AI & Automation#

FoldNotes' CLI (fn) outputs structured JSON, making it a natural bridge between your notes and AI tools. An MCP server and Ollama chat client are planned for connecting AI models to your FoldNotes knowledge base.

Coming soon

The MCP server and Ollama chat client will be available when FoldNotes enters beta. Setup instructions will be published here at that time.

Philosophy#

FoldNotes deliberately keeps AI outside the editor. The writing surface is distraction-free — no inline suggestions, no auto-complete, no AI nudges while you think. When you want AI assistance, you reach for it explicitly through external tools.

MCP Server (Model Context Protocol)#

The FoldNotes MCP server will wrap the fn CLI as a set of tools that any MCP-compatible client can call — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or third-party MCP clients.

Planned Tools#

Tool	CLI Command	Description
`list_notes`	`fn list`	List and filter notes (by tag, favourites, tasks, dates, archived)
`show_note`	`fn show`	Read a note's content, properties, tasks, or backlinks
`create_note`	`fn create`	Create a new note with content, tags, and properties
`edit_note`	`fn edit`	Append, prepend, replace content; set properties; favourite/archive
`search_notes`	`fn search`	Full-text search with regex, tag filter, titles-only mode
`list_tasks`	`fn tasks`	List tasks (by status, priority, project, due date)
`add_task`	`fn tasks add`	Add a task to a note with due date and priority
`complete_task`	`fn tasks complete`	Mark a task as done
`cancel_task`	`fn tasks cancel`	Cancel a task
`start_task`	`fn tasks progress`	Mark a task as in-progress
`reset_task`	`fn tasks reset`	Reset a task to not-started
`list_projects`	`fn tasks projects`	List all projects with task counts
`list_tags`	`fn tags`	List tags with counts, or show notes for a tag
`backlinks`	`fn backlinks`	Find notes referencing a target (with optional context)
`daily_note`	`fn daily`	Show or create a daily note
`daily_append`	`fn daily append`	Append text to a daily note
`notifications`	`fn notifications`	Show notification settings and upcoming reminders
`delete_note`	`fn delete`	Soft-delete or permanently delete a note
`empty_trash`	`fn delete --empty-trash`	Empty the trash
`rename_note`	`fn rename`	Rename a note
`list_properties`	`fn properties list`	List property definitions (the collection schema)
`show_property`	`fn properties show`	Show a property definition's details
`add_property`	`fn properties add`	Create a property definition
`delete_property`	`fn properties delete`	Delete a property definition (values kept)
`property_orphans`	`fn properties orphans`	Find front matter keys with no schema definition
`property_notes`	`fn properties notes`	List notes using a property, optionally by value
`collection_info`	`fn collection info`	Collection stats and cache status
`list_collections`	`fn collections`	List all registered collections
`switch_collection`	`fn collection switch`	Switch the active collection
`add_collection`	`fn collection add`	Register a new collection
`remove_collection`	`fn collection remove`	Unregister a collection (files kept)
`bind`	`fn bind`	Bind a manuscript (PDF, DOCX, EPUB, or HTML)
`open_note`	`fn open`	Open a note in FoldNotes
`version`	—	Show MCP server and fn CLI versions

Requirements#

fn CLI installed (FoldNotes > Install Command Line Tool)
Python 3.10+
mcp Python package (pip install mcp)

Ollama Chat Client#

An interactive chat client will connect local Ollama models to your FoldNotes collection. All queries run locally — no data leaves your machine.

Recommended Models#

Model	Size	Speed	Tool Calling
qwen2.5:7b	7B	Fast (~30 tok/s)	Strong (default)
llama3.1:8b	8B	Fast	Good
qwen2.5:14b	14B	Medium	Very strong
qwen2.5:32b	32B	Slower	Excellent (needs 32GB+ RAM)

For tool-calling tasks (structured JSON dispatch), smaller models perform nearly as well as large ones. Use 7B for speed, step up to 14B if you need better reasoning.

Building Your Own Integration#

Any tool that can run shell commands can interact with FoldNotes:

# Every command supports --json for structured output
fn list --json
fn show "Note Title" --body --json
fn tasks --overdue --json
fn search "query" --json

# Write operations
fn create "Title" --content "Body" --tag idea
fn edit "Title" --append "New paragraph"
fn daily append "Quick capture"

# Task management
fn tasks add "Review PR" --note "Sprint Tasks" --due tomorrow --priority high
fn tasks complete "Review PR" --note "Sprint Tasks"

The --json flag on every command ensures reliable parsing. The CLI reads and writes .md files directly — changes are immediately visible to the app via iCloud sync.

See Shortcuts & Automation for Apple Shortcuts, Python, and Raycast examples.