Apple Notes Hello World

Overview

Create, read, search, and delete Apple Notes using JXA (JavaScript for Automation) via osascript. All examples work from the command line on macOS.

Prerequisites

Completed apple-notes-install-auth (permissions granted)
macOS with Notes.app

Instructions

Step 1: Create a Note

# JXA: Create a note in the default folder
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const defaultFolder = Notes.defaultAccount.folders[0];
  const newNote = Notes.Note({
    name: "Hello from Automation",
    body: "<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This note was created via JXA at " + new Date().toISOString() + "</p>"
  });
  defaultFolder.notes.push(newNote);
  newNote.id();
'

# AppleScript equivalent:
osascript -e '
  tell application "Notes"
    tell account "iCloud"
      make new note at folder "Notes" with properties {name:"Hello AppleScript", body:"<p>Created via AppleScript</p>"}
    end tell
  end tell
'

Step 2: List All Notes

# List notes with title and creation date
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const notes = Notes.defaultAccount.notes();
  notes.slice(0, 10).map(n =>
    `${n.name()} | Created: ${n.creationDate().toISOString().split("T")[0]}`
  ).join("\n");
'

Step 3: Read a Note's Content

# Read note body (returns HTML)
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const notes = Notes.defaultAccount.notes();
  const target = notes.find(n => n.name() === "Hello from Automation");
  if (target) {
    `Title: ${target.name()}\nBody: ${target.body()}\nModified: ${target.modificationDate()}`;
  } else {
    "Note not found";
  }
'

Step 4: Search Notes

# Search by keyword in note name
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const query = "Hello";
  const results = Notes.defaultAccount.notes().filter(n =>
    n.name().toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase())
  );
  results.map(n => n.name()).join("\n") || "No results";
'

Step 5: Create Note in Specific Folder

# Create a folder and add a note to it
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const account = Notes.defaultAccount;

  // Create folder if it does not exist
  let folder = account.folders().find(f => f.name() === "Automation");
  if (!folder) {
    folder = Notes.Folder({ name: "Automation" });
    account.folders.push(folder);
  }

  // Add note to folder
  const note = Notes.Note({
    name: "Organized Note",
    body: "<p>This note lives in the Automation folder.</p>"
  });
  folder.notes.push(note);
  `Created in folder: ${folder.name()}`;
'

Step 6: Delete a Note

# Delete by name (moves to Recently Deleted)
osascript -l JavaScript -e '
  const Notes = Application("Notes");
  const notes = Notes.defaultAccount.notes();
  const target = notes.find(n => n.name() === "Hello from Automation");
  if (target) {
    Notes.delete(target);
    "Note deleted";
  } else {
    "Note not found";
  }
'

Note Properties

Property	Type	Writable	Description
`name`	string	Yes	Note title (first line)
`body`	string (HTML)	Yes	Full note content as HTML
`id`	string	No	Unique identifier
`creationDate`	Date	No	When note was created
`modificationDate`	Date	No	Last modification
`container`	Folder	No	Parent folder

Output

Created a note via JXA and AppleScript
Listed, searched, and read note content
Organized note into a folder
Deleted a note

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
`Notes got an error`	Notes.app not running	Add `Notes.activate()` first
Empty body	Note has no text content	Check note is not just an image
`Can't make folder`	Folder already exists	Check before creating
Slow response	iCloud sync in progress	Wait for sync; use local account

Resources

Next Steps

Proceed to apple-notes-local-dev-loop for development workflow setup.