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Bear Skill

bear

Enables Claude to create and manage notes in Bear app via Playwright MCP (Bear Web)

SKILL.md

Full skill instructions

Bear Skill

Overview

Claude can manage your Bear notes via Bear's web interface to create notes, organize with tags, and maintain a beautiful markdown-based note system. A focused writing experience for Apple users.

Quick Install

curl -sSL https://canifi.com/skills/bear/install.sh | bash

Or manually:

cp -r skills/​bear ~/​.canifi/​skills/

Setup

Configure via canifi-env:

# First, ensure canifi-env is installed:
# curl -sSL https://canifi.com/install.sh | bash

canifi-env set BEAR_EMAIL "[email protected]"

Privacy & Authentication

Your credentials, your choice. Canifi LifeOS respects your privacy.

Option 1: Manual Browser Login (Recommended)

If you prefer not to share credentials with Claude Code:

  1. Complete the Browser Automation Setup using CDP mode
  2. Login to the service manually in the Playwright-controlled Chrome window
  3. Claude will use your authenticated session without ever seeing your password

Option 2: Environment Variables

If you're comfortable sharing credentials, you can store them locally:

canifi-env set SERVICE_EMAIL "your-email"
canifi-env set SERVICE_PASSWORD "your-password"

Note: Credentials stored in canifi-env are only accessible locally on your machine and are never transmitted.

Capabilities

  • Create and edit notes
  • Organize with nested tags
  • Search notes and content
  • Apply markdown formatting
  • Pin important notes
  • Archive notes
  • Export in multiple formats
  • Add images and files
  • Create links between notes
  • Use hashtags for organization
  • View tag hierarchy
  • Sync across devices

Usage Examples

Example 1: Create Note

User: "Create a Bear note for today's journal entry"
Claude: Creates note with date title, adds journal template.
        Confirms: "Journal note created with today's date"

Example 2: Search Notes

User: "Find my notes about productivity"
Claude: Searches Bear for "productivity".
        Reports: "Found 5 notes: Productivity Tips, GTD Setup..."

Example 3: Organize with Tags

User: "Add the #work/​projects tag to my project notes"
Claude: Finds project notes, adds nested tag.
        Confirms: "Added #work/​projects to 8 notes"

Example 4: Export Note

User: "Export my research note as markdown"
Claude: Opens note, exports as .md file.
        Confirms: "Exported research.md"

Authentication Flow

  1. Claude navigates to Bear web interface via Playwright MCP
  2. Enters BEAR_EMAIL for authentication
  3. Handles Apple ID 2FA if required (notifies user via iMessage)
  4. Maintains session for note operations

Selectors Reference

// Note list
'.notes-list'

// Note item
'.note-item'

// Editor
'.editor-content'

// Note title
'.note-title'

// Tag sidebar
'.tags-sidebar'

// Search input
'.search-input'

// New note button
'.new-note-button'

// Tag in note
'.tag-token'

// Pin button
'.pin-button'

// Export menu
'.export-menu'

Bear Markdown Extensions

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
**bold** or __bold__
*italic* or _italic_
~strikethrough~
::highlight::
#tag/​nested/​tag
[[note link]]
- [ ] todo
- [x] completed

Error Handling

  • Login Failed: Retry 3 times, notify user via iMessage
  • Session Expired: Re-authenticate automatically
  • Note Not Found: Search with variations, ask user
  • Tag Error: Check tag syntax, suggest fix
  • Sync Failed: Wait and retry
  • Export Failed: Try alternative format

Self-Improvement Instructions

When you learn a better way to accomplish a task with Bear:

  1. Document the improvement in your response
  2. Suggest updating this skill file with the new approach
  3. Include specific tagging strategies
  4. Note useful markdown extensions

Notes

  • Apple ecosystem (iOS, macOS)
  • Nested tags for hierarchy
  • Beautiful typography
  • Focus mode for writing
  • Multiple export formats
  • Themes and customization
  • WikiLinks between notes
  • Web interface limited vs native