# Connect your AI assistant

> Let Claude, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, VS Code or another MCP assistant search and read your notes - and, if you allow it, save new ones.

Web page: https://noteclearly.com/en/help/connect-an-ai-assistant/  
Help center: https://noteclearly.com/en/help/  
Updated: 2026-10-22

NoteClearly works with AI assistants that support **MCP** (the Model Context Protocol). Once connected, you can ask your assistant things like "What did I say about the budget last week?" or "Save this as a note", and it uses your notes to answer.

## Set it up

1. In NoteClearly, open **Settings → AI assistant**.
2. Choose what the assistant may do:
   - **Read only (recommended)** - search and read your notes, outputs, tags and action items.
   - **Read and write** - also save new notes, tick off and edit action items, tag notes and create tags.
3. Click **Create token**. Copy it now - it's shown only this once.
4. Follow the instructions on the page for your assistant. The token and the server URL are already filled in.

### Claude (web and desktop)

In Claude, go to **Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector**. Enter the **MCP server URL** from the NoteClearly page, set authentication to **No sign-in**, and add the **request header** exactly as shown there (the copy button copies it).

### Claude Code

Run the command shown on the page in a terminal.

### OpenAI Codex

Add the lines shown on the page to `~/.codex/config.toml`.

### Cursor, VS Code and others

Add the JSON shown on the page to your client's MCP settings.

## What it can and can't do

Even with **Read and write**, an assistant can never edit, delete or share a note, or rename or delete tags. It searches by words, not by meaning, and it doesn't use your AI credits.

## Privacy

Whatever the assistant reads goes to the AI service it runs on - Anthropic, OpenAI and so on - under that service's terms. Connect only assistants you trust with your notes.

## Stop it

Revoke the token under **Settings → API Tokens** and the assistant loses access at once.