Acres is our first recommendation for MCP note-taking when the result should live on a visual board in local files. An external agent can search your cards, write a new note, connect it to its sources and propose an arrangement you can inspect.
We make Acres. This guide describes that workflow and the choices around it; it doesn’t assume you should move a working library from another app. If you already use Heptabase, Joplin or Obsidian, start by checking the agent tools available there.
Decide what you want the agent to do
MCP is a connection between an AI client and a tool server. For note-taking, useful jobs include finding relevant notes, comparing two sources, drafting a summary and organizing the material. The protocol introduction explains the client/server relationship.
Take a reading project as the example: three papers, six notes and a question about where the authors disagree. The desired result is a comparison card connected to those notes. Start with retrieval, then a draft, then layout. Keeping those steps separate makes an error easier to spot.
| Existing workflow | Useful starting point | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Acres canvas | Bundled local MCP and board tools | Intended vault, draft sources and layout preview |
| 2. Heptabase research space | Official remote MCP | Account scopes and remote processing |
| 3. Joplin notebook | Official MCP with individual tool controls | Web Clipper service and enabled tools |
| 4. Obsidian vault | Markdown files and official CLI; community MCP options | Integration source and app-running requirements |
Heptabase documents its official MCP connection. Joplin documents per-tool controls. Obsidian’s CLI is an official automation route and requires the app running; direct file reading is a separate route.
Step 1: connect the right Acres vault
Open a small vault or board that contains the material for the task. In Settings → Agents, choose the client you want to use. Acres supplies configuration for Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Codex and Claude Desktop.
Check the vault path shown after connection. Some clients use global configuration, and a previous setup may point to another vault. Refresh or reopen the client if its tool list hasn’t updated. If setup reports an error, use Acres’ manual setup panel for the exact configuration rather than guessing an executable path.
A packaged Acres installation supplies its MCP runtime. You don’t need to clone a source repository or install a developer CLI for this workflow. The agent reference explains the available surfaces.
Step 2: verify retrieval before editing
Ask the client to confirm access:
Use the Acres tools to list boards in this vault. Find cards relevant to my question about where these three papers disagree. Return the card titles and a short description of each source. Don’t create, rename or edit anything.
Check the titles and descriptions against your notes. If the answer is generic, ask which tool it called and what it retrieved. A model can produce a plausible answer without ever reaching your vault.
For a narrower request, name search to find candidate cards and read_card to inspect the originals. Ask it to separate what the notes actually say from an inference it makes. If the search finds too much, restrict the request to named cards instead of asking it to summarize the entire library.
Step 3: create one sourced draft
Once retrieval is correct, ask for a single new card:
Read the six cards we selected. Draft a comparison with the main point of disagreement, evidence from each paper and the questions these notes don’t answer. Name the source card for each claim. Preserve quotations exactly and label your own synthesis. Show the draft here before creating a new Acres card. Leave the source notes unchanged.
Review the wording, then authorize the card creation. A draft beside the sources is easier to assess than a rewrite of all six notes. Keep the references in the new card; a fluent paragraph without a trail back to the material is hard to trust next month.
If the agent needs another source, have it fetch that source before filling the gap. “The notes don’t establish this” is a useful result.
Step 4: approve a board arrangement
Ask it to inspect the current board with describe_board. Then request a layout proposal:
Propose a board with the three papers grouped separately, the comparison card beside them and open questions in their own section. Keep the original cards and avoid duplicates. Use plan_board_layout and show the ASCII preview. Wait for my approval before applying it.
Check whether the grouping expresses the actual argument. A line should mean something: “supports,” “contradicts” or “needs evidence” can be more useful than a web of unlabeled arrows.
After you approve, the agent can use apply_board_layout. When the board is open in Acres, changes can appear live. This planning flow covers the arrangement; it isn’t a guarantee that every other MCP write automatically pauses for approval. Your client’s tool permissions and the task you authorize still matter.
Step 5: review the result and keep the recovery path
Open Activity to inspect the session and the changed notes. Supported operations offer guarded revert; if the material has changed again, Acres may ask you to review it manually instead of overwriting later work.
Check the new card’s sources and a couple of original cards. Undo and Activity are useful tools, but not a complete backup. Keep a separate copy or version history before a larger reorganization. The first successful task should be small enough that you can read every changed note.
A local server doesn’t decide the model route
Acres MCP runs on your computer. The client receiving its results can still send those results to a cloud model. Decide what content that client may access, and check its provider route.
For the built-in Acres assistant, Ollama and LM Studio provide local-model options. That is a separate setup from connecting an external MCP client; the external client must support the local model and the tool calls you need. Cloud keys and client subscriptions can have separate charges from the Acres license.
The workflow is useful once it produces something you can revisit: a sourced card, a readable arrangement and a clear record of the changes. Try that with one real question during the 14-day trial, then expand the scope when the result earns it.