LABSCO 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

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Finding the note where you wrote that down

Search by the phrase you remember and get the matching notes back in the thread.

get_notes_like

02

Answering a question from your own notes

Let the assistant pull the relevant notes and answer from them instead of from the open web.

get_notes_likeget_notes

03

Seeing how you have been organising things

List every tag to get the shape of the vault before you go looking inside it.

get_tags

04

Summarising a stretch of notes

Pull the notes across and have them condensed without copying anything out of Bear by hand.

get_notes

3 tools

Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.

get_notes

get_tags

get_notes_like

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Tools you get

3 tools named in the project's documentation. All three tools only read, by running SQL against Bear's database; nothing creates, updates or deletes notes.

Requires

npx on PATH

Where it runs

Both documented setups run the server on your machine.

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

Server setup

Build from source

TERMINAL

# Clone the project
git clone https://github.com/akseyh/bear-mcp-server

# Change directory
cd bear-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

npx

TERMINAL

npx bear-mcp-server

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop — npx

CLAUDE DESKTOP — NPX · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "bear-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop — Docker

CLAUDE DESKTOP — DOCKER · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bear": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-v",
        "/Users/<YOUR_USERNAME>/Library/Group Containers/9K33E3U3T4.net.shinyfrog.bear/Application Data:/app/db",
        "-i",
        "akseyh/bear-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Bear MCP Server by akseyh