Bear Note Integration

Bear Note Integration

Integrates Claude with the Bear note-taking app on macOS, enabling automated note creation, searching, editing, and tag management through X-Callback-URL.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

1. Bear app installed on macOS
2. API Token (optional, for search/​tags features):
   • Help > Advanced > API Token > Copy Token
   • Set environment variable: export BEAR_API_TOKEN="your-token"
3. xcall tool (optional, for response handling):
   • Download from xcall releases
   • Install to /​Applications/​xcall.app

Basic Usage

Create a note:

from scripts.bear import create_note

# Create note without response
create_note(title="My Note", text="Content here", tags="work,important")

# Get response with note ID (requires xcall)
result = create_note(title="My Note", text="Content", return_id=True)
print(result['identifier'])

Search notes:

from scripts.bear import search_notes

# Requires xcall and token
results = search_notes(term="project-x", tag="work")
for note in results:
    print(f"{note['title']} - {note['identifier']}")

Core Tasks

1. Create Notes

Create new notes in Bear with optional tags and timestamps.

from scripts.bear import create_note

# Basic note creation
create_note(
    title="Daily Standup",
    text="## Progress\n- Task 1 complete\n- Task 2 in progress",
    tags="work,standup"
)

# With timestamp
create_note(
    title="Meeting Notes",
    text="Key discussion points...",
    tags="meetings",
    add_timestamp=True
)

# With response (returns note ID)
result = create_note(
    title="Important Note",
    text="Critical information",
    return_id=True
)
note_id = result['identifier']

2. Search Notes

Find notes by keywords with optional tag filtering.

from scripts.bear import search_notes

# Keyword search
results = search_notes(term="Python")

# Tag filtering
results = search_notes(term="bug", tag="development")

# Process results
for note in results:
    print(f"Title: {note['title']}")
    print(f"ID: {note['identifier']}")
    print(f"Modified: {note['modificationDate']}")

3. Add Text to Notes

Append or replace text in existing notes.

from scripts.bear import add_text

# Append text
add_text(
    note_id="7E4B681B",
    text="\n\n## Update\nNew content added",
    mode="append"
)

# Append to specific header
add_text(
    note_id="7E4B681B",
    text="- New item",
    mode="append",
    header="TODO"
)

# Replace all content
add_text(
    note_id="7E4B681B",
    text="New complete content",
    mode="replace_all"
)

4. Manage Tags

List, rename, and delete tags.

from scripts.bear import get_tags, rename_tag, delete_tag

# List all tags
tags = get_tags()
for tag in tags:
    print(tag['name'])

# Rename tag
rename_tag(old_name="todo", new_name="inbox")

# Delete tag
delete_tag(name="archive")

5. Capture Web Pages

Save web page content as new Bear notes.

from scripts.bear import grab_url

# Capture URL as note
result = grab_url(
    url="https://example.com/​article",
    tags="reference,articles"
)

# With response
result = grab_url(
    url="https://docs.python.org",
    tags="docs",
    return_id=True
)
note_id = result['identifier']

Bundled Resources

scripts/

Python module bear.py provides functions for all Bear X-Callback-URL actions:

• create_note() - Create notes
• search_notes() - Search notes
• add_text() - Append/​replace text
• open_note() - Open notes
• get_tags() - List all tags
• rename_tag() - Rename tags
• delete_tag() - Delete tags
• grab_url() - Capture web pages
• trash_note(), archive_note() - Organize notes

references/

• actions.md: Complete X-Callback-URL API reference with all parameters
• workflows.md: Common workflows and integration patterns
• troubleshooting.md: Setup help and common issues

See these files for detailed API documentation and advanced usage patterns.