# MCP overview

> What Notate's MCP server does, which plan includes it, and what it cannot do.

Source: https://notate.md/docs/mcp/overview/

Category: MCP

Updated: 2026-08-16

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The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard way for AI clients to reach tools and data outside their own chat window. Notate runs an MCP server, so a client like Claude or ChatGPT can search, read, and organize your notes while you talk to it. For an overview aimed at deciding whether you want it, see the [MCP page](https://notate.md/mcp/).

It is a **remote** server, reached over HTTPS at `https://api.notate.md/mcp`. There is nothing to install and no process to keep running on your machine, and it works with hosted clients as well as desktop ones.

## What you get

Your AI client can reach your notes directly instead of you pasting them into a conversation. In practice that means:

- Asking a question and getting an answer drawn from what you actually wrote, with the notes it used named
- Capturing something into the right folder without leaving the conversation
- Tidying up: moving notes, adding tags, creating folders

Thirty tools are available, covering notes, folders, tags, and workspaces. They are the same operations Notate's own AI assistant uses, so behavior matches what you would get in the app.

## Which plan

MCP is included with the **Sync plan** and above.

Your AI client does the thinking, on your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription. Notate only answers questions about your notes, so connecting a client does not consume your Notate AI usage.

Three things are exceptions, because they spend on Notate's side:

| Needs AI on your account | What happens without it |
|---|---|
| Tag suggestions | The tool is refused, with a message saying why |
| Summaries | The tool is refused, with a message saying why |
| Searching by meaning | Search still runs, matching wording instead of meaning |

That last one is a quiet degradation rather than an error, and your client is told it happened so it does not present weaker results as if they were the best available.

"AI on your account" means the AI plan, or the Sync plan with [your own Anthropic key](https://notate.md/docs/ai/bring-your-own-keys/). On your own key these three run on your provider account and draw nothing from a Notate allowance.

## What it cannot do

**It does not work with end-to-end encryption.** This is a real trade-off rather than something we intend to remove. With encryption on, your notes are stored as ciphertext that only your own devices can read, so a remote AI client has nothing readable to fetch. An encrypted account is refused when it connects, with an explanation, rather than connecting and returning nothing.

Notate's in-app AI assistant works the same way, for the same reason. If you want MCP, leave encryption off; if you want encryption, use the app and the [CLI](https://notate.md/docs/cli/install/), which runs on your own machine and can decrypt locally.

**Two in-app actions are not exposed.** Opening a note and switching workspace only mean something inside a Notate window.

## Next steps

- [Connect a client](https://notate.md/docs/mcp/connect/) with a token and a URL
- [What the tools can do](https://notate.md/docs/mcp/tools/)
- [Permissions and limits](https://notate.md/docs/mcp/permissions/)