tasks. You can find or generate your API key in the AI Note app's settings screen.

Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop

Add the ainote-mcp server to your Claude Desktop configuration file. This file is located at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Open the file and add the following JSON block inside the mcpServers object. Replace your-api-key-here with your actual AI Note API key.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ainote": {
      "command": "ainote-mcp",
      "env": {
        "AINOTE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: If you need to connect to a self-hosted or different AI Note server, you can add the AINOTE_API_URL environment variable as well.

"env": {
  "AINOTE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
  "AINOTE_API_URL": "https://your-custom-api-url.com"
}

Step 3: Restart Claude Desktop

After saving the configuration file, restart Claude Desktop completely. The new MCP server will be loaded, and you can start managing your AI Note tasks through Claude.

Usage

Once configured, you can interact with your AI Note tasks through Claude:

Example Conversations

You: "Show me my pending tasks"
Claude: I'll retrieve your pending tasks from AI Note...

You: "Create a new task to review the quarterly report by Friday"
Claude: I'll create that task for you with a due date set for Friday...

You: "Mark task ID 123 as completed"
Claude: I'll mark that task as completed...

HTTP Endpoint

For platform integrations and services that prefer HTTP over stdio, AI Note provides a direct HTTP endpoint:

Endpoint URL

POST https://api.ainote.dev/api/mcp
Content-Type: application/json

Authentication

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Request Format (JSON-RPC 2.0)

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "tools/list",
  "id": 1
}

Response Format

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": {
    "tools": [...]
  },
  "id": 1
}

Supported Methods

• ping - Health check
• capabilities - Server capabilities
• tools/list - List available tools
• tools/call - Execute a specific tool

Platform Integration Examples

• Kakao PlayMCP: Use the HTTP endpoint for seamless integration
• Custom Applications: Build your own MCP client using the HTTP API
• Enterprise Solutions: Direct server-to-server communication

This HTTP endpoint provides identical functionality to the stdio version, making AI Note MCP accessible to a broader range of platforms and integration scenarios.

4. Streaming API - For Large Data Operations

• URL: POST https://api.ainote.dev/api/mcp/stream
• Protocol: Server-Sent Events (SSE)
• Usage: Bulk operations, large task lists, real-time progress
• Best for: Applications that need to handle large datasets or show progress indicators

Streaming Methods

| Method | Description | |--------|-------------| | tasks/list | Stream task list with filters | | tasks/create | Create single task with progress | | tasks/analyze | Get task statistics and insights | | tasks/bulk_update | Update multiple tasks with progress | | tasks/bulk_create | Create up to 1000 tasks at once |

Streaming Events

event: progress
data: {"status": "starting", "total": 100}

event: data
data: {"type": "task", "data": {...}}

event: result
data: {"status": "success", "count": 100}

5. Telegram Bot Integration - Via Clawdbot

• Setup Guide: CLAWDBOT_SETUP.md
• Tool: mcporter for MCP server bridging
• Usage: Natural language task management in Telegram

# Quick setup
npm install -g mcporter
mcporter call ainote.list_tasks

Local Development Bridge (ainote-mcp-http)

Run the bundled HTTP/SSE bridge when you need a local endpoint for ChatGPT or other MCP clients that speak SSE:

ainote-mcp-http

By default the server listens on http://localhost:3030 and exposes two endpoints:

• GET /sse – establishes the SSE stream and returns the sessionId
• POST /messages?sessionId=... – receives JSON-RPC payloads from the client
• GET /health – simple health probe for monitoring

Configuration

Environment variable | Description | Default ---|---|--- AINOTE_API_KEY | API key used for MCP key authentication | required AINOTE_API_URL | Target AI Note API base URL | https://api.ainote.dev AINOTE_MCP_HTTP_PORT | Local port for the SSE server | 3030 AINOTE_MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS | Comma-separated list of allowed browser origins | any AINOTE_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS | Comma-separated list of allowed Host headers | any AINOTE_ENABLE_OAUTH_AUTH | Set to true to allow Bearer tokens (OAuth) | false

When OAuth is enabled the server expects Authorization: Bearer ... headers from the client and forwards them to the AI Note API.

Available Tools

list_tasks

List tasks from AI Note with advanced filtering options.

Basic Parameters:

• status (optional): Filter by status - "pending" or "completed"
• limit (optional): Maximum number of tasks (default: 25, max: 500)
• search (optional): Search keyword in task content
• is_important (optional): Filter important tasks only

Location & Category:

• location (optional): Filter by location (partial match, e.g., "여의도")
• category_id (optional): Filter by category UUID

Date Range Filters:

• due_date_start / due_date_end: Filter by due date range
• completed_date_start / completed_date_end: Filter by completion date
• created_date_start / created_date_end: Filter by creation date

Special Filters:

• overdue (optional): Filter overdue incomplete tasks
• due_today (optional): Filter tasks due today
• has_notification (optional): Filter by notification status

Sorting:

• sort_by (optional): Sort field - "due_date", "created_at", "completed_at", "updated_at", "is_important"
• sort_order (optional): Sort direction - "asc" or "desc"

create_task

Create a new task in AI Note.

Parameters:

• content (required): Task description
• is_important (optional): Mark as important (boolean)
• due_date (optional): Due date in ISO format
• category_id (optional): Category ID to assign

update_task

Update an existing task.

Parameters:

• id (required): Task ID
• content (optional): New task content
• is_important (optional): Update important status
• completed_at (optional): Mark as completed (ISO format) or null to uncomplete

delete_task

Soft delete a task.

Parameters:

• id (required): Task ID to delete

list_categories

List all available categories.

Parameters: None

Dev Doc Tools (v1.1.0+)

Manage AI coding tool configuration files and dev documents centrally. All docs are organized under the dev/ category hierarchy.

list_dev_docs

List dev documents with optional filtering.

Parameters:

• category (optional): Subcategory filter (claude, cursor, windsurf, copilot, docs)
• search (optional): Search keyword in document title
• content_type (optional): Filter by type - "markdown", "json", "yaml", "text"

get_dev_doc

Get a single dev document by title or id.

Parameters:

• title or id (one required): Document identifier
• category (optional): Subcategory to disambiguate title
• include_versions (optional): Include version history

create_dev_doc

Create a new dev document under dev/ category.

Parameters:

• title (required): Document title (e.g., "project-a-claude.md")
• content (required): Document content
• category (optional): Subcategory (default: "docs")
• content_type (optional): Auto-detected from title extension

update_dev_doc

Update a dev document with replace, append, or prepend modes.

Parameters:

• title or id (one required): Document identifier
• content (required): New content
• mode (optional): "replace" (default), "append", or "prepend"

delete_dev_doc

Soft delete a dev document.

Parameters:

• title or id (one required): Document identifier

list_dev_categories

List all subcategories under dev/ with document counts.

Parameters: None

Example: Store CLAUDE.md in ainote

You: "Save this project's CLAUDE.md content to ainote"
Claude: I'll create a dev doc in the claude category...
→ create_dev_doc(title: "myproject-claude.md", content: "...", category: "claude")

You: "Update my cursor rules in ainote"
Claude: I'll update the cursor rules doc...
→ update_dev_doc(title: "api-rules.mdc", category: "cursor", content: "...")

You: "Show me all my dev docs"
Claude: I'll list all documents under dev/...
→ list_dev_docs()

Session Handoffs (cross-session / cross-device continuation)

Save a self-contained handoff note when the context window fills up or when you need to continue on another machine. Stored in the user's primary vault under handoffs/, auto-purged after 7 days.

| Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | handoff_save | Write a handoff (project, topic, content, optional date, optional time HHMM for same-day disambiguation) | | handoff_list | Most-recent-first list, optionally filtered by project. ⚠️ Triggers the 7-day stale purge as a side effect | | handoff_get | Fetch by project + topic (+ optional date/time). Returns latest if date omitted. Same purge side effect |

You: "Save a handoff for the logi-phase4 work I'm wrapping up"
Claude: → handoff_save({project: "logi", topic: "phase4", time: "1555", content: "..."})
       Stored at handoffs/logi-phase4-1555-2026-05-14.txt

(later, on the laptop):
You: "Pick up the logi-phase4 handoff"
Claude: → handoff_get({project: "logi", topic: "phase4"})

Multi-Device File Sync (sync_* / vault_sync)

sync_push / sync_pull / sync_list operate on the user's git-backed primary vault. vault_sync is the unified entrypoint that accepts an action: list|pull|push argument.

| Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | sync_push | Push a markdown note (path + content) into the vault repo | | sync_pull | Read a markdown note from the vault by path | | sync_list | Enumerate vault paths (optionally filtered) | | vault_sync | Unified wrapper around the above three |

GitHub-Backed Vaults

| Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | vault_list | List the user's vaults + sync status + indexed file counts | | vault_create | Create a new private vault as a GitHub repo (requires the ainote GitHub App install) | | vault_clone | Return the git clone URL for an existing vault. ainote does not proxy git traffic — use your usual GitHub credentials | | vault_connect_status | Check whether the ainote GitHub App is installed for this user; returns an install URL otherwise |

Annotations Reference

Every tool advertises four MCP-spec annotations on tools/list so autonomous agent runtimes can reason about safety:

| Hint | Meaning | Agent action | |------|---------|--------------| | readOnlyHint: true | Tool does not mutate any server state | Safe to call without consent gates | | destructiveHint: true | Tool deletes / overwrites / purges state | Require explicit user consent or transaction boundary | | idempotentHint: true | Repeating the call with same args ends in the same state | Safe to retry on timeout / network error | | openWorldHint: true | Tool reaches an external system (GitHub, SMTP, third-party) | Outcomes may be non-deterministic; cache cautiously |

Notable annotations:

• handoff_list / handoff_get are marked destructiveHint: true because they run a 7-day stale-handoff purge on every call.
• login_and_get_key is marked readOnlyHint: false because it creates a default MCP key when the user has none.
• vault_sync is conservatively destructiveHint: true because action=push with empty content can delete an indexed file.

See the source-of-truth mapping at docs/todo/MCP_TOOL_ANNOTATIONS_MAPPING.md in the ainote repo.

Agent Compatibility

ainote MCP works with any client that speaks Model Context Protocol over stdio or HTTP. Tested setups:

Claude Desktop / Claude Code (stdio via this npm package)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ainote": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainote/mcp"],
      "env": { "AINOTE_API_KEY": "..." }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (direct HTTP — recommended for full feature set)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ainote": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.ainote.dev/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "McpKey <YOUR_MCP_KEY>" }
    }
  }
}

The type: "http" field is required — without it, Claude Code's user-level MCP loader silently rejects the entire mcpServers block.

Cursor / Windsurf (stdio)

Same as Claude Desktop config — both editors accept the command + args + env shape.

ChatGPT / OpenAI Custom GPTs

Use the hosted HTTP endpoint via OpenAI Connectors or Custom GPT Actions. The MCP JSON-RPC body works as a regular HTTPS POST. An OpenAPI 3.1 mirror of the tool surface is planned (see docs/todo/AGENT_INTEROP_ROADMAP_2026.md Phase 1.4).

LangChain / LangGraph

Wrap the HTTP endpoint as a remote tool. Pass Authorization: McpKey <YOUR_MCP_KEY> and POST JSON-RPC requests. Tool definitions can be discovered via tools/list.

API Reference

The MCP server communicates with the AI Note API using the following endpoints:

• GET /api/mcp/tasks - List tasks
• POST /api/mcp/tasks - Create task
• PUT /api/mcp/tasks/:id - Update task
• DELETE /api/mcp/tasks/:id - Delete task
• GET /api/mcp/categories - List categories

All requests require authentication via the Authorization header with your API key.

Development

Running Locally

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ainote-dev/ainote-mcp.git
cd ainote-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run the server
npm start

Testing with Claude Desktop

1. Update your Claude Desktop config to point to your local development server
2. Set environment variables for testing
3. Restart Claude Desktop
4. Check the MCP connection status in Claude Desktop settings

Project Structure

ainote-mcp-server/
├── index.js          # Main server implementation
├── package.json      # Package configuration
├── README.md         # English documentation
├── README-ko.md      # Korean documentation
└── LICENSE           # MIT license

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. "API key not found" error

   • Ensure AINOTE_API_KEY is set in your environment or Claude config
   • Check that the API key is valid and has proper permissions

2. "Connection refused" error

   • Verify the API URL is correct
   • Check network connectivity
   • Ensure the AI Note API server is running

3. "Tool not found" error

   • Restart Claude Desktop after configuration changes
   • Verify the MCP server is properly configured in Claude Desktop

4. Tasks not appearing

   • Check API key permissions
   • Verify you're querying the correct status (pending/completed)
   • Try using the search parameter

Debug Mode

To enable debug logging:

export DEBUG=mcp:*

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow the existing code style
• Add tests for new features
• Update documentation as needed
• Ensure all tests pass before submitting PR

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

• 📧 Email: [email protected]
• 🐛 Issues: GitHub Issues
• 💬 Discord: Join our community

Acknowledgments

• Built with Model Context Protocol SDK
• Powered by AI Note
• Made for Claude Desktop