Claude-code-plugins-plus-skills apple-notes-data-handling

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/plugins/saas-packs/apple-notes-pack/skills/apple-notes-data-handling" ~/.claude/skills/jeremylongshore-claude-code-plugins-plus-skills-apple-notes-data-handling && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: plugins/saas-packs/apple-notes-pack/skills/apple-notes-data-handling/SKILL.md

Apple Notes Data Handling

Overview

Apple Notes stores note content as a restricted subset of HTML internally. The

body()

property in JXA returns this HTML, which includes

<div>

<h1>

<h3>

<b>

<i>

<ul>

<li>

, and Apple-specific classes for checklists and tables. Attachments (images, PDFs, sketches, scans) are embedded as

<img>

or object references but cannot be directly extracted via JXA — they require the

attachments()

property. Understanding these data formats is essential for building reliable import, export, and backup pipelines.

Note Body HTML Format

<!-- Apple Notes uses a subset of HTML wrapped in <div> blocks -->
<div><h1>Title</h1></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Paragraph text here.</div>
<div><b>Bold text</b> and <i>italic text</i></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><ul><li>List item 1</li><li>List item 2</li></ul></div>

<!-- Checklists use Apple's custom class -->
<div><ul class="com-apple-note-checklist">
  <li class="done">Completed item</li>
  <li>Incomplete item</li>
</ul></div>

<!-- Tables (macOS Ventura+) use standard HTML tables -->
<div><table><tr><td>Cell 1</td><td>Cell 2</td></tr></table></div>

<!-- Tags (macOS Sonoma+) are stored as hashtags in body text -->
<div>#project #important</div>

Export All Notes to JSON

#!/bin/bash
# Full export with metadata — useful for backups and migration
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const results = Notes.defaultAccount.notes().map(n => ({
    id: n.id(),
    title: n.name(),
    body: n.body(),
    plaintext: n.plaintext(),
    folder: n.container().name(),
    created: n.creationDate().toISOString(),
    modified: n.modificationDate().toISOString(),
    attachmentCount: n.attachments().length,
  }));
  JSON.stringify(results, null, 2);
' > "$HOME/notes-export-$(date +%Y%m%d).json"

HTML to Markdown Converter

// src/data/html-to-markdown.ts
function notesHtmlToMarkdown(html: string): string {
  return html
    .replace(/<h1>(.*?)<\/h1>/g, "# $1")
    .replace(/<h2>(.*?)<\/h2>/g, "## $1")
    .replace(/<h3>(.*?)<\/h3>/g, "### $1")
    .replace(/<b>(.*?)<\/b>/g, "**$1**")
    .replace(/<strong>(.*?)<\/strong>/g, "**$1**")
    .replace(/<i>(.*?)<\/i>/g, "*$1*")
    .replace(/<em>(.*?)<\/em>/g, "*$1*")
    .replace(/<li class="done">(.*?)<\/li>/g, "- [x] $1")
    .replace(/<li>(.*?)<\/li>/g, "- [ ] $1")
    .replace(/<br\s*\/?>/g, "\n")
    .replace(/<div>/g, "").replace(/<\/div>/g, "\n")
    .replace(/<[^>]*>/g, "")
    .replace(/\n{3,}/g, "\n\n")
    .trim();
}

Attachment Handling

# List all notes with attachments and their counts
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  Notes.defaultAccount.notes()
    .filter(n => n.attachments().length > 0)
    .map(n => n.name() + ": " + n.attachments().length + " attachments (" +
      n.attachments().map(a => a.name()).join(", ") + ")")
    .join("\n");
'

# Note: JXA cannot directly save attachment binary data.
# For full attachment export, use Shortcuts:
# shortcuts run "Export Note Attachments" --input-type text --input "Note Title"

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
`body()` returns empty string	Note contains only attachments (no text)	Check `attachments().length` ; use `plaintext()` as fallback
HTML contains unexpected tags	Note created on iOS with unsupported formatting	Strip unknown tags; keep only known Apple Notes subset
`plaintext()` truncated	Very large note body	Export via `body()` HTML instead; convert after
Checklist state lost in export	Custom class not preserved in conversion	Map `class="done"` to `[x]` before stripping HTML
Attachment names are generic	Auto-generated names like `Image.png`	Use note title + index for meaningful filenames

Resources

Next Steps

For migrating between note platforms, see

apple-notes-migration-deep-dive

. For backup automation, see

apple-notes-deploy-integration