A light native macOS app (Swift, SwiftUI + AppKit, no dependencies): menu bar popover, Dock icon, manager window, MCP server for agents. Agents can review, break down, turn items into skills or Markdown files, and work through them.
Install with an AI agent
Paste this into an AI coding agent such as Claude Code. Noty needs nothing installed first:
Install Noty on this Mac.
1. Run: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kalahroudi/noty/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
2. Noty opens in the menu bar. Tell me to press ⌥⌘N once and allow Accessibility when macOS asks.
3. Register its MCP server: claude mcp add noty --scope user -- /Applications/Noty.app/Contents/MacOS/noty-mcp
4. Call get_status and tell me what it reports.
Never delete my items without asking me first.
How it works
- Reminders and Agenda: select words in an item's notes and a small bar offers Highlight, Remind me, Schedule and Ask AI. Remind me suggests a time from the words themselves ("tomorrow", "before Friday", "at 3pm") or the next free slot, with quick choices and "Pick a date and time…". It notifies you then, and can nudge once more an hour later if still open. Schedule adds a Calendar event.
⌥⌘A (changeable) opens the Agenda: today, tomorrow and the week, your reminders and Calendar events, a short summary on top, and N to add one by typing ("call Sam tomorrow 9"). Agents see them with the list_reminders and add_reminder tools.
- Remote (Tailscale): Settings → Remote has one switch. Noty serves a small web app on
127.0.0.1 and publishes it with tailscale serve on https://<your-mac>.ts.net:8443, so only your own Tailscale devices can open it. Scan the QR code with your phone to pair, then add it to the Home Screen. Browse Today, Inbox, open and done, search, add, tick off. Items show their highlighted text with formatting (headings, lists, tables, links, pictures), photos and files, and notes use the same rich editor as the app (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, highlight, size, colour). Add photos or files to an item, or to a new one while quick-adding; pictures are kept as PNG like in the app. If Tailscale is missing, signed out, or HTTPS isn't enabled for the tailnet, the pane says which and has a button for it. Needs this Mac on and Noty running.
- Stack: press
⌥⌘K (changeable), use the menu bar popover, or the Stack button in the library. Your open items, any type, appear one card at a time. ← → move through them, Space zooms into the details, D marks done, N adds a task, / searches, T toggles Today, O opens it in Noty, Esc closes.
- Capture: select text, a picture, a PDF or a Word paragraph anywhere (mouse or
⇧+arrows), press ⌥⌘N (changeable). A small panel appears next to the pointer: pick a type and a category with the arrow keys, press ↩. ⌘↩ adds and opens "Ask agent". Also available as right-click → Services → Add to Noty. Formatting is kept: headings, bold/italic, lists, links and tables become Markdown, pictures and PDFs are saved with the item, and the original HTML is kept so you can paste it back with formatting. Needs the Accessibility permission for the shortcut.
- Library: workspaces and categories are folders; every item is a Markdown file with its highlighted text, notes, tags and source link. Open them in any editor.
- Sync: Settings → Sync moves the library to iCloud Drive or any folder (Dropbox, Syncthing, git). No server, no account. If two Macs edit the same item, the newer copy wins and the other is kept in
_history.
- Copy and link: every item has Copy link (
noty://item/<id>), Copy for agent (a ready-to-paste reference with the id the Noty tools understand), Copy as Markdown and Copy with formatting. Categories have links too.
- Agents (MCP): Settings → Agents connects Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and others in one click. Tools:
list_workspaces, list_items, get_item, search, add_item, update_item, move_item, complete_item, create_category, rename_category, propose_file, delete_item. Files an agent wants to create wait under Agent results until you approve them.
- Ask agent: on any item or list, choose Review, Break into subtasks, Turn into a skill, Write a .md file or Process & fix. Noty builds the prompt and can run it in Claude Code in your Terminal, or you copy it into any agent.
Build
swift build && swift test
scripts/bundle.sh # dist/Noty.app
dist/Noty.app/Contents/MacOS/Noty --self-test
dist/Noty.app/Contents/MacOS/Noty --snapshot docs/shots # screenshots with sample data
Release, signing and the updater follow the native-mac-app scaffold (scripts/, .github/workflows/).
