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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. The server is local and read-only, and never exposes audio. The AI client you connect controls where the text it reads goes.

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. If the system embedding asset is unavailable, or no recap meets the similarity threshold, the tool falls back to exact-text search and reports that mode. A query can still return no matches. This tool is separate from the optional in-app search model in Synopsule.

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 as recordings finish or change. The mirror also includes attached-file text and kept, current note context. 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 system embedding asset is unavailable, or no recap passes the similarity threshold. The tool searches exact text and reports the fallback. This MCP tool is separate from the optional Search on this device model used inside Synopsule.
• Still stuck? Email [email protected].