This skill should be used when the user asks to "create an Apple Note", "format for Apple Notes", "write to Apple Notes", "save this to Notes", "add to my notes", "make a note", "update my note", "edit that note", "search my notes", "find a note about", "read that note", or needs to create, read, update, search, or format notes via the Apple Notes MCP tools. Also use when the user asks to "add a checklist", "make it collapsible", "add block quotes", "highlight text in Notes", "add a dashed list", or any GUI-only Apple Notes formatting. Provides HTML structure, formatting rules, spacing guidelines, and known limitations for the Apple Notes API.
npx claudepluginhub oliverames/ames-claude --plugin ames-standalone-skillsThis skill uses the workspace's default tool permissions.
Use Apple Notes tools (`create-note`, `update-note`, `get-note-content`, `search-notes`, `move-note`, `delete-note`) for all Apple Notes operations. Full tool reference (23 tools): `references/tools.md`.
Provides Ktor server patterns for routing DSL, plugins (auth, CORS, serialization), Koin DI, WebSockets, services, and testApplication testing.
Conducts multi-source web research with firecrawl and exa MCPs: searches, scrapes pages, synthesizes cited reports. For deep dives, competitive analysis, tech evaluations, or due diligence.
Provides demand forecasting, safety stock optimization, replenishment planning, and promotional lift estimation for multi-location retailers managing 300-800 SKUs.
Use Apple Notes tools (create-note, update-note, get-note-content, search-notes, move-note, delete-note) for all Apple Notes operations. Full tool reference (23 tools): references/tools.md.
id over title when both are available — IDs are unique, titles can collide.format: "html" on create and update for rich formatting (see below).searchContent: true on search-notes searches body text, not just titles.modifiedSince on search-notes and list-notes filters by ISO 8601 date — useful for large collections.create-note has no folder parameter — notes are created in the default location. To place in a specific folder, create first then call move-note.Plain text with newlines does NOT work. Apple Notes collapses all line breaks.
Use HTML tags for structure. Apple Notes renders HTML properly.
Do NOT use CDATA sections. Wrapping content in <![CDATA[...]]> causes ]]> to render literally.
No decorative separators. Don't use horizontal lines, dashes, or Unicode box-drawing characters (―――) between sections. Use spacing and headers instead.
Use <div> tags for body text. Use <div><br></div> for spacing between elements.
Heading tags work both bare and wrapped in <div>. Prefer bare tags — they're cleaner and render identically:
<h1>Title Text</h1>
<h2>Heading Text</h2>
<h3>Subheading Text</h3>
<div><h2>...</h2></div> also works but is unnecessary nesting.
| Tag | Apple Notes Style | Visual Appearance |
|---|---|---|
<h1> | Title | Large bold text |
<h2> | Heading | Medium bold text |
<h3> | Subheading | Smaller bold text |
Important: API-created headings render correctly but are NOT collapsible. See Known Limitations.
The title parameter sets the note's metadata name (shown in the sidebar list) AND renders as small body text at the top of the note. To get a clean big heading without a duplicate small line, use the post-edit trick:
create-note with title set to your desired name + <h1> in contentupdate-note with newTitle: " " (single space) and the same contentThis strips the metadata title line from the body while keeping the styled <h1>.
Step 1 — create-note with title: "🎯 Note Title Here" and content starting with <h1>🎯 Note Title Here</h1>, format html
Step 2 — update-note with the returned note id, newTitle: " ", and the same newContent, format html
Choose an emoji that reflects the note's content (🔧 for tools, 📋 for plans, 🎬 for video/content, 💬 for communication, ✈️ for aviation, etc.)
Note: The list view will show the <h1> text as the title (Apple Notes uses the first line of the body when the metadata name is blank/space). So the sidebar stays correct.
Use h2 for major sections and h3 for subsections:
<h2>Section Name</h2>
<h3>Subsection Name</h3>
<div><br></div> if the line following the header is completely bolded.<div><br></div> (lists don't create trailing space).<div><br></div>.✅ Header -> List (No break):
<h2>My List</h2>
<ul>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
</ul>
✅ Header -> Text (No break):
<h2>My Section</h2>
<div>This is the content.</div>
✅ Header -> Bold (Add break):
<h2>My Section</h2>
<div><br></div>
<div><b>Critical Warning</b></div>
| Tag | Use |
|---|---|
<div> | All content blocks |
<h1> | Title style (bare, no div needed) |
<h2> | Heading style (bare, no div needed) |
<h3> | Subheading style (bare, no div needed) |
<b> | Bold text |
<i> | Italic text |
<u> | Underline |
<s> | Strikethrough |
<tt> | Monostyled text (gray background, monospace) |
<table> | Tables (functional but render with limited styling) |
<span style="..."> | Inline styling (font-size, font-family, color) |
<a href="url"> | Links |
<br> | Line break (use inside <div> for spacing) |
<ul> | Unordered (bullet) list container |
<ol> | Ordered (numbered) list container |
<li> | List item (use inside <ul> or <ol>) |
Use HTML entities for special characters in note content:
& (required — raw & can break rendering)<>Plain text arrows (→ or ->) work fine and don't need entities.
For terminal commands, codes, API keys, or any technical strings, use the native monostyled tag:
<div><tt>your command here</tt></div>
For inline code within a sentence:
<div>Run: <tt>sudo sfltool resetbtm</tt></div>
This renders with a gray background, matching Apple Notes' native Monostyled format.
Always provide context for links. Never use generic text like "YouTube Short" or "Reference Link."
✅ Good:
<div><a href="https://youtube.com/...">YouTube: "Learning to Fly Alia: No Feet?!" — FlightChops (126K views)</a></div>
❌ Bad:
<div><a href="https://youtube.com/...">YouTube Short</a></div>
If you have a URL, look up the actual content and describe what it is.
Use <ul><li> tags for native Apple Notes bullets. Critical: Always add <div><br></div> AFTER the closing </ul> tag — lists don't create trailing space automatically.
<div><b>Shopping List</b></div>
<ul>
<li>Milk</li>
<li>Eggs</li>
<li>Bread</li>
</ul>
<div><br></div>
<div>Next section starts here...</div>
Use <ol><li> tags for native numbered lists. Same spacing rule applies — add <div><br></div> after </ol>.
<div><b>Steps to Complete</b></div>
<ol>
<li>First step</li>
<li>Second step</li>
<li>Third step</li>
</ol>
<div><br></div>
<div>Next section starts here...</div>
You can use <b>, <i>, and other inline tags inside <li>:
<ul>
<li><b>Important item:</b> Description here</li>
<li><i>Optional item:</i> Another description</li>
</ul>
<div><br></div>
For simple inline lists within prose, plain text is cleaner:
<div>Key skills include: Python, JavaScript, and SQL.</div>
Apple Notes supports HTML tables, but they render clunky. For simple relationship data or connection maps, plain text is cleaner:
✅ Prefer for relationships/connections:
<div><b>Amanda Seeholzer</b> → Ryan Seeholzer</div>
<div><b>Emily Stockwell</b> → Danielle Price</div>
❌ Avoid complex tables when simple lists suffice.
All examples use the post-edit trick: create-note with title + h1, then update-note with newTitle: " ".
title: "🔧 Content Inspiration: Stuff Made Here"
<h1>🔧 Content Inspiration: Stuff Made Here</h1>
<div><br></div>
<div>The guy who made the gun-powered baseball bat — that maker/engineer energy is a good angle for recruitment content.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><a href="https://youtube.com/@StuffMadeHere">YouTube: Stuff Made Here — engineering/maker projects</a></div>
title: "🎯 BETA Employee Vibe"
<h1>🎯 BETA Employee Vibe</h1>
<div><br></div>
<div>The people at the job fair looked like my science teacher's radio club crowd. That's the maker/tinkerer persona to target in recruitment.</div>
title: "📋 Q1 Marketing Strategy"
<h1>📋 Q1 Marketing Strategy</h1>
<div><i>Draft — last updated January 2026</i></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Main body content begins here...</div>
title: "📋 Workforce Development Campaign"
<h1>📋 Workforce Development Campaign</h1>
<div><br></div>
<h2>Research To Do</h2>
<div><b>1. Talk to Danielle</b></div>
<ul>
<li>What do they need most on the battery assembly line?</li>
<li>What's their biggest limiting factor?</li>
</ul>
<div><br></div>
<h2>The Strategy</h2>
<div>Interview successful graduates about why they chose BETA...</div>
When reformatting someone's voice notes or stream-of-consciousness:
The goal is organization, not compression. A well-structured long note is better than an over-summarized short one that loses the original thinking.
Example — preserve this kind of voice:
<div>What if we could model the look of SpaceX — but not made by a dick — made by working class Americans.</div>
Don't flatten it to: "Consider SpaceX aesthetic for blue-collar positioning."
Some Apple Notes formatting features cannot be created via the API. For these, use the companion skill file GUI-FORMATTING.md in this folder, which provides instructions for applying formats via computer use control of the Notes app.
GUI-only features include:
Important: Always read GUI-FORMATTING.md before attempting GUI formatting. It contains critical rules about text selection and gotchas that prevent formatting from cascading to unintended lines.
Duplicate title cleanup: If a note has a duplicate small title above the h1, run update-note with newTitle: " " and the same content to strip the metadata line. Or delete the small line manually in Notes.
API-created headings (h1/h2/h3) render with correct styling but lack native collapsible functionality. This is an API limitation — the internal metadata that enables collapse arrows isn't set when creating notes programmatically.
Workaround: To make a heading collapsible, select the heading text in Notes, tap the Aa format button, and re-apply the Heading/Subheading style. This converts it to a true native heading with collapse support.
get-checklist-state can read existing checklists)create-note: The title parameter renders as small body text at the top AND sets the sidebar list name. Including <h1> in content creates a duplicate. Use the post-edit trick (see Title Format above) to strip the metadata line.update-note: Sets body content directly. Include <h1> in your content for the styled heading. Use newTitle: " " to clear the metadata title line.<h1> text) as the sidebar title automatically.Attachments cannot be added via the API, and notes with attachments require special handling.
How to detect a note has an attachment:
Critical: Do NOT update notes with attachments — you will overwrite and lose the attachment.
Instead:
If a note title is very long (paragraph-length), the API list truncates it. The API cannot find notes by partial/truncated title.
Options: