Developers

Getting started

Give an AI assistant read access to your notes, or call the REST API directly. Same token, two ways in.

There are two ways to work with ThinkerNotes from outside the app itself. There's a REST API, meant for scripts and backend integrations, and there's an MCP server, meant for AI assistants like Claude. They're both backed by the same account data, and you authenticate to both of them the same way.

1. Create an API token

1

Go to Settings → API tokens while you're signed in, and give the token a name that tells you where you're using it, something like “Claude Desktop” or “Local script”.

The plaintext token only gets shown to you once, so store it somewhere safe. ThinkerNotes only keeps a digest of it after that, which means it can't be recovered later if you lose it.

2. Authenticate your requests

Every request authenticates the same way, whether it's a REST call or an MCP client: a bearer token in the Authorization header.

Header 
Authorization: Bearer tn_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A request without a valid token just gets back 401 Unauthorized. A token only ever sees the account it was created under, and within that account it can read and write everything.

3. Pick how you'll connect

  • REST API: full read and write access to your notes, drafts, literature notes and media from a script or backend service.
  • MCP server: connect an AI assistant, Claude or any other MCP-compatible client, with read-only access to the same data.