Agent skill

apple-notes-core-workflow-b

Export and convert Apple Notes to Markdown, JSON, HTML, and SQLite. Use when backing up notes, exporting to other apps, converting HTML to Markdown, or building searchable note archives from Apple Notes. Trigger: "export apple notes", "apple notes to markdown", "backup apple notes", "apple notes to JSON", "convert apple notes".

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/tree/main/plugins/saas-packs/apple-notes-pack/skills/apple-notes-core-workflow-b

SKILL.md

Apple Notes Core Workflow B — Export & Conversion

Overview

Export Apple Notes to portable formats: Markdown, JSON, HTML files, and SQLite databases. Apple Notes stores content as HTML internally — these workflows convert it to developer-friendly formats.

Instructions

Step 1: Export All Notes to JSON

bash
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const allNotes = Notes.defaultAccount.notes();
  const exported = allNotes.map(n => ({
    id: n.id(),
    title: n.name(),
    body: n.body(),
    folder: n.container().name(),
    created: n.creationDate().toISOString(),
    modified: n.modificationDate().toISOString(),
  }));
  JSON.stringify(exported, null, 2);
' > apple-notes-export.json

echo "Exported $(jq length apple-notes-export.json) notes to apple-notes-export.json"

Step 2: Export Notes as Markdown Files

bash
#!/bin/bash
# scripts/notes-to-markdown.sh
OUTPUT_DIR="${1:-./notes-export}"
mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"

osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const notes = Notes.defaultAccount.notes();
  notes.map(n => JSON.stringify({
    title: n.name(),
    body: n.body(),
    folder: n.container().name(),
  })).join("\n---SEPARATOR---\n");
' | while IFS= read -r line; do
  if [ "$line" = "---SEPARATOR---" ]; then continue; fi
  title=$(echo "$line" | jq -r '.title' 2>/dev/null)
  body=$(echo "$line" | jq -r '.body' 2>/dev/null)
  folder=$(echo "$line" | jq -r '.folder' 2>/dev/null)

  # Convert HTML to basic Markdown
  md_body=$(echo "$body" | sed 's/<h1>/# /g; s/<\/h1>//g; s/<h2>/## /g; s/<\/h2>//g; s/<p>//g; s/<\/p>/\n/g; s/<br>/\n/g; s/<li>/- /g; s/<\/li>//g; s/<[^>]*>//g')

  safe_title=$(echo "$title" | tr '/:' '-' | head -c 100)
  mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR/$folder"
  echo -e "# $title\n\n$md_body" > "$OUTPUT_DIR/$folder/$safe_title.md"
done

echo "Export complete: $OUTPUT_DIR"

Step 3: Export to SQLite Database

bash
# Using apple-notes-to-sqlite (pip install apple-notes-to-sqlite)
pip install apple-notes-to-sqlite
apple-notes-to-sqlite export notes.db

# Or build your own with JXA + sqlite3
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const notes = Notes.defaultAccount.notes();
  const rows = notes.map(n =>
    `INSERT INTO notes (title, body, folder, created) VALUES (${JSON.stringify(n.name())}, ${JSON.stringify(n.body())}, ${JSON.stringify(n.container().name())}, ${JSON.stringify(n.creationDate().toISOString())});`
  ).join("\n");
  rows;
' > /tmp/notes-inserts.sql

sqlite3 notes.db << 'SQL'
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS notes (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, title TEXT, body TEXT, folder TEXT, created TEXT);
.read /tmp/notes-inserts.sql
SELECT COUNT(*) || ' notes imported' FROM notes;
SQL

Step 4: Full-Text Search on Exported Notes

bash
# Search across all exported notes
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const query = "project plan";
  const results = Notes.defaultAccount.notes().filter(n => {
    const body = n.body().toLowerCase();
    const name = n.name().toLowerCase();
    return body.includes(query) || name.includes(query);
  });
  results.map(n => `${n.name()} (${n.container().name()})`).join("\n");
'

Output

  • JSON export of all notes with metadata
  • Markdown files organized by folder
  • SQLite database with full note content
  • Full-text search across notes

Error Handling

Error Cause Solution
Slow export Thousands of notes Export in batches by folder
HTML artifacts in Markdown Complex formatting Use a proper HTML-to-MD library (turndown)
Missing attachments Images not exported Attachments need separate export path
Encoding issues Unicode in note titles Use safe filename sanitization

Resources

Next Steps

For common errors, see apple-notes-common-errors.

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