Summary
Three read tools over the notes you already have — nothing is written back.
It runs SQL against Bear's own store, which is why setup is a path rather than an API key. Search is a text match rather than a semantic one, so it finds the note you half-remember the wording of; the tag list is what makes browsing by topic workable.
What it is
A server that reads the SQLite database Bear keeps on your Mac and exposes your notes and tags over MCP.
What you get
- get_notes retrieves all notes
- get_notes_like searches for notes containing specific text
- get_tags lists every tag
- Reads run against Bear's own database file, so there is no export step and no sync service in the middle
Requirements
macOS with Bear installed, Node.js, and read access to Bear's database directory. Run it with npx and the bear-mcp-server package, or with the Docker image, mounting Bear's Application Data folder into the container. No account and no API key.
Setup effort
One command — npx bear-mcp-server