How to Connect Apple Notes to OpenClaw

Apple Notes automation via AppleScript requires explicit macOS permission. When OpenClaw (or osascript) first attempts to control the Notes app, macOS will show a permission dialog asking whether to allow automation. You must approve this for the integration to work. To pre-grant permission: open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation. Look for Terminal, OpenClaw, or the relevant application in the list. Ensure that 'Notes' is checked as an allowed target app. If the permission dialog never appeared, try running the test AppleScript command below manually from Terminal first — this triggers the permission request. Once you approve it in Terminal, OpenClaw (which also uses osascript under the hood) inherits the permission. On macOS 14 (Sonoma) and later, automation permissions are managed per-app. If OpenClaw runs as its own process (not via Terminal), it may need a separate permission grant. Check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation after running OpenClaw for the first time.

1# Test AppleScript access to Notes from Terminal (triggers permission dialog)
2osascript -e 'tell application "Notes" to get name of every account'
3# Expected output: {"iCloud", "On My Mac"} or similar
4# If you get a permission error, approve it in System Settings
5
6# Check if Notes automation permission is granted:
7osascript -e 'tell application "Notes" to get name of first note of first account'
8# Should return the name of your first note — confirms read access is working

Open your OpenClaw config file at `~/.openclaw/config.yaml` and add the Apple Notes integration under the `integrations` key. Because Apple Notes uses osascript for all operations, the config specifies which AppleScript commands to run for each operation type. The `account` field specifies which Notes account to use. Apple Notes can have multiple accounts (iCloud, On My Mac, Exchange). Use `iCloud` for cloud-synced notes that appear on iPhone/iPad, or `On My Mac` for local-only notes. The `default_folder` specifies which folder new notes are created in by default. If the folder does not exist, OpenClaw will create it using AppleScript. Leave it empty to create notes in the root of the account. Note that OpenClaw's Notes integration uses osascript internally — it constructs and runs AppleScript commands based on the operations you request. The config examples show the underlying AppleScript patterns for reference, but OpenClaw handles the script construction automatically.

1# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml
2integrations:
3  apple-notes:
4    account: "iCloud"           # 'iCloud' or 'On My Mac'
5    default_folder: "OpenClaw"  # default folder for new notes (created if missing)
6    content_format: "html"      # 'html' or 'plaintext' for note body (default: plaintext)
7    include_creation_date: true # add creation date to note body (default: true)
8    search_limit: 20            # max notes to return in search results (default: 10)
9
10# AppleScript patterns used internally by OpenClaw:
11# Create note:
12# tell application "Notes"
13#   tell account "iCloud"
14#     make new note at folder "OpenClaw" with properties {name: "Title", body: "Content"}
15#   end tell
16# end tell
17#
18# Search notes:
19# tell application "Notes"
20#   tell account "iCloud"
21#     notes whose name contains "keyword" or body contains "keyword"
22#   end tell
23# end tell

Test the integration by creating a note and then reading it back. The create test verifies that OpenClaw can run AppleScript to create a note in the configured account and folder. The read test confirms that search and retrieval work correctly. Apple Notes stores note content as HTML. When you pass plain text to the create operation, OpenClaw wraps it in basic HTML tags before sending to AppleScript. When you read a note, the body will be returned as HTML — you may see `<div>`, `<br>`, and `<p>` tags in the raw output. OpenClaw's integration layer strips basic HTML tags for plain-text output modes. For formatted notes with checklists, you need to use the specific HTML structure Apple Notes expects for checklist items. The code sample below shows the correct format for creating notes with checklists, which is useful for task tracking workflows.

1# Test creating a note via AppleScript (run in Terminal to test before OpenClaw):
2osascript <<'EOF'
3tell application "Notes"
4  tell account "iCloud"
5    -- Create folder if it doesn't exist
6    if not (exists folder "OpenClaw") then
7      make new folder with properties {name: "OpenClaw"}
8    end if
9    -- Create the test note
10    make new note at folder "OpenClaw" with properties {¬
11      name: "OpenClaw Test Note", ¬
12      body: "<div><b>Test note</b> created by OpenClaw.</div><div><br></div><div>Integration is working correctly.</div>"}
13  end tell
14end tell
15EOF
16
17# Test searching notes:
18osascript <<'EOF'
19tell application "Notes"
20  tell account "iCloud"
21    set matchingNotes to notes whose name contains "OpenClaw"
22    set noteNames to {}
23    repeat with n in matchingNotes
24      set end of noteNames to name of n
25    end repeat
26    return noteNames
27  end tell
28end tell
29EOF

With the connection verified, configure OpenClaw workflows that automate Apple Notes creation. The workflow patterns are similar to Obsidian workflows but use AppleScript operations instead of filesystem writes. For meeting notes, the workflow triggers on a keyword command (e.g., 'meeting:') and creates a structured HTML note with sections for date, attendees, decisions, and action items. The HTML formatting ensures the note looks good in Apple Notes with proper heading styles and bullet lists. For the daily summary workflow, OpenClaw checks whether today's note already exists (using a date-prefixed search) and either creates a new one or appends a new section. Apple Notes' AppleScript API supports modifying the `body` property of an existing note, which replaces the entire body — so 'append' operations read the existing body, add the new content, and write the combined result back. RapidDev's team has found that for high-frequency append workflows (10+ writes per day), batching the appends and writing once at session end is more reliable than writing on every event — this reduces the chance of AppleScript race conditions if multiple OpenClaw workflows run simultaneously.

1# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml — Apple Notes automation workflows
2workflows:
3  meeting-notes:
4    trigger:
5      type: chat-message
6      pattern: "^meeting: (.+)"
7    actions:
8      - type: apple-notes-create
9        integration: apple-notes
10        folder: "Meetings"
11        title: "Meeting — {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} — {{trigger.match.1}}"
12        body_html: |
13          <div><b>Date:</b> {{date:MMMM D, YYYY}}</div>
14          <div><b>Topic:</b> {{trigger.match.1}}</div>
15          <div><br></div>
16          <div><b>Attendees:</b></div>
17          <div><br></div>
18          <div><b>Decisions:</b></div>
19          <div><br></div>
20          <div><b>Action Items:</b></div>
21          <div><br></div>
22          <div><i>Created by OpenClaw</i></div>
23
24  daily-summary:
25    trigger:
26      type: session-end
27    actions:
28      - type: apple-notes-append-or-create
29        integration: apple-notes
30        folder: "OpenClaw Logs"
31        title: "OpenClaw Log — {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}"
32        append_html: |
33          <div><br></div>
34          <div><b>Session at {{time:HH:mm}}</b></div>
35          <div>Tasks: {{session.task_count}}</div>
36          <div>{{session.summary}}</div>