notes-automation

Notes.app Automation

Automate Notes.app using JXA for reading, creating, and searching notes programmatically.

Overview

Notes.app provides scripting support for note management. Use this skill for knowledge management automation, note search, and integration with other workflows.

Prerequisites

• Notes.app with iCloud or local notes
• Automation permissions granted
• Notes.app running
• macos-automation-core loaded

Core Capabilities

Category	Operations	JXA Support
Reading	Access notes, read content, check properties	✅ Full
Creating	Create notes, set content	✅ Full
Searching	Search by title, content, folder	✅ Full
Folders	List folders, access notes in folder	✅ Full

Quick Reference

Task	JXA Pattern
Get all notes	Notes.notes()
Get note name	note.name()
Get note content	note.body()
Get creation date	note.creationDate()
Create note	Notes.Note({name: '...', body: '...'})
List folders	Notes.folders()

TypeScript Integration

interface Note {
  name: string
  body: string
  creationDate: string
  folder: string
}

async function getRecentNotes(limit: number = 10): Promise<Note[]> {
  const script = `
    const Notes = Application('Notes')
    const notes = Notes.notes()

    return JSON.stringify(
      notes.slice(0, ${limit}).map(note => ({
        name: note.name(),
        body: note.body(),
        creationDate: note.creationDate().toISOString(),
        folder: note.container().name()
      }))
    )
  `
  return await runJXA<Note[]>(script)
}

Common Patterns

Search Notes

async function searchNotes(query: string): Promise<Note[]> {
  const script = `
    const Notes = Application('Notes')
    const allNotes = Notes.notes()
    const matching = allNotes.filter(note =>
      note.name().toLowerCase().includes("${query.toLowerCase()}") ||
      note.body().toLowerCase().includes("${query.toLowerCase()}")
    )

    return JSON.stringify(
      matching.slice(0, 20).map(note => ({
        name: note.name(),
        body: note.body().substring(0, 200),
        creationDate: note.creationDate().toISOString()
      }))
    )
  `
  return await runJXA<Note[]>(script)
}

Create Note

async function createNote(title: string, content: string): Promise<void> {
  const script = `
    const Notes = Application('Notes')
    const note = Notes.Note({
      name: "${title}",
      body: "${content}"
    })
    Notes.notes.push(note)
    return "Note created"
  `
  await runJXA<string>(script)
}

Limitations

Known Issues

• ❌ HTML content rendering varies
• ❌ Attachments have limited support
• ❌ Sync timing can affect availability
• ⚠️ Large notes may take time to load

Additional Resources

• notes-scripting-dictionary.md - Complete API reference

Examples

• notes-client.ts - Full TypeScript client
• read-notes.jxa - List recent notes
• create-note.jxa - Create new note
• search-notes.jxa - Search by keyword