Give an assistant your notes with MCP

Writ ships an MCP server. A program you connect can search and read your notes, and, if you allow it, write them. Nothing is approved until you say so, and every call is listed.

1. Turn the server on

Settings, Connected programs, "Let other programs read and write your notes". This starts nothing by itself: the program you connect launches the server when it needs it, over its own input and output. Writ opens no port.

2. Give the program the command

The same settings section shows the command and has a Copy button. Paste it where your client keeps its MCP servers. For Claude Code:

claude mcp add writ -- "/Applications/Writ.app/Contents/MacOS/writ" mcp

For a client that reads a JSON file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "writ": {
      "command": "/Applications/Writ.app/Contents/MacOS/writ",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

On Windows and Linux the path is the one Settings shows for your install.

3. Approve the first call

The first call from a program is refused and shows up under Programs you approved, waiting. Approve reading, and separately writing, for that program. Approving reading never grants writing. Take either away in the same list, or by editing config.toml; the change applies on the next call.

4. What it can do

With reading approved: list the notes, search them, read one, and read a note's links, backlinks, properties and tags. With writing approved: write a note, create one, rename one. No tool deletes or trashes a note. A write that would overwrite a newer file is refused, and the program's text lands beside the note as a conflict copy. Nothing outside the notes folder is reachable.

5. See what it did

Recent activity, in the same settings section, lists every call: the program, the tool, the note, and whether it was allowed, refused or left waiting. Never the text. The list is a file in Writ's data folder and stays on your machine.

Reports that land as files

If a script or an agent writes files rather than calling tools, Settings, Advanced, Folder to watch for new files opens each file as it lands and brings the window forward. Have the program write there, or send its output in directly:

make test 2>&1 | writ --title tests

The output becomes a note in the folder, so search finds it next week.