Connect Claude Desktop to Earkeep

Last updated: 2026-10-12 · Reviewed quarterly

Earkeep installs a small command, earkeep-mcp, so other tools on your machine can search and read your saved meetings. Claude Desktop starts that command itself and talks to it directly: one entry in a configuration file, one restart, done. Nothing else to install.

How it connects

Every time Earkeep opens, it puts the command at ~/.local/bin/earkeep-mcp, pointing into the app. So the one requirement is that you have opened Earkeep at least once.

Claude Desktop launches the command when it needs it and exchanges messages with it over standard input and output. The command reads your transcript files straight from disk, so it works whether or not Earkeep is running. It opens no port and listens on no network address, so there is nothing for anything off your device to reach.

What you are connecting to

Two tools, both read-only. Nothing connected here can create, edit or delete a meeting.

search_spans finds saved meetings by a case-insensitive match on their title or notes, or lists all of them when you don't give it a query. Newest first, twenty at a time.
read_span takes one meeting's id and returns that meeting plus the transcript lines it covers.

Note the limit before you write a prompt: search matches titles and notes, not the words inside transcripts.

Set it up

Open Claude Desktop's configuration file:

shell

open -e ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add the earkeep entry. If the file is empty, the whole of it is this:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "earkeep": {
      "command": "/Users/you/.local/bin/earkeep-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Replace you with your username. The path has to be absolute, because this file does not expand ~. Easier still: open Settings → MCP in Earkeep, which gives you this same block with your own path already in it, ready to copy.

If you already have other servers in there, add earkeep beside them inside the existing mcpServers object instead of adding a second one.

Then restart Claude Desktop. It reads this file at startup, so the entry does nothing until it does.

Check it works

With Claude Desktop restarted, look for Earkeep among the available tools in a new conversation, then ask for something only it can answer:

"Use the earkeep tools to list my most recent meetings, then read the latest one and summarise what was decided."

Real titles from your own week mean the connection is live.

If something goes wrong

Earkeep doesn't appear at all. Two things in order: the file has to be valid JSON, and Claude Desktop has to have been restarted since you saved it. A trailing comma is the usual culprit, and it fails silently.

The server fails to start. The path is wrong or the command is missing. Check it in a terminal:

shell

ls -l ~/.local/bin/earkeep-mcp

If nothing is there, open Earkeep once and it puts the command in place. If it is there, compare the path in your config with the one in Settings → MCP: a ~, or a username that isn't yours, is the usual mistake.

Something else is already at that path. Earkeep never overwrites a file you put there yourself. Move it aside and open Earkeep again, or point the config at the app directly: "command": "/Applications/Earkeep.app/Contents/MacOS/earkeep" with "args": ["mcp"].

It connects but finds nothing. The server searches saved meetings, so a day that was captured but never had a span kept from it has nothing to find.

Connect Claude Code: the command-line sibling, set up with one command.
Agents and MCP: why both exist and what each is for.
All Earkeep how-tos.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Node or any other software?

No. The command ships inside Earkeep, and Earkeep installs it for you when it opens. Claude Desktop runs it directly.

Does this expose my meetings to the internet?

No. Claude Desktop starts the command on your machine and talks to it over standard input and output. It opens no port and listens on no network address.

Can it change or delete my meetings?

No. The server is read-only: it can search meetings and read them, and there is no tool for anything else.

Does this send my transcripts to Anthropic?

Earkeep's side stays on your device. Claude Desktop calls Anthropic's models, so a transcript you ask it to read is a transcript you have sent to it. That choice is yours to make per conversation.

Do I have to keep Earkeep open?

No. The command reads your transcript files from disk, so it answers whether or not the app is running. Earkeep only has to have been opened once, to install it.

Your meetings, where you already work

Download free All how-tos

14-day full trial, no account required.