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Connect AI apps to your transcripts

Synopsule keeps an AI-readable transcript mirror on your Mac: every finalized recording as a Markdown file (title, date, speakers, summary, action items, and the full speaker-attributed transcript) plus a catalog index. The app itself serves that mirror to AI apps over MCP — the MCP server is built into Synopsule. There is nothing to download or install: AI apps launch the app binary with --mcp, which runs a quiet background server (no window, no capture) that reads the mirror and exits when the client disconnects. Local and read-only; nothing is uploaded anywhere.

The command every client uses:

/Applications/Synopsule.app/Contents/MacOS/Synopsule --mcp

Synopsule → Settings → Connect to AI Apps shows ready-to-paste setup for each client below, with the exact path filled in wherever the app is installed.

Claude Desktop — two clicks

In Synopsule, click Install… on the Claude Desktop row. Synopsule generates its extension (Synopsule Transcripts.mcpb, saved to Downloads) and opens it in Claude, which shows its Install sheet — click Install, done. The extension contains no binary, just a tiny launcher that runs the Synopsule app in --mcp mode, so it never needs separate updates.

Manual fallback: Copy Config in Synopsule, then Claude → Settings → Developer → Edit Config, and paste under mcpServers:

"synopsule": {
  "command": "/Applications/Synopsule.app/Contents/MacOS/Synopsule",
  "args": ["--mcp"]
}

Codex (app, CLI, and IDE) — one click

All Codex surfaces share one config file, so this covers the macOS app, the CLI, and the IDE extension at once: click Set Up… on the Codex row and grant access to the .codex folder when asked. Synopsule adds itself to ~/.codex/config.toml; new Codex sessions see it immediately (the desktop app lists it under Settings → Integrations & MCP).

Terminal fallback:

codex mcp add synopsule -- "/Applications/Synopsule.app/Contents/MacOS/Synopsule" --mcp

Claude Code

claude mcp add synopsule -- "/Applications/Synopsule.app/Contents/MacOS/Synopsule" --mcp

ChatGPT

ChatGPT's custom connectors only accept public HTTPS MCP servers — they run from OpenAI's cloud and cannot reach a process on your Mac. Two options:

• No-setup path: turn on Synopsule's optional export folder (Settings → Connect to AI Apps → Export folder) and drag transcript Markdown files into the chat. Works on every plan.
• Power-user path (tunnel): expose the server over a temporary HTTPS tunnel, at the cost of making it reachable outside your Mac while the tunnel is up:

# Terminal 1 — bridge stdio → HTTP (any stdio-to-HTTP MCP bridge works):
npx -y supergateway --stdio "/Applications/Synopsule.app/Contents/MacOS/Synopsule --mcp" --port 8808

# Terminal 2 — public HTTPS tunnel:
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8808

Then in ChatGPT: Settings → Connectors (developer mode) → add the https://….trycloudflare.com URL. Anyone with that URL can read your transcripts while the tunnel runs — treat it accordingly and shut it down when done.

What the AI can do

The two search tools complement each other: search_transcripts matches the exact words in the full transcript text, while semantic_search_transcripts ranks recordings by how close their AI recap is in meaning to the query, using Apple's on-device embedding model — nothing leaves the Mac. When that model isn't available (it needs macOS 14 or later, plus a system language asset Synopsule fetches for its in-app search), the semantic tool transparently falls back to exact-text search and says so in its response, so it always returns something useful.

Try: "Search my transcripts for the pricing discussion and summarize what we decided", or "What action items came out of yesterday's standup?"

Where the data lives

• The mirror Synopsule serves is inside the app's own storage and updates automatically as recordings finish or change. Drafts, voice embeddings, speaker personas, and audio never enter it.
• The optional export folder (Settings → Connect to AI Apps) keeps an identical, human-browsable copy anywhere you choose — Finder, Obsidian, iCloud Drive, drag-into-chat.
• What an AI app does with transcript text you pull into a chat is governed by that app's privacy policy, not Synopsule's.

iPhone

The iOS app keeps the same Markdown export in Files → On My iPhone → Synopsule (Settings → Storage → Show in Files app). Share a transcript into the ChatGPT/Claude iOS apps from there, or put your Mac export folder in iCloud Drive to read Mac recordings on the go.

Troubleshooting

• The client can't find or start the server. The configured command must point at the Synopsule app binary on this Mac. Open Settings → Connect to AI Apps — every snippet there embeds the app's real installed path. If you've moved or reinstalled the app, run the one-click setup again (or re-paste the config) so the path updates, then restart the AI client.
• The tools answer, but say there are no transcripts. The mirror only contains finalized recordings — record something and let it finish processing. The server's own replies explain how to get transcripts flowing.
• ChatGPT won't add the server. ChatGPT connectors require a public HTTPS URL; a local command can't be added directly. Use the export-folder path or the tunnel recipe above.
• Semantic search reports a substring fallback. The on-device embedding model isn't available yet (macOS 14+ plus a system language asset). Results still come back, matched by exact text instead of meaning.
• Still stuck? Email [email protected].