SoloMD MCP server

Every SoloMD release ships solomd-mcp — a sidecar binary that speaks the Model Context Protocol. Point Claude Desktop, Codex CLI, Cursor, or any MCP client at it and the AI can list / search / read / write your notes from outside the app.

Why this matters

Most note apps treat AI as a feature inside the editor — paste in some text, get a rewrite back. SoloMD inverts that: your AI client gets full access to the vault, so you can ask "summarise everything I wrote about Q2 planning" or "draft a follow-up to last week's meeting note" and the model reads the actual files itself.

Quick start — Claude Desktop

Open SoloMD → Settings → Integrations → MCP server.
Click Copy Claude Desktop config. The block already embeds the bundled binary path and your currently-open workspace.
Click Open Claude Desktop config file. Paste the block under "mcpServers" and save.
Restart Claude Desktop. solomd-vault appears in the tools menu — done.

Tools the model can call

Tool	Purpose
`list_notes`	Enumerate every Markdown file in the workspace.
`read_note`	Fetch a note by relative path. Returns content + front matter.
`search`	Full-text search across the vault. Returns ranked snippets.
`get_backlinks`	Every note that `[[wiki-links]]` to the target.
`list_tags`	All `#tags` in the vault, with usage count.
`get_outline`	Heading tree for a note — useful before a long edit.
`write_note`	Create or overwrite a file. Off by default — see below.
`append_to_note`	Append text to the end of an existing note. Off by default.

Read-only by default

solomd-mcp exposes write tools only when launched with --allow-write. The default config the Settings panel copies is read-only. To enable writes, edit the args list:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "solomd-vault": {
      "command": "/path/to/solomd-mcp",
      "args": ["--workspace", "/path/to/your/notes", "--allow-write"]
    }
  }
}

We split this so a model can never accidentally rewrite a note as part of a search request — you have to opt in by hand.

Other clients

Anything that speaks MCP works. Codex CLI, Cursor, Continue, Zed's MCP client, and the open-source mcp-cli all share the same config shape — point them at the same command + args and they'll see the same tool set.

Where the binary lives

On macOS the bundled binary is inside the app bundle: SoloMD.app/Contents/MacOS/solomd-mcp. On Windows + Linux it's beside the main executable. The Settings panel always shows the absolute path under Bundled at … so you don't have to hunt for it.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI clients can connect to my vault?

Claude Desktop, Codex CLI, Cursor — and any client that speaks the Model Context Protocol. The solomd-mcp sidecar binary ships with every SoloMD release and runs locally over stdio.

Can the model modify my notes?

Only if you let it. The server exposes read tools by default; the write tools are gated behind an explicit opt-in, so a connected model can list, search and read notes but not change anything until you allow writes.

Does my vault content leave my machine?

The MCP server itself is local — it reads files on disk and talks to your AI client over stdio, with no SoloMD server in the path. What the connected AI client does with the text it reads is governed by that client and the model provider you chose.

How long does setup take?

About a minute: Settings → Integrations → MCP server → Copy Claude Desktop config → paste into the Claude Desktop config file and restart. The copied block already embeds the binary path and your current workspace.