Connect Hermes Agent to Apple Notes

Step 1: Enable Apple Notes access

macOS requires explicit permission for automation tools to interact with apps. Before Hermes can work with Notes, you need to grant access:

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu
2. Navigate to Privacy & Security → Automation
3. Find your terminal application (Terminal.app, iTerm2, or whichever terminal you use to run Hermes) in the list
4. Ensure the toggle next to Notes is enabled

If you don't see Notes under Automation for your terminal, you may need to trigger the permission prompt by running a Notes command through Hermes first — macOS will ask you to grant permission at that point.

You may also need to check Privacy & Security → Accessibility and ensure your terminal app has accessibility access, as some automation workflows require it.

Step 2: Load the Apple Notes skill

Hermes uses a skill system for tool integrations. Enable the Apple Notes skill:

hermes skills enable apple-notes

Verify it's active:

hermes skills list

You should see apple-notes in the list with status "enabled". If you need more details about what the skill can do:

hermes skills info apple-notes

Step 3: Test with basic commands

Start an interactive Hermes session and try a search:

hermes
> Find notes about project planning

Hermes should search your Apple Notes library and return relevant results with note titles and snippets. If this is your first time, macOS may prompt you to allow the terminal to control Notes — click OK to grant permission.

Now try creating a note:

> Create a note called "Hermes Test Note" with the content "This note was created by my AI agent. It works!"

Open Apple Notes to verify the new note appears in your default folder. You can also specify a folder:

> Create a note called "Meeting Prep" in the Work folder with a checklist of things to review before tomorrow's call

What you can do

Once connected, Hermes can help you with a variety of Apple Notes tasks:

• Search: Find notes by keyword, phrase, or topic across all folders
• Create: Create new notes with formatted text, checklists, and rich content
• Organize: Move notes between folders, add tags, and manage your note structure
• Summarize: Ask Hermes to read a note and provide a summary or extract key points
• Batch operations: Process multiple notes at once — e.g., "Add the tag #client to all notes in the Projects folder"
• Export: Ask Hermes to copy note content into other tools or formats

Example workflows

Here are some real-world ways to use the integration:

# Research assistant
> Search my notes for everything about Q4 marketing strategy and create a summary note

# Meeting prep
> Find notes tagged #meeting from the last two weeks and list the action items I haven't completed

# Daily brain dump
> Create a note called "Thursday Thoughts" and help me organize my ideas from today into categories

# Project organization
> Go through my Work folder and tag any note that mentions "budget" with #finance

Privacy and data handling

Apple Notes integration is designed with privacy in mind:

• Local processing: Hermes reads and writes notes directly on your Mac using AppleScript. Note content is never uploaded to Hermes servers or third-party services for processing — it stays on your device.
• Model provider awareness: When you ask Hermes to summarize or analyze a note, the content is sent to your configured model provider (e.g., Anthropic, OpenAI) as part of the prompt. Be mindful of this for sensitive notes.
• iCloud sync: If you use iCloud for Notes, your notes are stored in Apple's cloud and synced across devices. This is managed by Apple, not Hermes. Apple's standard iCloud encryption applies.
• No iCloud? Fully local: If iCloud sync is disabled for Notes, your notes exist only on your Mac's local storage. In this configuration, Hermes' access is entirely local — no network transmission of note data beyond what you explicitly ask it to send to a model provider.
• On-device notes stay on-device: Unless iCloud sync is enabled, your notes remain on your Mac. Hermes accesses them through the same AppleScript interface that other macOS automation tools use.